I thank Deputies Tóibín and Lawless and Aontú for bringing forward this very important motion. As every TD will tell the Minister of State, we are meeting people across our constituencies who are doing everything society asks of them. They get up early in the morning, go to work, pay their taxes, raise their children and contribute to their communities. However, despite doing everything correctly, they are still struggling to make ends meet. These are families sitting around the kitchen table trying to work out which bill can wait until next week. They are the parents wondering how they will afford school uniforms in a few short weeks' time. They are the workers whose wages disappear within days of payday because the rent or the mortgage, the groceries and the electricity bill leave them with little or nothing to spare. These people are not looking for handouts. They are looking for fairness. At the beginning of May, the Labour Party put practical and fully-costed proposals before this House and before the Government in the form of a mini budget. We proposed measures to help PAYE workers keep more of what they earn, targeted energy supports, a summer double social welfare payment, the restoration of the €100 cut to the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, additional support for families through child benefit, and a range of practical measures to ease the pressure on households. The Government voted down these proposals. In recent months, we saw fuel protests across the country. These protests highlighted the very real financial pressure many people are under. I supported the measures brought forward by Government because those people needed relief. I voted for that package. Fuel is only one part of the cost-of-living crisis, however. There are thousands of people who will never organise a protest. There are families quietly struggling behind the front door of their home. If I am a mother or a father trying to find the money for school uniforms, I cannot park my worries on O'Connell Street and hope someone notices. If I am trying to keep up with the mortgage, the rent, childcare costs or the weekly grocery bill, I am fighting that battle around my own kitchen table. Those families deserve the same urgency. If Government accepted that one group under financial pressure deserved immediate action, why did it reject the Labour Party's proposals to support the thousands of other workers, families, pensioners, carers and those living with disabilities who are under just as much pressure every single day? The Government cannot pick and choose whose cost-of-living crisis it responds to. Relief cannot depend on who is most visible. It must reach those who are doing everything right, working hard and paying their taxes, and yet are still wondering how they will get to the end of the month. The people of my constituency are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for fairness and practical action. The Labour Party has put practical solutions before this House. Families cannot wait until the next budget. They need action now. I will touch on some of the stuff my colleague, Deputy Nash, has said. He has given these costed proposals to Government to implement for families across this country. He has spoken about the fact that we use the word "crisis", which makes it seem like this is a short-term issue. This has been a crisis in this country for many years now. Many families and individuals right across Ireland are genuinely struggling behind their own front door. During the week, we saw huge fanfare for the VAT rate being cut to 9%. My aunt has had a hair salon for the past 25 years. On the face of it, the VAT cut is acceptable and seems workable but will the person get the cheaper cup of coffee or a cheaper haircut? They do not have any relief when they have to pay €1,000 for school uniforms and no relief when they have to pay €700 for an iPad that has really disregarded the free book scheme in this country. While the 9% VAT cut favours large business and corporations, it does not favour hard-working families who are struggling behind their own front doors. We speak about the retrofitting of homes. These retrofit grants are only applicable to the majority of people who have huge incomes in this country. Ordinary, hard-working people cannot afford to make up the extra funding needed for these retrofitting grants. There was huge fanfare for the EV scrappage scheme and the €8,000 people would get, but how are people supposed to pay €30,000 extra for the EV?

Sentiment score: -0.03