Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Taoiseach, it is you that is being dishonest with the people and they know it. When was the last time he pulled up at a filling station and filled his own car? He has a driver. He had one when he was leader of Fianna Fáil and he has State drivers now and everything else. He is out of touch completely.

I asked the Taoiseach to do an immediate reversal of the carbon tax as well as an impact analysis, and he is flatly refusing to do that. I am also asking, given that there are such inflationary policies here, that we need nothing short of a mini-budget. If we need legislation to do that, we in the Rural Independent Group will bring it forward. The Taoiseach can then vote against it, which he probably will. He does not want to help people but wants to let them perish and die in the ditches, which is what they will do. That seems be the Taoiseach's raison d'êtrein politics, which is to hell with the people. Once I am all right Jack, I am fine.

The Taoiseach accuses me of being dishonest when I tell him the naked truth. Every dog in the street knows that it is the Government's policies that are causing the inflation. There are international factors, definitely, but we have a perfect storm here, which suits the Government.

The Government wants people to have no cars and to have no services in rural Ireland and to herd all the people into the cities. It brings the housing crisis into it then. The Government is talking about this for years. If talk could build houses, we would be covered in houses. Talk is cheap; what we need is action. We need a mini-budget to be brought forward here to relieve the stress and pain and to deal with the mental health issues that this stress, pain and the shortage of money is causing all families.

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