Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)

I spoke to a woman in my clinic on Monday who told me she is worried and anxious. She said she is nearly getting panic attacks because she does not know how she, her husband and her three kids are going to get through Christmas and what they are going to do in January when Christmas is over. They are doing everything now. She said they are watching the children in case they touch the heaters in the house yet here we have tax breaks for people who do not need them, that is, for people who are on gold-plated pensions and wealthy people. Ordinary hardworking families are getting no break from this Government.

This budget has completely left ordinary workers behind. Who wanted this measure put into the budget? The only people who could have looked for this were the rich, the wealthy and those who want to maximise the money they can make and the money they can save. This is when ordinary families are worried about putting on the heating and getting presents for Christmas. They are not worried about gold-plated pensions. Does the Tánaiste know why? It is because they will never have them. The cost-of-living crisis is destroying families and at the same time, the Government thinks to give tax breaks to the wealthy - gold-plated pensions, jobs for the boys, Galway tent, here we go again - while people are talking about how they are going to give their kids a good Christmas.

The Government has stated it is €10 million but we know it is going to be an awful lot more than that. This time next year, if God is good, the Tánaiste and I are going to be here and I am going to ask him how much it cost us. If it is more than €10 million then will he say he will get rid of it? There is no justification for giving people who have gold-plated pensions more money. Where is the justification? I have people who worry about how they are going to look after their kids. I was at a housing committee meeting last week where Clúid was before us. We were talking about energy poverty and EnergyCloud. It is a great idea. The witnesses were telling us people were choosing between turning on the heating and paying their rent. That is not me. There were Government TDs and Senators at that meeting where we were told people were making that choice. You have to do both of them. You just have to. You are going to lose your house or you are going to freeze; it is one or the other. Then at the same time the Tánaiste comes in here to talk about giving the wealthy more money. We all make mistakes in life. We are being genuine here. This is a measure that should not be in this budget. We have seen child poverty double in the last 12 months according to the statistics. At the same time we are saying to the lads and the girls who have loads of money to come on in and we will give them more of it. For the love of God.

We try to be constructive. I have been listening to Deputies Doherty and Farrell trying to be constructive all night. We can make this a better budget. Even if we disagree with major parts of it we could still help improve it. I ask the Tánaiste to take on board this recommendation because giving rich people more money cannot be justified.

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