Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yet, the Minister still does not get it. He had his time. He does not get that people who are dependent on social welfare need to see their payment rates increase to keep in line with inflation. He does not get that we need to see additional support, such as cost-of-living cash payments paid directly to low- and middle-income earners, targeted to those most in need, or to set up a debt utility fund to help people to pay what their debts cost. He does not get it, and he has never gotten it as long as he has been in government, that the housing crisis and the spiralling rents that people are paying need to be dealt with. We need to a month's rent back in renters' pockets through a refundable tax credit. In addition, we need to slash the cost of childcare.

The Ministers will go away on their holidays, come back in October and then tell the public what they are going to do. Unfortunately, people the length and breadth of this State, including the one in the three people who are in energy poverty, the one in three, according to the Bank of Ireland survey, who are finding it difficult to make ends meet or the people who are now going in droves to avail of food parcels, cannot wait. They cannot wait for the Minister to get his act together in October because the bills keep on rolling in. If the washing machine breaks down, they do not know how they will fix it. They do not know how they will send their kids back to school at the end of August, come September. These are the real pressures in the real world for people who are not insulated from the cost-of-living pressures.

I appeal to all Deputies. We heard some of the backbenches in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil rightly calling out their own Government because it is so far out of touch in terms of what needs to happen. Do the right thing and support the motion. Bring forward an emergency budget that is targeted at those most in need at this time of crisis in these people's lives.

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