Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy made reference to a number of really important sectors within our economy and society. He made reference to where we stand with regard to the haulage sector and the pressures farmers are facing. The Government has responded in respect of each of those sectors in recent weeks. We bought forward an excise reduction because it is a tax reduction and change that helps the business sector. It is unlike the proposal the Deputy is making in respect of VAT because it helps the business sector. We did that because if we look at the challenges that those in the haulage sector are facing, we know the rising cost of fuel is affecting viability and the ability of many of hauliers to move goods around the country. Not only did the Government act in that way, we also brought forward measures to make additional payments available to haulage companies, depending on how many trucks they have, to help them further with the challenges we are facing.

On farmers and the challenges they are facing, again, the Government knows that farmers are fundamental not just to the economy but also in the context of the price of food. That is why the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, secured agreement at Cabinet on Tuesday to bringing forward a set of measures to help tillage farmers to respond to the challenges that exist. Again, while we cannot do all the Deputy and many of he rest of us want us to do, what we are doing is trying to help each part of the economy in a way that we are confident that we can afford to do for as long as we need to. We are doing so in order to respond to the cost-of-living challenges people are facing and to respond to new challenges we may have to deal with as the year goes on.

The measures the Government has put in place across the year, between our budget day measures and what we have just done, are worth approximately €1.9 billion. They are measures that address the cost of fuel, which we know is going up but it is going up by less than it would if the Government had not acted. We are bringing forward measures to help with the cost of energy and the cost of living and for those who are at risk of energy poverty. These are measures that, in their scale and in how quickly we have tried to implement them, compare very favourably with measures that are being implemented elsewhere at the moment as other governments respond to the challenges they are facing.

We will do our best to help and to respond in respect of the issues that businesses, families and commuters are facing. Equally, however, we want to be honest and clear that while we can help, we cannot cover these costs in their entirety. The Government has, week by week, brought forward measures to help.

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