Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Doherty very much. The numbers from the CSO this morning indicate that inflation has now risen to 9.6%, which is the highest rate of inflation we have experienced in 40 years. I think it confirms what people are experiencing in their daily lives. We see it at the fuel pumps, in the supermarkets and in our utility bills. The price of everything is going up and the price of nothing is going down. We face an unprecedented situation, however. We have war on our Continent for the first time in 40 years. We had a pandemic for the first time in 100 years with much of the snapback and demands contributing to inflation. We had the zero Covid policies in China. We are also at the end of an unprecedented period of monetary policy characterised by low inflation, low interest rates and central banks all over the world printing a lot of money. It is, therefore, an unprecedented set of scenarios. Things we have not seen in 40 to 100 years are leading to a global inflation crisis, which is resulting in prices rising at a faster rate than at any point in 40 years.

It is important to say that budgetary measures and actions the Government has taken and will take can help to ease the cost of living and burden of inflation for people. No budget, however, whether it is an early, late, emergency or ordinary budget, will get us on top of the inflation crisis. We need to tame inflation and that requires a comprehensive approach that includes international action, action at a European level and also domestic action. What we must do over the next six months to one year is get inflation down and tame it, not fan the fires of inflation. That will not help anyone in the long run. We must avoid that.

I note that the Deputy made no acknowledgement whatsoever in his contribution of what has been done to date, which I think was unfair and inaccurate. From listening to the Deputy's contribution, one would think that nothing has been done at all in the past seven months while this Dáil was in session. Let me recap on that. In January, we had an increase in the minimum wage, an increase in pensions, an increase in welfare payments, and a reduction in income taxes for low, middle and high-income people, all of which the Deputy's party opposed. Since then, we have had reductions in VAT on electricity and gas, reductions in excise on petrol and diesel, €200 taken off people's electricity bills, and an increase in the fuel allowance. Only this week, people saw an increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance for those least well-off families who need it most. Contrast that with Northern Ireland, where the increase was £7 or £8 or something in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance-----

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