Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)

The price of butter has risen, according to the CSO, by 58% in 12 months. A staple in every house in the country has risen by nearly 60%. The CSO consumer price index shows that the prices of the most basic items have increased and the Government is doing nothing about it. For pensioners, those with disabilities, people with low incomes and families, this makes a difference between whether people go hungry or not. It is not just the most vulnerable in society. It is now hitting middle-class families and forcing people to make choices who never thought they were going to have to make choices, but now they do. Does the Minister of State know what is happening now? People are not shopping to put food on the table which is good for them or their kids, but they are shopping to buy the cheapest, whether it is the right food or not. How is that a right way for parents to have to react to look after their families? They have no choice. Christy Moore's song "Ordinary Man" has a line:

Well it seems to me such a cruel irony

He's richer now than ever he was before

The captains of industry are richer now than ever before, while ordinary people are forced to penny-pinch and cut back on luxuries to afford the most basic necessities. Christy Moore wrote that song years ago. It was as true then as it is now. The captains of industry and these big companies are making obscene profits and the Government is standing idly by like the Government stands idly by on so many things, because this Government of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is more interested in protecting big business, speculators and profiteers than it is in looking after the ordinary man and woman in the street, the ordinary person who needs protection. It is time that the Minister of State acts.

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