Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

Ireland is the second-most expensive country in Europe. It is quite incredible we have a situation where parents are lying awake at night not knowing how they are going to pay certain bills. I know parents who, as soon as their monthly wages drop in, go into another overdraft to keep them going until the wages next come in. The Barnardos report yesterday was absolutely shocking. For some reason we have considered this to be an extremely wealthy country, but so many families here are living just on the margins when it comes to being able to cover their costs. That there are 250,000 children in poverty is an indictment of this Government and its policies.

One of the biggest creators of inflation and cost in the country is the Government. It took in €4.1 billion in energy taxes last year. It is incredible. It took in more in energy taxes last year in the jaws of a cost-of-living crisis than has ever been collected before. Carbon taxes topped €1 billion last year and it is hardwired in that they are going to continue to rise for the next five years.

Another problem in this State is the supermarket sector and the food processing sector are both oligopolies. They have been allowed develop into oligopolies and they have oligopoly power. Their strong buyer power means can force down the prices coming from farmers, whether they are in arable or meat.

A small number of these sectors with enormous power are pushing down the prices for the people who are providing the food and, at the other end, they are actually pushing up the prices of products going to the families. They have been allowed to operate in this regard by the Government for many years.

I met staff from the food regulator's office recently. They told me about an investigation they did into the price of eggs. They said they went into a number of different supermarkets, including Aldi, Lidl, Dunnes Stores, and asked for the price of eggs in those locations. They were told, "No, tough, you are not getting the information." The Government was so brave. It gave the power to the food regulator to ask the companies for information, but those companies can still give the two fingers to the food regulator and say, "Absolutely not." The Government needs to give the power to compel that information to the food regulator so we can understand exactly what is happening in these companies as to how they are gouging the customer.

I welcome this motion by the Social Democrats. I am worried that the Government will sit on its hands as usual and families will be assaulted over and over again by these costs.

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