Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. She is absolutely correct on one matter: the cost-of-living crisis is real for households and families in urban and rural Ireland. That is why it requires action, not just at budget time but from this Government on a regular basis, which can be seen in a range of measures. In advance of Christmas, there were more than €4 billion worth of measures to help people with the cost of winter across a range of areas such as lump sum payments, weekly payment increases and tax reductions kicking in for working families in January. It will be seen shortly by families with children throughout the country, who will benefit from an increase in child benefit of an extra €100 per child next month. This is a Government which, by any objective measure, is acting and using the hard-earned money of the people, paid in taxes, to give a bit back and try to make things a bit easier.

It is really disappointing that the Deputy tried to suggest that the Government is sitting on its hands. You get used to it from the Opposition but it is simply not true. On energy, every household benefited from a €200 payment, not once or twice but three times in energy credits. We provided everybody on the fuel allowance with a top-up payment of a €400 lump sum, which Sinn Féin did not even fathom in its alternative budget. We did that before Christmas, accepting that it was coming into the winter. We extended eligibility for the fuel allowance. I note the two cases the Deputy shared and we think of them. I accept the struggles they face but I think of them, as she described them both, as older people. The measures taken by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, mean that 80,000 more older people will benefit from the fuel allowance under plans this Government has enacted. We are taking action every day. Beyond families, there is the energy scheme for business that we put in place and the decision to extend it so people have until the end of May. We will keep it under review to ensure more businesses can qualify in order to help small and medium-sized businesses across the country. We are taking real action. Those examples are just in the energy space; there are many other areas.

I do not doubt the Deputy's bona fides at all or her sincerity. I know her to be a hardworking public representative but I can only judge her on her party's policy, which is why I am surprised she mentioned energy because Sinn Féin had gone terribly quiet about it for a while. Usually, the Opposition can stand up and say whatever it wants and we never get to see how it plays out in the real world. Unfortunately for the Opposition, Liz Truss became the British Prime Minister, albeit for a very brief period.

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