Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone who has contributed to the debate this evening. Workers, families, pensioners, carers, people on fixed and low incomes, people on modest and moderate incomes are being absolutely creased. Rents have increased; they are the highest in Europe. Energy bills have increased. The numbers in arrears with their electricity and energy bills are spiralling out of control.

More than 160,000 households are now in gas arrears. Mortgage interest rates are rising and now grocery prices have risen to an unsustainable level.

I welcome that the Government is not opposing this motion but I would have preferred to have heard from its members about what they are prepared to do. They treated us to the greatest hits of stuff that they have done. They gave themselves all the pats on the backs, but what are they actually going to do? They threw around the blame when they came in here. They blamed China, Covid-19 and the invasion of Ukraine. All of these are contributing factors. All of these are beyond the Government’s control. Yet, what about what they can control? What about what they can do?

Instead, we heard from the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, that he “expects” and he “hopes” that prices will come down. We can all go home, light a candle, say a prayer and hope that prices come down, but this is the Government. It is up to it to go in and stand up for people with these retailers tomorrow and demand that prices come down. Furthermore, it should tell them what it will do. We heard the Minister of State come in here saying, “No, we are ruling out price caps”. Tell them what the Government will do. Do not tell us how powerless it is. Do not tell us it would love to help but it cannot. Certainly, do not tell people who are struggling to pay for their groceries what the Government says it has done for them already, because they are in dire straits now.

The reality for families is that some of them are dreading this summer. I spoke to a woman at the weekend, and she said, “Jesus when the summer comes, the kids will just eat and eat”. It is one thing to have to say no to your kids if they want to go to the zoo or if they want a trip out. That is tough. That is not nice. Yet, they have to say no to their children about food. That should spur the Government on to ensure that prices come down.

The Government is giving these retailers loads of time. It is saying, “Ah, sure, come back to us in the middle of June or towards the end of June. See what you can do, lads, and come back”. That is not good enough. That is not what people want to hear. When we say the Government is out of touch, this is what we mean. When we say the Government just does not get it, this is what we mean. Government members say they “hope” the prices will come down and they expect that they might, but what are they going to do about it? How are they going to ensure the prices come down?

The reality for working people, as outlined by the Unite trade union, is that in real terms their wages have fallen by €76 on average per week. That is the purchasing power they now have when they are trying to buy food, nappies and whatever their family needs. They are down by €76 on average per week. Therefore, Government members telling them that they think their wages might go up next year, the year after or at some point in the future speaks to how tone deaf the Government is. I say this because people are struggling now. They do not think about going to the supermarket in a year's time, two years’ time or at some time when there may be a Government that actually has the interests of ordinary people at heart. They have to go to the supermarket this week. They have to put stuff back. We have all seen them. I do not know if members of the Government are blind to it when they go to their own shops, but I see it in mine. People are saying to their kids, “No, put that back, no mammy won’t get that this week”. Then they get to the checkout. I worked in a retailer during the last recession and I know this only too well. You can see the signs. They will have a reasonable tot in their head of how much their groceries will cost, but they say to the woman on the checkout, “How much is it now? I will leave that back”.

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