Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

Ní aontaím leis an Teachta in aon chor. Is léir gur chuireamar an-chuid áiseanna ar fáil sa cháinaisnéis, go háirithe do na daoine bochta agus do na daoine ar ioncam íseal. Rinneamar an-chuid infheistíochta in infreastruchtúr na tíre agus mar aon leis sin chuireamar an-chuid isteach do dhaoine le riachtanais speisialta agus do dhaoine a bhfuil ioncam íseal acu. Tackling energy and affordability is a priority of Government. People are under pressure. Up to €3.3 billion had been allocated through energy credits. That did not have any impact in terms of reducing the permanent cost of energy. Of course, the Department of Finance, the Department of public expenditure or, indeed, the Department of Social Protection would not have supported the universality of energy credits on this occasion. The Deputy talks about one group of officials in the Department of energy who had views but there is the broader Government there. We also took the view that we wanted to concentrate and prioritise our resources on those on the lowest incomes and those who would be most impacted by the energy price increases. Therefore, we increased the fuel allowance and we also increased the number of people who would be entitled to the fuel allowance, particularly those on working family payments. Some 26% of households are now entitled to the fuel allowance and that is a help to people facing energy costs. There has been huge investment in terms of the retrofitting programme and the warmer homes scheme, which now has hundreds of thousands of people benefiting from that. There are also the microgeneration supports. About 150,000 people have benefited from the supports we have given for microgeneration.

We prioritised the issue of child poverty. We provided an additional €8 per week for children under 12, bringing that weekly payment to €58 and an additional €16 per week for children aged 12 or over, bringing that weekly child support payment to €78. These are unprecedented increases. We deliberately targeted those households to get far more additionality. Then we invested very significantly in infrastructure.

When I look at the Central Bank and how it analyses inflationary pressures and so on, the Sinn Féin budget would have added - Sinn Féin wanted billions and billions of more spending - 2.5% to the rate of inflation and to the cost of living. That is what its proposals would have done. That would have actually disadvantaged people even more. We have to get the balance right here. It is not fiscally sustainable to have a once-off package every single year for the next number of years. It is just not sustainable.

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