Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin has repeatedly brought forward sensible and costed proposals to help protect those under pressure from the rising cost of living. People throughout the country are watching this and they are watching the intransigence of the Government. It is almost wearing it as a badge of honour that it is going to hold out until October. Even some of the Government Teachtaí Dála know what people are going through and they do not agree with this. The eyes of the country are on the Government and they are on the Teachtaí in their constituencies to see what they are going to do when these proposals are put forward. These are fully costed and sensible measures that will make a real difference in people's lives and they need to be taken. Even the Tory government has had three emergency budgets, I think, in the past year and it is looking to a fourth one, yet the coalition here cannot do that.

Supporting those most exposed to price increases is right and fair. It is also economically prudent to protect people from inflation, as otherwise we see the damage to our domestic economy. When people have no money left after half filling the tank, ordering the heating oil or even going grocery shopping, then workers and families suffer, but so does the wider economy. The modified domestic demand, which is a better measure of domestic conditions than GDP, contracted by 1% year on year. The Government almost seems to be embracing a recession and embracing the fact people are now paying household bills with credit cards. They will pay huge amounts of interest on those credit cards in the next few months, so it is accumulating all the time. All of this should be a warning that inflation is hitting the domestic economy. We need a sensible approach to managing inflation. We need to protect low- and middle-income workers and households from the worst impacts of price rises, guard against the domestic demand destruction, and protect the economy and jobs.

The Minister of State would have something to say if we did not have the money but we have it. We have €5.6 billion more in tax revenue this year than has been expected. What we are missing is the political will. Inaction and indecision is just not washing with people. The Minister of State knows that and the Government knows that. People know the Government is not listening. It is saying hold out and it will make a big announcement in October. The suffering and the pressure people are under and will be under from now until October and beyond is too much for them to bear. Inaction and indecision in the face of inflation is the same as the harsh cuts that were seen during austerity. Deputy Doherty put it very well on MidWest Radio today. He said it is like telling the child or the family we know you are hungry today but you will be hungrier next week and we will do something about it then. We will come along to the rescue then. I tell the Minister of State this is wrong. It is wrong on so many levels. The Government needs to rethink this and it really needs to support these sensible measures to show people it cares.

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