Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

Wholesale prices are down considerably, by over 70%, and that reduction is not being passed on, so bills are rising. Energy companies are profiteering, turning huge profits, and the Government is sitting idly by. Families and workers are struggling hard and the Government sits idly by. It is too lily-livered or perhaps too indifferent to bother to intervene and take this on.

I notice the Taoiseach's language is rather more watery today, but he acknowledged and accepted yesterday that blatant gouging and profiteering are occurring. Surely he accepts that families are struggling in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. I want to know what he is going to do about it. He is not a commentator or some passive bystander. He is the Taoiseach. He is the Head of Government. I ask him to tell me how he will put a stop to this blatant gouging and profiteering. I ask him to tell me the precise actions he proposes to take.

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