Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Arís, iarraim ar bhur dtacaíocht, más é bhur dtoil é, maidir le srianta ama.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Táthar ag súil ar maidin go n-ardódh an Banc Ceannais Eorpach a ráta úis arís faoi 0.75 pointe céatadáin eile. Sin méadú de dhá phointe céatadáin ó mhí iúil, agus beidh tionchar láithreach ag an ardú seo ar theaghlaigh a bhfuil morgáiste rianúcháin acu, le go leor ag feiceáil a gcuid aisíocaíochta ag ardú le €2,000 i gcomparáid le tús na bliana. Tá sé in am anois dearcadh arís ar fhaoiseamh ús morgáiste.

The Tánaiste will know that workers and families are struggling and that prices are rising and spilling over into every part of household budgets. The European Central Bank is expected today to raise interest rates again by another three quarters of a percentage point. That is a two percentage point increase since July of this year and it will have an immediate impact on households on tracker mortgages. Such a household with an outstanding balance of €200,000 would see its annual payment increase by more than €2,000 compared with the start of this year. For other mortgage holders, the decision rests with their banks as to whether they will pass these interest rate hikes on to their customers or absorb them.

Our position in Sinn Féin is clear. Banks should absorb these interest rate hikes in the interests of their customers. The banks are in a good position to do so and to do the right thing. In the first half of this year, Bank of Ireland and AIB had combined profits of €950 million. They have increased their market share since and have continued dividend payments to shareholders this year and, as the Central Bank made clear in May of this year, "Profitability in the banking sector has recovered and is set to be bolstered" as a result of rising interest rates. The Central Bank went further, noting that Irish banks were positioned to increase their profits more than other European banks as a result of rising interest rates. According to the banks' own estimates, these interest rate hikes could bolster their interest income by more than €1 billion each year.

Let us be clear: interest rate hikes announced by the ECB provide a bonanza for Irish banks. The financial outlook and position of our banks is strong, while for households it is not. Those on variable rates are at the mercy of these banks and the decisions they will make in the coming weeks and months. Their decisions could increase the mortgage repayments of households by thousands of euro. These households are already struggling to make ends meet. Banks need to do the right thing. They need to not pass on these interest rate hikes and they need to make that clear to their customers. Families have spent the past year looking at their household budgets. They are planning how best they can manage to get through the winter and into the coming year. However, no household could have anticipated that the cost of their mortgage would increase by this much and so quickly.

Will the Tánaiste join me in calling on the banks to do the right thing and not to pass these interest rate hikes on to households, which are already struggling under immense financial pressures? The Tánaiste will know that those on tracker mortgages will automatically see these rate hikes passed on to them, just as the previous two rate hikes have been passed on to them since July. These households cannot be expected to shoulder an additional burden of more than €2,000 per year in mortgage costs without the State and without the Government exploring every possible avenue to support them. Will the Tánaiste therefore commit to examining options to introduce targeted, tailored and time-bound mortgage interest relief to those who are most heavily impacted as a result of interest rate hikes announced by the ECB?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am conscious of the fact we have not had any announcement yet from the ECB on interest rates, but it is anticipated, or widely reported at least, that the ECB will raise interest rates by 0.75 of a percentage point today. I have to emphasise that, as we in this House all know, the European Central Bank is independent in its functions, does not take directions from this Government or any government and will make its decisions based on what it believes is the right thing to do for the economy in the round. I know that any increase in interest rates for mortgage holders will be very unwelcome. People who have tracker mortgages, in particular, will receive a third letter this year telling them their monthly repayments are going up. That is very much unwelcome for those of us who hold tracker mortgages. The ECB's rationale, however, as the Deputy will understand, will be that interest rates need to rise now to bring prices under control and to bring inflation down. That will be to the benefit of everyone. Ultimately, it is the remit of the European Central Bank to ensure we have price stability and that inflation is no higher than 2% per year. One of its tools is to increase interest rates; the other is quantitative tightening. It would appear the ECB intends to employ both those.

