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

It is important that the Taoiseach would hear the voices and experiences of people who are struggling to get by. For example, the woman who says: "My husband is 70. He is still working. He can't stop at the moment because if he stops, we know it will be very difficult for us just to live." Or the mother who says: "I have started to cut back on my food shop. The price of everything has gone up. Everything. The kind of things that we cannot do without. Or another mother who says: "I now go to a food bank. It is embarrassing, but if I don't go, we'll go hungry. I am there every Tuesday and every Thursday and it is packed to the rafters."

These are the words of thousands of people who took to the streets on Saturday afternoon because they are pushed now to the brink by an ever-worsening cost-of-living crisis. Despite the hardship that they face, they see a Government refusing to take action that will make a difference. Households are now caught in the eye of a perfect storm of soaring prices. They are ripped off by extortionate rents and mortgage repayments. They are ripped off by big energy bills. They are ripped off at the pumps for petrol and diesel. They are ripped off by sharp increases in the cost of groceries. People face unbearable pressure. They all said one thing, with one voice, on Saturday. They said they are at breaking point. They cannot wait until October for the budget and then wait again until January for measures or relief to kick in. People are suffering now. They are being pushed to the edge now and they need the Government to act now, today.

An emergency budget is needed because people face a disaster as they struggle to afford the basics. There are mothers who cannot afford a new pair of shoes for their child, parents who are struggling to put breakfast on the table and elderly people who are choosing between heating and eating. The Taoiseach is asking these people who are in dire straits to wait. That is just not right.

At Saturday's protest in Cork, Ms Catríona Twomey who runs Cork Penny Dinners - she is a great lady and the Taoiseach knows her well - said, "...we fed over 500 people today ... I can get through everything else but when children are hungry and their parents are crying, [well] that gets [to] me." That is the Ireland of 2022. How on earth can anyone in the Government look these families in the eye and tell them it has done enough? What these people live through daily tells us explicitly that enough has not been done. The response from the Government has been slow and has lacked urgency. We all know international factors are at play and we accept the Government cannot do everything but it can do more. Without emergency support, families will face a very difficult back-to-school period and a brutal winter as energy costs continue to rise. Tá an costas maireachtála imithe ó smacht. Tá teaghlaigh i mbaol faoi láthair. Caithfidh an Rialtas aghaidh a thabhairt ar scála na géarchéime seo. Teastaíonn cáinaisnéis uainn sa Dáil láithreach.

The Cabinet met this morning. We were told the cost-of-living crisis was high on the agenda. I hope there was a realisation at that meeting that households cannot wait another six months and the Government cannot pack up for the summer and leave workers and families in the lurch. The Government must now respond with urgency and introduce an emergency budget.

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