David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Sorry, the Social Democrats. They have given us an opportunity to have this discussion. If you talk to anybody in the real world, the cost of living is one of the biggest issues impacting workers and families. People are paying huge amounts of money on mortgages, rents, childcare and insurance costs. Almost everything is going up. That includes the price of groceries and food. It seems everybody is aware of this with the exception of the Government. It is unbelievable to people that while prices are going up, the Government is setting its face against any cost-of-living package in the upcoming budget. It seems to be saying that it knows prices are going up but people are on their own and there is nothing it is going to do about it. That is outrageous. The Government is abandoning people who are hard pressed and cannot afford to pay basic bills.

As previous speakers have said, far too many families are unfortunately sitting around the table in their homes, making decisions about what bill to pay or not to pay. As Deputy Gould said, in some circumstances, they may be purchasing food that is not the best food for their children but it is the cheapest food and they have no other option. I have lost count of the number of people who have raised this with me. We all see it. None of us is immune to it but we are well paid in this House. There are people who are on much less than us and are trying to make ends meet and pay all of the bills, and they are finding it impossible. While they are finding it impossible, they have a Government which is telling them there is nothing it will do.

A Minister had a high-profile meeting with the main retailers about the price of groceries and food before the last election. He talked tough, stuck his chest out and said we are going to deal with this, then nothing happened. We have to look at what legal levers are there and what we can do. If those legal levers are not there, then we have to create them. If that means new legislation, that is what we have to do. Some of the profits have been outlined for some of these big multiples. They make billions of euro every year in profits. Prices go up which are unjustified in most circumstances and really hit hard-pressed families. As a State, Parliament and legislators, us throwing our hands up in the air and saying there is nothing we can do about it will not be and is not being accepted by people.

I obviously support the asks in the motion. We have to look at mandatory price arrangements and transparency. We have to make sure there is absolute transparency when it comes to pricing of food right across the board. That is obvious, but it is not happening. We also have to look at how we force these multiples to reduce the cost of food and how we stop them from jacking up prices, which they are doing out of pure greed and pure profiteering. I simply do not accept that that is beyond the Government or beyond Parliament. I suspect the Government simply does not have the stomach for this. It does not have the political will to deal with it, and that is worse. Saying that, at the moment, it has very limited powers, that it is doing everything it can but it is not really making any difference is one thing, to which I would argue that we should get more powers and change the law, but it is entirely different if the Government is indifferent. People feel that the Government is indifferent to their needs and indifferent to the rising costs of insurance. Deputy Pearse Doherty had a Bill passed in this House which has still not been enacted by Government to deal with the rising cost of insurance.

It seems to be the case in every area. When it comes to rents, the Opposition has put forward practical measures on how we can control rents, stop rent increases, and make sure the tax credit is much more generous than what the Government is doing. In almost all of these areas, the Opposition is putting forward proposals and solutions, yet the Government is ignoring them. We do not have affordable homes. We have mortgages and affordable houses in the region of €400,000, €500,000 or even more. It is unbelievable that, in a country that is very wealthy, we have so many people who are very poor and so many working people who cannot afford to pay for basic services. That is on the Government. There is no doubt about it. We can control rent prices. We can provide affordable homes. We could deal with the insurance industry if we wanted to. In my view, we can deal with the rising cost of food, but we have a Government that is indifferent. We have a Government which seems to think with regard to all of these areas that people should plough on, with all of the stress and mental health difficulties that go with it, and that mothers, fathers and working families across the State should just be let get on with it.

I do not believe that is acceptable. An awful lot more needs to be done. I am not satisfied at all with the contribution from the Minister and the response from Government so a lot more needs to be done. I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this very worthwhile motion and giving us the opportunity to discuss it.

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