Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Deputies O'Reilly and Bennett have laid out our particular issues with auto-enrolment. We would all like to be here in support of an idea my party has always been in support of, but the system the Government is talking about is not that. I do not know how many debates there have been since the resumption about the fact people out there are absolutely suffering in a cost-of-living crisis, especially those who are at the middle, and even more so those at the lowest end, when it comes to earnings. We are talking about taking money from them.

For somebody earning €20,000, we could be taking €20 to €30 a month from them. To some people that does not sound like a lot of money but for those who do not have it, it is an absolutely huge amount. We know the inflationary pressures. Anybody who has been to a shopping centre in the last while or anybody who has had to shop for groceries knows exactly what you used to be able to get butter for and what it costs now. A lot of people know it on the basis of the absolutely extortionate levels of rent they pay due to the housing crisis. We have not been able to deal with and put a decent framework in place in relation to energy provision in this State. We have some of the dearest energy costs across Europe, and we know privatisation and many other factors have played a part. I accept not all of this is on the Minister, but it is due to multiple failures to deal with this over multiple years.

At this point in time, we are where we are. It is really difficult if we are going to take money from some of those who most need it. That is combined with the added pressures they are under at this time in relation to the cost-of-living crisis. This is a time when the Government has moved itself back from at least some of the mitigations that have been offered in previous budgets, such as the energy credits. We know the issue for those who have to pay third level fees, some of whom are looking at €1,000 more than for last year. If they have multiple children that could be a number of thousand more.

This is not a particularly good time for that. When we talk about putting frameworks in place and making sure we have a proper system that works, it is absolutely logical to have the State dealing with this money so it can invest in those capital projects that actually pay off in a really big way. We are talking about housing and the absolute mess that is the housing crisis. People have to live with unaffordable houses and unaffordable rents every day of the week. We will be taking money from some of these people without giving them the option fast enough to mitigate some of that pain, at the same time as the Government is set to hammer them in a budget when some of them are still expecting that there will be some element of reprieve. The Minister has to look at this and find a system that will work while also looking after those who are under severe pressure.

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