Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Workers and families now face the biggest squeeze on household income for a decade. People are being ripped off at every turn. The price of fuel has hit new record highs - up 11% in just two weeks. In some parts of the country, this means petrol prices have hit €2.30 a litre. I accept that there are international factors at play in this but it is clear to us that we need an emergency budget and that people simply cannot wait until October. We need actions immediately to get the cost of fuel down and, therefore, I ask the Taoiseach to do two things. First, I ask the Taoiseach to reduce the excise duty applied to petrol and diesel by the maximum level, which would bring prices of petrol down by 13 cent and those of diesel by 9 cent. That, alone, will not be enough. I ask that the Taoiseach engage with the EU Commission to seek out further reductions in VAT and, indeed, in excise. I ask that that engagement happen as a matter of urgency. We should not have to come in and put this to the Taoiseach for months, as was the case last year on these matters.

See this speech in context