Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

I thank the Minister of State for her contribution. There were certainly some standout parts in her speech and I will pick out a few of them, if I may. To provide the context in which a motion such as this is brought to the Chamber, and I appreciate the Government understands the motivation of the Social Democrats for doing so, we should reiterate that throughout Ireland parents are skipping meals so their children do not go hungry. That is not a trend that started this year; it has been ongoing and captured by a number of agencies, including One Parent Family, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and a multitude of agencies working in the area of poverty. They have highlighted that parents are literally skipping meals. They choose between heating and eating during the colder months of the year. They are worried about buying shoes. We should also recognise that a measurement of poverty in the State is the absence of a second pair of shoes and a warm coat. Yesterday my party's leader, Deputy O'Callaghan, spoke about people not being able to afford a birthday present and, therefore, children not going to parties. Children and their parents in this country are not taking on recreational activities precisely because they live in poverty. This poverty is insidious throughout the fibre of Irish society.

Not only does poverty cost and erode the very condition of a person, but it also costs the State more than €4 billion a year. Yesterday, Barnardos told us that 40% of parents have borrowed money just to cover essentials and one third have fallen into arrears on their energy bills. We know all of this but, at the same time, people now pay more than €3,000 a year for the exact same weekly shop they got last year. There is no transparency in how the prices are set and who is making the profits. When the Minister of State and the Government tell us that the €10 million turnover threshold proposed in the motion would capture a significant number of companies classified as small enterprises under an EU definition, and that imposing a full audit and disclosure requirement on these businesses would represent a disproportionate regulatory burden, particularly for family-owned regionally based retailers that operate on relatively narrow margins, I cannot help but think of the average family in this country, whether they may be in rural areas or in Dublin. They have seen the price of their grocery shop increase by €3,000 in a short space of time. Can we imagine the burden this places on their family budget? Can we imagine the choice they have to determine between what they have for dinner today and what they may go without so the children do not have to? This is the type of burden at the heart of this.

We can measure poverty and I have just spoken about the indicators. The indicators are precisely what people go without. We cannot measure abundance, however, if we do not have data and evidence to understand who is making what profits and where. All we are asking for in the motion is precisely this. We are asking the companies to tell us what they make so we understand whether profiteering is happening. When the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, brought in the retailers for the photo opportunity in 2023, he assured us he would get tough on these retailers. I would argue that the evidence is in the cupboards of people the length and breadth of this country. All the Social Democrats are asking for in the motion is transparency for companies earning more than €10 million. I do not think too many companies that have an income of €10 million would self-identify as small local shops-----

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