It is worth pointing out that we have had a prolonged period of very low interest rates for a long time now and that is now ending. We are likely to see interest rates closer to their long-term average in future. For example, as recently as 2014, not all that long ago, the average fixed interest rate for new lending was 4.1%; it is now 2.5%. That gives just an example of how low interest rates have gone. This prolonged period of low interest rates is not going to continue. We will see much more normal interest rates into the future. I know that will not be welcome for many people, but not telling people the truth should not be welcome either. It is important we tell people the truth about these things.

Any decision on variable rates, of course, is a commercial decision for the bank involved. I agree with the Deputy that banks should not use rising interest rates as an opportunity to make excessive profits, but they do need to take other factors into play as well. For example, we want banks to offer new mortgages to first-time buyers. We want them to offer those new mortgages at competitive rates. We want banks to offer long-term rates. Of course, many older people, who perhaps have some small savings, will be looking for an increase in their deposit rate. The banks have to take all of that into account. We cannot focus on just one group. That would not be fair. I agree with Deputy Doherty, however, that banks should not use this as an opportunity to make excessive profits.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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All those excessive profits the banks are making go untaxed under the Tánaiste's Government. The banks have told us themselves that, despite making nearly €1 billion in the first six months of this year, this will boost their interest income by another €1 billion. The Central Bank has told us that, of all European banks, Irish banks will benefit most from the hikes. It is not just about making excess profits. We are now in an almighty cost-of-living crisis and the banks should do the right thing. Some banks have not passed on the first two interest rate hikes. They need to do likewise with the third. I make that call on behalf of Sinn Féin to the banks today.

As the Tánaiste has recognised, there is an automatic increase for tracker mortgage customers. There has been mortgage interest relief in the past. It has been targeted. It was tailored and time-bound. Does the Tánaiste not believe it is now time to introduce a similar measure to deal with this shock? It is a shock to many tracker mortgage customers, who will see interest rate payments increase by €2,000 per year. As the Tánaiste will know, the European Central Bank has done three interest rate hikes. It has signalled that it could do as much as five, and there is expectation that there will be another early in the new year. Will the Tánaiste therefore consider options to look at mortgage interest relief in a tailored, time-bound fashion that is targeted at those who are most under pressure as a result of these moves?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I would love to bring back mortgage interest relief for people who have tracker mortgages - I would benefit from it myself, by the way, as would a huge number of my constituents in Dublin 15, but I cannot make those kinds of promises. We had mortgage interest relief in the past when interest rates were much higher than they are now. We now have a prolonged period of very low interest rates coming to an end and we are seeing interest rates go back to something that would have been considered much more normal five, ten or 15 years ago.

It seems to me that Deputy Doherty has learnt nothing from what has happened across the water. He spent the past few months calling for a mini-budget. After that he called for a limitless energy price cap. We see how that has turned out in the United Kingdom.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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That is not true.

Deputies:

It is true.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Now Sinn Féin has another set of populist promises to make to take advantage of people who have tracker mortgages. When is Deputy Doherty going to learn from what has happened across the water?

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Fine Gael and the Tories are soulmates.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It is Fine Gael's sister party that wrecked the economy across the water because it introduced tax cuts for the rich.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Quite the contrary, what the UK has done and is now reversing is exactly what Sinn Féin proposed.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Tax cuts for the rich.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is another populist promise it wants to con people with. I used to think it would take two years for Sinn Féin to wreck our economy. I now think only one budget by Kwasi Doherty would do all damage.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Government called for the ECB to increase interest rates earlier this year and now they are suffering as a result of that.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The cogency of the argument is not strengthened by ignoring the Chairperson. There is a time limit within which Deputies can make their arguments.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for her intervention. We are less than 12 hours away from the looming deadline in Northern Ireland where it appears that yet another election will be called. The people of Northern Ireland have been left without a functioning Executive for six months as we approach a deepened winter cost-of-living crisis and as we see significant issues around governance and day-to-day administration that need to be resolved but cannot be resolved without a functioning Administration in the North. There was a deeply worrying report today of Ukrainian refugees being targeted by gangs in the North who are exploiting the political stalemate and the Border to bring refugees into human trafficking and the brutal exploitation of the sex trade, while there is a £90 million funding shortage for the PSNI that needs to be resolved to ensure this can be policed. As we speak, Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are gathering in Stormont to try to elect a Speaker and get on with the job of governing, but it appears that nothing will change the current position of the DUP, which will maintain its veto, and so it seems the stark reality is that the British Government will call an election at five minutes past midnight. As Claire Hanna MP from our sister party, the SDLP, said this morning on RTÉ, an election called in this way and under such duress is unlikely to change much and may even entrench stalemate and delay any return to normal negotiations between the EU 27 and the British Government on seeking to resolve issues with the protocol. If no Executive is formed, we know there will not be a return to the direct rule of the past, so how will democratic institutions be restored?

