Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, as I have said, the cost of living is bearing down very heavily on people. We are acutely aware of that in government and we have brought in approximately €2.4 billion of measures already.

As I stated earlier, we cannot chase inflation like we did in the 1970s, when we had a decade-long inflationary cycle that went out of control and undermined people's real incomes, jobs etc. The forthcoming budget will be a cost-of-living budget. We want to do things that target those in need but also deal with a range of issues that also support the economy and jobs and gives us an overall 12-month framework to deal with this issue and take on board the views of the social partners as well in respect of strategic issues that impact on the cost to people, from childcare to housing, and pay and the inflation issues arising also.

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