In principle, auto-enrolment is a good idea, and it is badly needed. However, when it is being brought in by this Government, which recently introduced a budget that gave tax breaks to developers and speculators while giving nothing to ordinary workers and families, we have to be very sceptical about it. The reality is that this Government's auto-enrolment scheme prioritises increasing profits for private pension funds over the rights of ordinary workers. The National Treasury Management Agency, rather than private companies, would be the best placed to provide the system. There is an overreliance on the private sector. It has always been the goal of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to privatise everything that they could privatise. Once again, that is the Government's priority instead of prioritising the workers. What is proposed could have a negative impact on services and increase costs for taxpayers. I will provide an example. I want to raise the issue of people who currently have a non-workplace private pension. It was confirmed to me in a parliamentary question that these people will now be forced to auto-enrol for six months despite already paying into a pension. However, on the Government website it states that people will only be automatically enrolled if they do not have a supplementary pension. This contradicts the parliamentary question response I got from the Minister. It also states on the Department website that anyone who opts out but who still meets the eligibility criteria will be automatically re-enrolled every two years. This simply does not make sense. Does this apply to those with non-workplace pensions? We are seven weeks out from this Bill being enacted and we cannot get answers to simple questions. In relation to social welfare, and something which has already been covered by some of my colleagues, is the cost of disability. We have a cost-of-living crisis. People are struggling to pay their bills, especially those most vulnerable such as people with disabilities and carers and, once again, the Government has failed them. The Tánaiste claimed that his behaviour to a carer, Charlotte Fallon, during the election campaign in Kanturk was out of character and not in line with his beliefs and actions, but his actions have to be read as they were. The budget is the proof of his actions. Once again, when will the threshold for carers be removed? When will the means test be removed for carers? The Government promised the sun, the moon and the stars during the election but when it came to it, the Government double-backed on it once they got in. There are people struggling. They need the energy credits. The Government still has time to deliver them, because people will face a long, cold winter without them.

Sentiment score: -0.03