Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----that are put forward, but was a decision by Government. As one of my constituents said, it was the equivalent of the Government putting a tax on a loaf of bread. This is the thing that some people on the other side of the House do not recognise. For people in my constituency driving a car is not a luxury. It is essential for them to be able to get to work, to drive their kids to school because they cannot access school transport in some instances or even to drop their kids at a football game.

What the Government is doing in increasing the cost of doing those things at a time when people are already struggling with energy costs, which have just gone beyond what was once even imaginable, with insurance costs, housing costs, whether it be rents or mortgage costs, and the increasing cost of groceries, is making people's lives more difficult. The suggestion made again that this is something to do with environmentalism or climate action is laughable. What is the Minister's proposal right now? His current proposal is that on 11 October he will increase petrol by 2 cent and diesel by 2.5 cent. On 31 October, he proposes to increase petrol again by a further 8 cent and he will increase diesel again by a further 6 cent. All of these increases are happening at a time when fuel prices are increasing on their own anyway.

That is the net result of the Government's current trajectory. It will push families to the brink. It will push many of them into a personal debt crisis, even those who a number of years ago would have considered themselves to be well-off. It will push businesses in my constituency out of business. meaning there will be a cost to the economy in many communities as a result of this measure unless the Government takes action.

The Minister mentioned the measures he took in March and mentioned some of the other measures the Government has taken. In every single one of those instances, it took Deputy Doherty or another Sinn Féin Deputy to bring a motion before this House to embarrass the Government into taking action. I hope this motion has the same effect on it. I hope we will see real, meaningful reductions in the cost of people travelling to their place of work. That is what people deserve and what they are demanding in the budget.

See this speech in context