Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The people of Dublin Bay North whom I represent are at the end of their tether. Week after week, more families are living hand to mouth. By the end of a working week, mothers and parents are struggling to put food on the table to feed their children. After they pay their bills, there is no money left. We are in a cost-of-living crisis and there are simply not enough targeted supports available for families and children who need them most.

Food banks, school meals and voluntary groups are filling a serious poverty gap, the extent of which the Government does not realise. It has made some minimal moves to help people. I acknowledge the energy bill support payments that will be coming down the line, but it must recognise the irony of this move. What it is giving with one hand, it is taking away with the other. Working families have to heat their homes and be able to get to school, work and other places. We all want to play our part in addressing climate change. We all know we have to do so. This move, however, is punitive, especially on older people. Can the Minister of State genuinely tell the older woman who has to buy gas for her Superser heater or the family whose 20-year-old car is barely passing the NCT that there are no options but to tax them more and drive them further into poverty? The Government is taxing the wrong people. The huge corporate businesses can play a much bigger part. I call on the Government to scrap this unfair carbon tax increase and, please, do the right thing by the people.

See this speech in context