I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1: To insert the following after "expenditure sustainably, and in accordance with this allocation": "; and calls on the Government to: — recognise that increasing diesel by 34 cents and petrol by 29 cents a litre before the end of the year will put unjustifiable pressure on workers and families already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis; — rule out any increase in excise duty prior to budget day and conditional on a review of the market conditions at that time; and — introduce energy credits of €400 per household in direct response to the record number of households unable to pay their energy bills.". Cuirim fáilte roimh an rún seo ar an chostas maireachtála. Tá leasú curtha síos ag Sinn Féin ar an méid atá curtha chun tosaigh ag an Rialtas. Tá an Rialtas ag iarraidh orainn tacaíocht a thabhairt don mhéid atá curtha chun tosaigh aige, is é sin, go n-ardófar praghas an díosail 34 cent agus praghas an pheitril 29 cent idir seo agus an Nollaig. Tá sé dodhéanta. Nil glacadh ag gnáthdhaoine na tíre leis seo mar tá a fhios acu go bhfuil brú millteanach orthu. Ba chóir don Rialtas faoiseamh a thabhairt do dhaoine atá ag streachailt amuigh ansin, in áit a bheith ag cur níos brú agus ualaigh ar a gcuid guaillí. Is é sin an rud atá ag tarlú inniu. Seasann Sinn Féin go huile is go hiomlán ina éadan sin. Níor chóir go mbeadh praghas an pheitril agus díosail ag ardú le linn an tsamhraidh agus níor chóir go mbeadh sé ag dul suas an méid is atá an Rialtas ag iarraidh. Today households across the State are hit with blow after blow. This has been a continuous situation for the past number of years with costs rising, whether in our supermarkets, for rents, for insurance or the costs of the basics, just to get by. Today is a dark day for people because over a million households will see their electricity rise. I heard the Minister of State say that his Minister sat down with the electricity companies and energy generators. What was the response? It was double-digit increases in gas and electricity, kicking in today. That is going to really hurt people. Today is the day the European Commission decided that the Irish people should pay more tax. Every single person who now buys a product from outside the European Union will be hit by a €3 charge as of today, another ridiculous situation and disastrous policy introduced by the Commission, which our Government has refused to stand up against despite them now taking on the prestigious position of the EU Presidency. Today is the day the Government has come forward with its amendment and asked us that we pat it on the back for the job it thinks it is doing. More importantly, the amendment asks us to support the idea that it would increase the price of diesel by 34 cent between now and Christmas and the price of petrol by 29 cent between now and Christmas. Are the Minister of State and the Cabinet Ministers who sat around the table yesterday morning and decided this was a good idea not listening to people? I ask that genuinely. Are they not talking to people in their own constituencies? Do they not hear the concerns of people who cannot pay their electricity bills and the concerns of those who work every hour that God sends them yet still find it tough to make ends meet at the end of the week? Do they not hear people talking about how the shopping trolley has got more expensive? How under God can they sit at a Cabinet table and decide to bring forward a proposal that will increase the price of diesel by 34 cent between now and Christmas? It is simply outrageous. It should not happen. It is absolutely tone deaf to the concerns, frustration and worries of the Irish people right across the State. That is why Sinn Féin has tabled an amendment to the amendment to demand that the Government does not proceed with these increases at the scale and timeframe it has proposed. We do not have to be like this. Ireland does not have to be the country that has got the highest taxes on petrol and diesel across the European Union. Ireland does not have to be the country that charges the highest electricity costs across the European Union. Ireland does not need to be the country where we charge some of the highest rents in the European Union. A different type of Ireland is possible. It requires a Government that listens, understand and takes action to meet the needs of ordinary people. A Government's responsibility at a time of pressure on its citizens is to lift the burden off them, not do what was decided yesterday at Cabinet, namely to place more burden on the shoulders of ordinary Irish people over the next four months when it will get away with it. It is simply wrong. The Government is kicking the can down the road but the end result is the same. The end result we are being asked to support here is a 34 cent increase in diesel, pushing the price of diesel well beyond €2 and the price of petrol up another 29 cent. The Government is not even finished at that because it plans to increase it again next year and in the years after that. It is absolutely reckless and bound by this notion that if we increase the price of diesel and petrol, if we make it so hard and so expensive for people just to get into their cars and drive up that road, they might all go and buy an electric car. People in my constituency do not have the €40,000 or €50,000 to buy new electric cars. The Government needs to get real here. This cannot go ahead.

Sentiment score: -0.07