Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

The cost-of-living crisis has not gone away. This is an ongoing crisis that has decimated peoples wages, savings and ability to make ends meet. People have seen thousands of euro extra in energy and mortgage payments, and thousands are never going to get it back. They have covered that cost by emptying their savings, putting themselves in debt, and through a massive reduction in the standard of living for many in this country. This crisis has reduced how much people can afford to eat and whether they can afford to heat their houses and heat their water. I have seen people choose between basic necessities just to get to the end of the week or the month. At least 50% of the massive inflation we have seen has been caused primarily by price gouging and profiteering. Oxfam was called this a cost-of-profit crisis. We are one of the richest countries in the world and we should not have people deciding between food and heat or between food for themselves or food for their kids. People are facing these choices knowing their savings are spent, or they have gone into big debt that they now have to pay back and their lives have got worse. People do not have anything left in the tank but food prices are still high, energy prices are still high, rents and mortgages are still going up, and this Government has no real answers to the situation and the effects this crisis will have for years to come.

In the middle of this the Government has left workers out to dry. When the Iceland retail company had Food Safety Authority problems, there were inspectors in every store the next day. When Iceland stopped properly paying the workers their wages, holiday pay and sick pay, there was no State response, no inspectors, no investigation and no reaction from the Government whatsoever. The Government stood by and let a rogue employer stiff these workers in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis because workers' rights in this country have no teeth and no enforcement. The Government has let this happen because it does not represent ordinary people. It represents the giant corporations, energy companies, big landlords, banks and vulture funds who have made billions of euro in profits while pushing people into poverty, debt and homelessness.

I support this motion from Sinn Féin. People need to know now they are getting help with their mortgages and not when the budget comes out. It is a positive contribution to give relief from the ten interest rate hikes in the past year, which have cut people's incomes by between €3,000 and €5,000 a year. I support in particular the motion's call for levying the banks to pay for this. We should be taxing any company that has made massive profits in this crisis and put this into public services and back into people's pockets as part of a workers' social wage. I support the People Before Profit motion to cap the annual percentage rate by mortgage lenders.

We will not stop the profit being made on the back of this crisis unless we stop profiteering, particularly excess profiteering, and we start to tax those profits back.

I also want to register the cost-of-living protest on 7 October. This protest will be people's opportunity to let their Government know that they want a change in politics that represents the interests of the majority, not the minority, in this country.

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