Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The latest statistics from the EUROSTAT agency estimate that Ireland's annual inflation hit 9.6% in June. This is the highest rate of inflation since 1983. Ireland's real economy is in a very dire place today. The Government is good at cherry-picking certain economic variables and spinning those to make matters look better but the sad reality is that this country is now more unequal than at any point in our history.

A recent nationwide survey of 2,300 people by The Mirrorhighlighted that 64% of Irish people feel they are living in relative poverty. Eight out of ten Irish people are struggling to pay their bills and more than half are under pressure with their mortgage repayments. A figure of 64% are eating less healthy to save money, 58% spend less money on their children, 88% are staying at home and are stopping social activities and 39% have asked family and friends for financial help. The findings of this survey tally with what the people in my constituency of Cork South-West tell me.

The cruel and heartless decision by the Government not to introduce an emergency budget illustrates that it is out of touch and cares little about the struggles of these people. Instead, the Government is behaving like a British landlord in Ireland during Famine times and looking the other way. It is a shameful and despicable treatment of the Irish people.

The current cost-of-living crisis is financially crippling to all lower-income earners, including pensioners, struggling mortgage holders and the unemployed. It is also having a disproportionate impact on all rural residents. Farmers face a 300% increase in the cost of fertiliser combined with the huge impacts of fuel and feed costs. Fuel costs are leading to fishermen's boats staying tied up at piers across the country. The skimpy packaging measures announced by the Government to date are grossly insufficient. It feels like a wet sticking plaster on a wound given the depth and impact of this crisis. That is why a robust emergency budget, for which the Rural Independent Group tabled a motion back in February and which the Government blocked, is now long overdue.

The Government has been idle, allowing costs to soar while simultaneously benefiting from record VAT excise duties and carbon taxes from fuel, home heating, electricity, household goods, building materials, fertiliser and animal feed. The only meaningful way tackle current inflation and protect consumers is through taxation reliefs. Unfortunately, swift Government action on this or any public crisis is rare or reserved only for the large corporate vested interests such as banks that were bailed out by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. Standing by and paying lip service it is emergency is no longer a tenable position to hold, however. Measures introduced in a budget that will be brought forward by two weeks in the autumn will be too late and pushes the response out into 2023 for many.

We need action now from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Will the Tánaiste immediately introduce an emergency budget? Will he immediately drop the carbon tax on fuel, which will help struggling families, or will he brazenly sit on his hands leaving the Irish people to lose their homes, fishing boats, businesses, lorries and livelihoods?

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