Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I also acknowledge Nicola Sturgeon's stepping down today after an eight-year term as Scotland's First Minister. She has been undoubtedly a powerful force in Scottish politics throughout that time. I wish her well personally following that surprise announcement.

The Taoiseach has acknowledged that people across the country are struggling despite the Government's measures introduced in the budget last year. We in the Labour Party predicted last October that there would need to be a mini-budget or a series of further measures implemented by the Government in the spring in order to deal with the cliff edge so many households face now as they see one-off measures come to an end. The Taoiseach has said he will meet with Ministers later this week and will make recommendations to the Cabinet on Tuesday. We are likely, therefore, to see in coming days a drip-feed of leaks emerge from the parliamentary party meetings of Government parties. We are likely to see kites flown and the Government testing the waters to see which proposals are politically expedient and which are not. I hope I am wrong in that prediction but I think it is very likely. However, it would be an insult to households across Ireland who are simply powerless at present. They are unable to plan for the future because they simply have no clarity or certainty from the Government on what will be included in what it is not calling a mini-budget but what will undoubtedly be some sort of cost-of-living package of measures. We are already hearing stories about what may be introduced by the Government but we need clarity.

I will give the Taoiseach an example of a household in my constituency which simply cannot withstand this non-stop kite flying and needs urgently to see clarity from the Government. I raised this case earlier today during the debate on the windfall tax. My constituents, a family of two adults and two children, received a heating bill recently. Despite having been away for three weeks over the two-month billing period, their district heating bill for those two months alone stands at €1,700, a shocking figure. They cannot afford to wait weeks without knowing with any clarity what will come from the Government to assist them.

Other constituents of mine, a single mother and her child who are housing assistance payment, HAP, tenants, have been forced to turn off their heat and hot water altogether because they cannot afford the extortionate bills. With seriously cold weather due to arrive at the end of this month and a "beast from the east" predicted, that mother, and so many others, cannot afford weeks of kite flying from the Government.

We have heard from so many other constituents. One family cannot pay off their tracker mortgage, which is likely to have risen by over €450 per month with the new interest rate increases. They say they simply cannot afford to cut back on anything else.

Right across the country people are struggling. What we need to see is clarity from the Government now as to when the mini-budget will be announced and what its measures will include. Will they be targeted, as Social Justice Ireland has called for, or will they be simply a series of more universal measures which are unlikely to make any real impact for the families I am talking about who are struggling and are in such a dire state of paralysis because they simply do not know how they will meet their spiralling bills?

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