Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

The Taoiseach has comprehensively ruled out providing a cost-of-living package in October's budget. The media today is full of reports that he is set to double down on the removal of support payments for struggling households. At a time when living costs are through the roof and people have been hit by skyrocketing prices from every direction, the Government proposes to abandon households and provide them with no help. The promises made during the election are disappearing like snow off a ditch.

People cannot believe their ears when they hear the Taoiseach talk as if the sky-high living costs they experience every day are a thing of the past. Extortionate prices are not past tense. People are being fleeced today. They are being fleeced when they open their electricity or gas bills, get to the checkout with the weekly shop, go to fill the car or go to buy basic toiletries like toothpaste or shampoo. The out-of-control cost of living is making it so hard for working people to keep their heads above water as we speak. For the Taoiseach to tell households that he is not going to help them and to almost boast that he is determined not to help shows that he really does not understand the pressure people are under. People are not looking for lip service or sympathy from Government; they are looking for support and fair play.

They are not getting a whole lot of fairness right now. For one thing, households in Ireland are paying 30% more on their electricity bills each year than the EU average. That is nearly €350 more. The ESRI says that it is difficult to explain why electricity prices here are so far above those in other countries. People are taken for a ride, and now the Taoiseach proposes to cancel the very help they desperately need with their energy bills. He should be continuing to provide energy credits as part of a cost-of-living package in the budget. That is the truth.

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