The assembly has not had a functioning Executive for four out of the past six years due to intransigence on the part of different parties, so it must be time to look at reform. Since the changes resulting from the St. Andrews Agreement, the largest party in either designated community can in effect use a veto against the formation of a power-sharing Executive. The use of that veto has entrenched division, hollowed out the centre ground parties and resulted in more voters opting for unaligned alternatives, as we saw in the most recent Stormont election, yet the current structures take no account of the rise of support for parties that do not designate as either unionist or nationalist. It is deeply damaging to efforts to normalise politics in the North when either of the two largest parties can veto power-sharing. It appears the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the British Government do not have a plan B for what will happen after the likely election in mid-December in the North. We will be no closer to an Executive. The election is unlikely to change the position of the DUP. We are approaching the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement with the principles at the heart of it that are so crucial on consent and partnership, and yet there is no functioning Executive.

Is it time to consider reforms that would allow those parties that are willing and ready to form an Executive to carry on with their work? Is there a plan B for the Irish Government to ensure that, after a likely election is held, we can see necessary reforms put in place in keeping with the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement to ensure a functioning Administration in the North?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy knows, today is the last day to establish an Executive in Northern Ireland and to give effect to the outcome of last May's assembly election. If the Executive is not formed, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is required by law to call an election. However, we believe Northern Ireland does not need a new election. It had an election 24 weeks ago and the results were clear and should be honoured.

What Northern Ireland needs is a functioning assembly and a functioning Executive to give effect to that choice and provide leadership during the difficult period ahead, so every effort should be made to avoid an unwanted election. There is a last chance to do so and all that is required is for one political party to stop blocking the formation of the Executive. The decision of one party to block the operation of the Northern Ireland Executive runs counter to democracy and risks undermining the faith of the people in the potential for democratic politics to respond to their needs.

In the event that there is a sustained period without functioning institutions of the Good Friday Agreement, as the Taoiseach said yesterday, there cannot be a return to the direct rule arrangements of the past. The Good Friday Agreement recognises the need for close consultation between the Irish and British Governments on matters pertaining to Northern Ireland. The Irish Government will fully pursue its consultative role under the Good Friday Agreement should this arise and will exhaust every possibility within the framework of an agreement if there is a sustained period of no Executive and no assembly.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. He stated clearly the Government position that there is no need for a new election. I agree entirely. All of us in this House would agree. The last Stormont election was just 24 weeks ago. Clearly, there are very pressing issues affecting the people in Northern Ireland every day, particularly with the cost-of-living crisis, and they need a functioning Executive and a functioning assembly to resolve those issues. Given we are facing a last chance today to resolve the matter without the calling of another election by the British Government, I am asking what our Government's plan B is. If an election is announced at five minutes past midnight, as seems likely despite everyone's wishes here, it is unlikely to change the dynamics in the North. Is it not now time to look again at how we can reform the governance arrangements in the North in keeping with the principles of the Good Friday Agreement to ensure there will be functioning democratic institutions in the North and the will of the people as expressed through assembly elections can be carried out through functioning democratic institutions? I am suggesting to the Tánaiste that no party should be excluded from power-sharing in that scenario, that every party should be given the option to take part, and that it is undemocratic to allow one party to take a unilateral decision to veto power-sharing and hold all others in Northern Ireland to ransom.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Our plan is to engage as part of the European Union with the British Government to seek an agreement on the protocol, not just on the issues relating to trade but also to ensure issues relating to human rights and the non-diminution of the rights of people in Northern Ireland are fully protected. This is something we are very keen to do with Prime Minister Sunak and his Cabinet. If the election is called and goes ahead, we will have to take stock of the result. I doubt it will be very different or different at all but it may be. Who knows? At that point, we will engage with the British Government bilaterally to see what we can do to get an Executive formed or, if that cannot happen, what alternatives we can put in place. We are making it very clear there cannot be a return to the direct rule of the past.

