Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It might be worthwhile for the Tánaiste to go back to his Department to look at the amount of gas we are getting from the UK or from Scotland for the simple reason that England, if you read the statistics and the facts, is in a slight bit of bother in relation to it, even though it has its own.

On the second part of the Tánaiste's answer, yes, there were social welfare increases and, yes, there were tax breaks and changes to the minimum wage but the reality of it is that at the moment the general household will probably be down €2,000 to €3,000 between driving to work, maybe doing a bit of farming and buying fertiliser. Where is this going to come from? What plan has the Government? It is lovely to talk about what the Tánaiste believes about the next 40 years. I do not have a problem with him on that, in the context of exploration, having LNG terminals or whatever. That is fine.

What I am talking about is not 40 years, not the eight years referenced by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications yesterday or two years. It is about the next six months and getting the people of this country over the torture they are going through with the cost of living and fuel prices. What is the Government doing for those people? What is the plan?

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