Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

Let us look at what is actually happening under the Government's watch. A total of 300,000 households are in debt with their electricity bills. One in five children is in poverty under its watch.

Now today, I have told the Taoiseach two teachers who want to send their child to college - who wants to go to college - cannot afford to send them because of the policies he has implemented because the Government has failed to grasp the nettle here when it comes to the cost-of-living crisis.

To be honest, I have listened to what the Taoiseach has had to say here today which is people are imagining this cost-of-living crisis. Clearly from what he is telling us is, the Government has done all these things that are alleviating it. Well, they are not working. As Taoiseach, you need to take leadership and a bit ownership on this. The Taoiseach needs to grasp this nettle to say yes, there is a serious cost-of-living crisis and this is what I am going to do. The Government needs to accept the reality that what it has been doing to this point has pushed more people into poverty, into debt and has pushed more children into homelessness and poverty.

What people want to hear from the Taoiseach today is what is he going to do now to help them.

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