Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, stressed that while there might be political space in which to forage a European response to the fuel crisis, the energy mix is a national responsibility. Some 1.8 million people in Ireland have seen a video I did here last week to show that the people who are ripping off this country are the Government. I mention the €57 per €100 in petrol and the €52 per €100 in diesel. The Government can help the people of Ireland now by waiting for six months until fuel prices go down before it takes another percentage and puts the working class people in Ireland, the SMEs, hauliers and farmers into the ground. The Government is responsible and should look in the mirror when it says people are ripping people off. The Government is ripping people off.

The national broadcaster of Ireland is not broadcasting it, but we are lucky enough to have TikTok, Facebook and Twitter to catch the Government out for what it is doing to the people. It can help the working class now. It can help every industry now by reducing the percentage on fuel. The VAT and excise duty can come down. It can even reduce the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, part of it, but it will not do it. It puts out this spin.

People in Ireland will starve because of this Government. Businesses will fail because of this Government. People cannot go to work because of this Government. It should wake up and look around. Some €40 is the minimum cost to any family at present and the Government has it in its hand to reduce the prices now. I call on the Government and every Deputy, rural and urban, in this regard. We want the Government to reduce VAT and the percentage on fuel for at least six months to allow the fuel prices to come down in order that our businesses and families can survive this winter.

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