Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

This is shocking news emerging about the plane crash.

I want to deal with the issue of the cost of living. I was going to raise the issue of education and how some schools are under pressure to keep the lights on. However, I see the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party is more interested in the phone pouches. Let me just talk about electricity prices. Yesterday, we learned that there is a proposal to hike electricity prices again. This is serious because people are being fleeced right across the board. Irish people already pay some of the highest electricity prices in Europe. We pay €350 more than the European average. That is what you get after 14 years of Fine Gael in government. The Government wants to jack up prices even further. It wants to add another €83 on to that. This is money that comes out of people's pockets in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.

Does the Tánaiste not listen to his constituents who tell him about their grocery bills going through the roof? Does he not hear that the number of children in consistent poverty has nearly doubled in a year? Does he not hear about schools pleading for funding to keep the lights on rather than asking for phone pouches? These price rises should not be going ahead. Instead, a cost-of-living package should be included in the budget. This should include a substantial amount for energy credits.

Will the Tánaiste ensure there is not a hike in electricity prices, as has been proposed? Instead, will he commit to bringing forward a cost-of-living package that will include electricity in recognition that after 14 years of Fine Gael in government, we pay among the highest electricity prices in Europe?

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