What the Deputy is touching on are some very reasonable questions but what she is talking about essentially is changes to key provisions of the Good Friday Agreement. The Good Friday Agreement was passed by a referendum here and north of the Border and making any changes to it would be profound and would have to be dealt with sensitively.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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I am not sure whether the Tánaiste is aware of the crisis facing SMEs. Employers in small businesses are bombarded regarding the way they can reward employees. I am talking about hair salons, barbers, boutiques, pubs, chains of supermarkets, coffee shops and restaurants around the country. I am delighted to see conditions are improving for employees. Unfortunately, this may not be affordable. While it may be affordable for larger companies, it is a two-tier system when it comes to SMEs. Where are the supports for SMEs to ensure the employment benefits are given to people in SMEs? There has been legislation on things like sick pay and the increase in the minimum wage, which I welcome. Getting staff back to work is increasingly difficult.

Fuel costs are having a major impact on SMEs. The Minister for Finance said yesterday that as the price of fuel goes up, VAT goes up. When the citizens referred to are not in a position to spend money in the shops or local economy, we collect less VAT. These are the SMEs I am talking about. The Minister for Finance said yesterday that we collect more tax on fuel because we are not collecting the VAT in the shops and in the local economy.

This tells us that SMEs are in huge trouble. These are the rural employers. They are the small shops, such as the local butchers and hair salons. I am talking about these people and not about multinationals. I am talking about the local shops in our area.

If the Tánaiste were to go around my county of Limerick, he would find no local shops in Crecora, Fedamore or Ardagh. I refer to the number of SME businesses that have closed in Limerick in the past week alone because they have not got the support to reward their employees, which they want to do. Overhead costs are killing these businesses. I repeat these are not multinational corporations. These are the bread-and-butter people providing employment in the local communities I represent. I am asking the Government, therefore, to intervene. I ask it to consider a two-tier system so we will be able to help the SMEs, these small employers who help small and local communities to survive. The post offices have a big impact in this regard as well and an attempt is being made to close these around the country as well. I ask the Tánaiste to intervene.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. The main way in which we can intervene to help small businesses is through the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS. This legislation is now going through the House. It will give businesses up to €10,000 monthly to help them with their energy bills. We are keen to get this measure legislated for as soon as possible, to get the scheme up and running and to backdate it to September 2022. This will help many businesses to a large extent with their energy costs. As is the case with households, though, there is no way we can cover the entire increase. We can, however, make a big difference and this is the main way we are going to help small businesses in the months ahead. I note and welcome the Deputy's support for the increase in the national minimum wage. I wish to emphasise this in the House.

One thing I should say, and we should not forget this, is that more people - 2.5 million - are now at work in Ireland than ever before. This has come against the backdrop where we have seen improvements in pay, terms and conditions and new workers' rights pretty much every year for the past ten, 15 or 20 years. It does not add up therefore that anyone thinks there is some kind of correlation between low pay and poor rights. Ireland is a classic example of where we have improved pay, terms and conditions and workers' rights every year for ten or 15 years now, and yet we have seen levels of employment rise. I hope it will continue to rise.

Regarding what we have done on fuel costs, which the Deputy mentioned, when the price of fuel goes up, the VAT take also goes up. This is not the case with excise duty. We have cut the rate of excise duty, and we have taken 20 cent off a litre of petrol and 15 cent off a litre of diesel precisely for this reason. We have also cut VAT levied on electricity and gas prices. The rate has been cut to 9%, which is the lowest rate of VAT charged on electricity and gas prices since taxes began, or certainly since VAT levies began. The Deputy did not mention this in his contribution.

