Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I will tell the Minister what is not sustainable. It is not sustainable to tell families that are struggling so badly now that his only response is to refer them to the national development plan, budgetary parameters and whatever other political jargon he has got written down and has placed on the record of the Dáil. Does he understand how widespread this experience is? He keeps talking about targeted measures. Does he understand how widespread the experience is now for households that cannot make their bills? I have told him already, and he knows, that 300,000 households are already in arrears. I have told him that energy companies have hiked their prices upwards and upwards with no real substantive challenge from anyone in the Government. They can do what they want. I have told him that in the run-in to Christmas, families now - not next year but now, in November and December - cannot make it and the Government simply sings dumb. I find it astonishing that the Government is so out of touch. We need action now. We need the energy credits as an immediate response, but the Government needs to take on these energy companies and face them down.

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