Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

Cá bhfuil an Taoiseach? I understand the Taoiseach is back in the country. He should be here taking questions. The cost of home heating oil has shot up €80 in just one month. It is a big blow. The average price for a fill of oil is now a staggering €980. This hike hits more than 1 million households, mostly rural families and the elderly, who rely on oil to heat their homes. Here is the real kick in the teeth. This unaffordable cost of home heating oil has been driven up by the Government’s decisions. Some €220 of the cost of a fill of oil is already carbon tax. The Government’s planned increases will add a further €150 in the time ahead. It has to be asked. How on earth does it think people can afford that? One family contacted me yesterday. They got a fill of heating oil last week and they have not turned on the heating since Friday because they need that fill to last over Christmas and throughout the new year. They are rationing their heat. The weather is colder now and the reality is that more and more working households struggle to pay their bills to light and heat their homes. Energy is unaffordable and people are being ripped off.

The Minister, Deputy O’Brien, met with the top brass at energy companies in September, and what happened? The majority hiked up their electricity prices with no fear of any consequence. Then, with winter on the horizon and energy bills going up, the Government chose to cancel energy credits in October's budget, a terrible decision, withdrawing the one bit of help people relied on to pay those rip-off bills. In fact, the Government delivered a budget of €9.4 billion that left working people worse off with no cost-of-living package while households are being hammered with no end in sight.

Social Justice Ireland reported yesterday how the slashing of cost-of-living supports has ratcheted up pressure and pushed more households into financial distress. People literally live in dread of the next electricity, gas or heating bill and I meet working parents who tell me they have bought extra blankets for their kids' beds because they cannot afford to turn on the heat. Elderly people are going to bed early to stay warm. Couples, often with two incomes, are borrowing from family members to pay their energy bills.

These are desperate situations, and the Government sticks its head in the sand.

Tá an Rialtas seo ag barr an ranga maidir le saol na ndaoine a dhéanamh níos deacra. Tá sé le feiceáil arís san ardú ar phraghas an ola don teas tí. Éilíonn teaghlaigh gníomhartha i dtreo saol níos inacmhainne. On the watch of the Government, the cost of lighting and heating a home has become unaffordable, and this simply cannot go on. Households cannot take any more. I know exactly what the Government has done to make life harder for people. It is obvious. It withdrew energy credits, it gives free reign to energy companies to hike up prices, it heaps additional carbon taxes onto home heating oil, it has cancelled cost-of-living supports, it delivered a budget of billions of euro that abandoned people - all bad choices that have made things even worse.

What action will be taken to make life affordable for people or will the Government simply continue to sit back and allow households to take the pain?

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