I hear the Deputy's suggestion regarding some sort of two-tier system to help SMEs. I do not know what this means, however, and I would be interested if the Deputy could flesh out some proposals. First, how would he define an SME? Would it be based on the number of employees, on turnover or on profits? These are all very different things, as the Deputy will understand. A business can have a small number of employees but a large turnover. Similarly, a business could have many employees but no profits. How would it be decided, then, which businesses would be in which tier? Second, what would the differences be? Would small businesses be allowed to pay their staff less? Would there be a lower minimum wage? If the Deputy wishes to flesh out proposals, I would be interested to see them.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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What I am discussing with the Tánaiste is an unfair tax on people who do not have access to public transport. Watch this now. There is tax in regard to VAT and the Tánaiste said the VAT receipts go up. The Government is taking 50% in tax on petrol and 44% in tax on diesel, when everything is included together. This applies to everyone who has to use a car, a van, a tractor, a truck or a motorbike to do whatever they have to do in an area where there is no public transport. This includes getting children to school in areas where the Government is unable to provide buses, such as in Dromcolliher. I mentioned during the week that 50 students were waiting on a bus and now we have 30 cars driving to Dromcolliher. This is an unfair tax on people carrying their children to school.

I am talking about SMEs in rural Ireland, which the Government seems to have given up on once it goes beyond the Red Cow roundabout. This is what I am talking about. I am talking about where I live in Limerick. I make no apologies for mentioning Limerick and the rural areas I represent. This is what I am here to do. I am here to ensure our people in our area are represented. An unfair tax from the Government, which is taking 50% on petrol and 44% on diesel, means it is only looking after people who have access to public transport. All the people in my area have to go to work and they are being taxed before they leave their houses every week.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that fuel prices are very high. Seeing the price of diesel going up again is alarming for many people. I absolutely get this. I understand and appreciate it, and this is why the Government has intervened. We have reduced excise duties on petrol and diesel by 20 cent per litre and 15 cent per litre, respectively. It is now down as low as it can go under European rules on diesel duty. We could, potentially, go down a little bit more on the price of petrol-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Go on then.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----but it is the price of diesel that is really worrying people now.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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The Tánaiste is saying the Government could bring down the rate on petrol.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is legally possible under European law to reduce the excise duty charged on petrol a bit more, but not on diesel. There is, therefore, no point in calling for this. As the Deputy knows, we have reduced the VAT rate charged on electricity and gas costs to 9%, which is the lowest ever. Businesses can, of course, claim back their VAT expenses. We cannot, however, be divorced from the reality of what is going on here. Energy prices are not being driven up by the Government. They are being driven up by what is happening in the rest of the world-----

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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It is the tax.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----by what is happening in Ukraine. The proportion of our fuel prices constituted by tax is falling.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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There is a 50% tax.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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Like many Deputies, I wish to raise the issue of the near desperation of many local businesses due to the cumulative impact of so many different increases in the past year. We have heard about the increase in the cost of energy. All businesses are impacted. I listened to the Tánaiste's responses this morning to oral questions. The Government has taken some steps in this regard. The temporary business energy support scheme is a good scheme, but it is worth taking a closer look at its impact. The owners of the local Centra shop in Magheraboy contacted me and sent me copies of that business's ESB bills. I was asked to use this shop as an example. In 2019, for example, one of this shop's monthly bills cost just over €7,000, with VAT of €925. In August 2022, this shop's bill was €20,966, with VAT at 9% of €1,731. The cost has trebled and the VAT due has doubled. I note that the TBESS will help, but only at the rate of 40%. This shop will still be left to carry the can for 60% of the cost. For this business, this amounts to €5,000 every month.

I know businesses can make savings and they are doing so assiduously already. It is not just the impact of the energy costs alone, however, but the cumulative impact overall. Returning to the example of my local Centra shop, rates have also increased. This is happening in many counties. Insurance costs have also increased. Motor insurance costs have been addressed but public liability insurance costs have not been. There has also been an increase in packaging costs. The biggest increase in costs has been in wages. The minimum wage increased by 80 cent. I voted for it and I support it. In fact, I would support a living wage. The impact in this regard on these businesses, though, of paying 80 cent an hour at 1,400 hours weekly will be €58,000 next year.

