Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge again on behalf of the Government that we know the cost of living is rising and inflation is running at about 5%. As far back as last March, before the Deputy and his party were doing so, I was signalling concerns about the fact a period of inflation was likely to arise, and that is happening now. As far back as last June I was advocating for a tax, welfare and pensions package in the budget, which others, including the Deputy's party, opposed at the time.

The Government acknowledges the cost of living is rising, that it is biting people and that it is hurting people in the pocket. It is hurting family budgets, a lot of people are squeezed and some people are having to make hard decisions about what they spend their money on, whether it is energy, fuel or groceries. We see it all around us. It is what the Deputy’s constituents are saying to him and what my constituents are saying to me. The cost of filling a tank with petrol or diesel has gone up dramatically and people are shocked when they see their electricity or gas bills. Energy prices impact transport prices and so the cost of groceries is rising too.

The Government gets and understands that and that is why we have been acting to try to cushion the blow. In the budget, and these measures only came into effect in recent weeks, we had a €1 billion cost of living package, with increases in pensions and welfare and reductions in personal income taxation. That cost of living package worth €1 billion that was announced in the budget only came into effect in recent weeks and it was opposed by the Sinn Féin Party. We will add to that today through an additional package to help people with the cost of living. There will be a broad measure that will help every household, because even households on middle incomes are suffering from rising costs, in energy bills in particular, and there will be targeted measures that will help those who are suffering the most, particularly older people and people on low incomes or on welfare. The budget package and the package we will announce today will be worth somewhere in the region of €1.4 billion to €1.5 billion, which is considerable. That is a lot of money the Government is saying it needs to give back to people to help them with the rising cost of living.

I know as well as the Deputy does that, no matter what we announce today, it will not be enough. The Sinn Féin press release is already written: inadequate; not enough. I could write it for them. In fact, it was probably written days ago. Promises are cheap and easy, and more and more the public is seeing through the party. They see what it is not doing in Northern Ireland to help people with the cost of living and they know that promises are cheap. It is so easy for any Opposition party to say it will do twice whatever the Government will do, but people see through that and they know it is not honest. We have had a very significant cost of living package in the budget which kicked in during January. We will add to that through our announcements today.

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