Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have never claimed that people on this side of the House have a monopoly on empathy and I am sure that the Taoiseach is getting the same kind of queries from people struggling to cope with the cost of living crisis at his constituency office as I am getting at mine in Kildare. It is for this reason that I am struggling to understand why the Government is refusing to alleviate the pressure on people. For weeks, all we have got from the Government has been platitudes, but tea and sympathy will not pay people's bills.

Yesterday, the Government did something extraordinary when it ruled out any measures being introduced before the budget in October and the Taoiseach said that: "can give relief to people in terms of the pressures that they are currently facing."

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