Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste is cheering for Europe one day and then telling us the EUROSTAT report is not accurate and that other places took more action. No place took any less action than we took here. The Government can take action on fuel. The price of fuel in some countries is down to €1.39 per litre. The Government wants its greedy paws on VAT and excise duties, which it has failed to remove because of the money coming in to keep higher wages and give an increase of €60 million or €70 million annually to higher civil servants, as it did last week. The Tánaiste did not call it a pay increase but a pay return.

To hell with na daoine beaga. To hell with the little people. Those are the people who are suffering. They are not evaluating the EUROSTAT report the way the Tánaiste is and trying to find and cherry-pick the good bits. They know the pain and suffering they are going through. They know how uncaring the Government of the Tánaiste, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, supported by a selection of Independents, is and how little it cares about them. Tá siad ag fanacht leo. They are waiting for them. The Government refuses to act. It will not and seems to be unable to act. That is the sad situation. We cannot wait for a budget in October because, as we and the public know, any measures that would help the public will not come into effect until the following January or April. "Live, horse, and you will get grass" will not cut it anymore. The Tánaiste should do something for the people he is supposed to represent and was elected to represent.

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