My point is that businesses are taking one hit after another. Their capital reserves are gone. They cannot use capital reserves to benefit from some of the initiatives, such as that for solar panels, that the Tánaiste spoke about. These businesses are talking to the banks about interest-only repayments. I am hearing this from retailers across my constituency, as I am sure the Tánaiste is as well. This morning, I spoke to the owner of the SuperValu shop in Manorhamilton. He wrote to the Tánaiste only a few days ago and again raised the point that it is the cumulative impacts that are really hitting businesses. I ask the Tánaiste, therefore, if there is anything more he can do to deal with the cumulative impact of all these increased costs.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Deputy's support for the increase in the national minimum wage and her call for us to go further through the introduction of a living wage. I acknowledge that businesses are facing rising costs from many different angles, whether it is from the costs of labour, materials or energy and fuel. The budget had several measures to help. These included the extension of the 9% rate of VAT until the end of February.

Crucially, the temporary business energy support scheme, which we are legislating for in the Houses at present, will refund approximately 40% of the increase in the cost of energy to businesses up to €10,000 a month.

However, there are constraints. We need to be honest with people about that. This is taxpayers' money. It is over €1 billion in ordinary taxpayers' money helping businesses with their energy bills. Another €1 billion in loans is being guaranteed by ordinary taxpayers to help businesses with their bills, and rightly so. Businesses are taxpayers too and they employ people who are taxpayers, but it is still well over €2 billion in financial support being provided to businesses only between now and the end of February. It is not a small amount of money. We need to be honest with people that we will not be able to fully cover the increase in their bills. We are limited by EU state aid rules, which only allow us to refund 30% of the difference. We are pushing for 40%, which is higher. It will not be possible to go beyond that and we need to be honest about that. Anyone calling for measures going beyond that is not making an honest call.

I deal and engage with businesses all over the country all the time. I talk to individuals who are in business. They regularly give me copies of their electricity bills and gas bills, as the Deputy can imagine, so that I can see for myself what the increases are. In most cases, they are double and treble. I engage with the business groups headquartered here in Dublin but also chambers of commerce around the country.

Something I am struck by, whether it is the chamber of commerce in Dublin or the chamber of commerce in Dungarvan that I met on Friday last, is that the biggest issue still coming up is the difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff. It is as big an issue, if not a bigger issue, than energy costs. We need to ask ourselves as a Government, as a Parliament and as custodians of taxpayers' money, if there are lots of businesses that cannot get staff at all, are doing well but cannot get staff, have to close early because they cannot get staff, or sometimes cannot open six or seven days a week because they cannot get staff, does it make sense to use a considerable amount of taxpayers' money to subsidise businesses that are not doing so well? We have to be realistic about these matters.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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What I am talking about here are not small businesses. Even a small supermarket employs ten to 15 people. Those at the larger end in small towns still employ perhaps 50 or 60 people. The money that goes into the local community from the wages is significant. I hear what the Tánaiste says about subsidising businesses that may find it hard to get staff but I ask him to think about what will happen to those staff if they lose their jobs and those communities if they lose their local supermarket, their local café and their services. These are the businesses that support local clubs, local charities, local GAA clubs, soccer clubs and societies. They are part of the fabric of many rural towns and urban centres. We are looking at some of them closing unless they pass on these increased costs to consumers. That will send inflation through the roof. People will not be without supermarkets. They will have the large chains and the multinationals but the small ones will close unless the Government looks at rates rebates or finding some other way of giving more support to these businesses.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We will do everything we can, as we did during the pandemic, to protect those businesses and those jobs that are viable but vulnerable. We have shown true cause on that in the years that have gone by. We have cut taxes. We cut VAT to 9% for electricity, gas, hospitality and personal services. We have also reduced excise on petrol and diesel. Now we are bringing in energy subsidies to help businesses to pay their energy bills. They will see that money in the next few weeks and it will be backdated to September. It will help a lot.

At a time of close to full employment, when lots of businesses cannot expand or open fully because they cannot get staff, it does not make sense to continue to fund and subsidise businesses that are not viable when there is another business down the road that cannot stay open because it cannot get staff.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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How does the Tánaiste decide?