Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)

I do not think the Tánaiste answered the question. I asked him where was the tax break for ordinary workers in this budget. There was none. There was naught for ordinary workers. How can the Tánaiste then justify giving a tax break to people who have gold-plated pensions anyway? As Deputy Doherty has outlined, this is a tax break of €325,000. I do not know who is watching here tonight but ordinary families are talking about the cost-of-living crisis, filling cars with petrol or diesel, the increase in the cost of home heating oil and not being able to pay for their electricity or struggling to do so. People are counting every cent when they go to the shops. You see them adding everything up on their phones or other devices because they can only buy so much. No breaks were given to those families in this budget. How can the Tánaiste justify doing this at the same time? I know he is new in the job but he has been in politics and this Government for a long time. I am sure there is nothing in this budget that he is not 100% across and that he does not 100% support.

I will ask my question again. Ordinary people out there might be watching this. They might not. They might be at home worrying like that lady I spoke to on Monday who is on the verge of panic attacks. Do you know what she said to me? She told me she cannot tell her husband because she does not want to worry him because he is going out to work every day. She is looking after the kids and working part-time. She is now looking at how she could work full-time. Ordinary people cannot keep a roof over their heads if they do not have two jobs. I was talking to a woman on the phone a while ago. She is in arrears with her HAP. She pays €130 a week in rent but she has to pay €490 as a HAP tenant. She is in arrears and could be out of her house in a month-----

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