Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The recent French presidential and assembly elections confirmed the absolute crisis in the cost of living that is sweeping Europe. Interestingly, even Macron's government, which is widely discredited among very significant layers of French people, some of whose disillusionment I am glad has led to success for radical left forces around the NUPES coalition but, more worryingly, has also seen a rise in support for what are essentially fascists on the French far right, has moved to control energy prices and limit energy price increases to 4%. It has also introduced new forms of rent control to try to link rents to people's ability to pay. We have made those proposals here and the Government has resisted. Why is it that even Macron's government, which is hardly radical, is trying to control key things such as energy prices and rents, while the Government holds out against doing that?

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