I wish my former public accounts committee colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Ardagh, the very best in her role. It is probably remiss of me to mention that there are the Minister and two Ministers of State in this Department, yet none of them is able to show up for this debate. I commend my colleague, Deputy Ciarán Ahern, and his staff for the work they have done in bringing this motion to the Dáil Chamber. When we discuss the rising costs in energy bills being paid by households, it is vital that we look at where the energy from the grid is going, what it is being used for and what we, the Irish people, are getting out of it. Data centres employ relatively few people. The level of employment relating to data centres is in the construction of them and, of course, those projects are time limited. In turn, I strongly encourage Ministers to stop trying to muddy the waters between the employment within a data centre and the employment in the construction of a data centre. It is dishonest and we should not have such conflation coming from Ministers. In the pre-election budget of 2024, the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Government introduced energy supports. Post election, the new Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Government scrapped these supports. I am not in favour of introducing one-off measures, but targeted supports are necessary, and the Government failed to provide them to the carers and people living with disabilities, the most vulnerable people in this society. However, when there is no short-term solution, an advancement in the construction of renewable energy and renewable energy infrastructure is not a swift process. The State must act to ensure that households are not being pinned to their collar just for heating and running their homes, for which they already paid extortionate prices to buy or to rent. For the average worker and household, it feels like there is no end to the rising cost of living. This is all while wages remain stagnant. The lack of a climate act plan is very concerning in relation to progress and for meeting our targets. While some in the Opposition also profess to care about the climate, voting in favour of gutting it in the Dáil and the Seanad undermines progress on climate action. On a national level, there must be a renewed interest from central government to get more capacity in our bus and rail network, to invest in a lower emissions fleet, and to reduce the cost of public transport for commuters. The State must ensure that those living in our towns, cities and villages can be assured that public transport is cheaper and genuinely viable for commuters. The fact that many multinationals in Ireland - I look at Apple on the northside of Cork city - continue to run their own bus services from the cities and towns for their staff speaks to the lack of faith in the State's ability to ramp up public infrastructure routes and capacity. This has to change. I will always acknowledge efforts by the Government to increase services. Services by rail in Cork have improved and there are ambitious plans for the rail network and for the Cork Luas. However, these are long-term projects that must overcome funding hurdles. We need to see the delivery of proposed bus routes linking rural areas and towns, and we need to see a reduction in fares to ensure affordability and encourage more people out of their cars. This motion is ultimately about supporting the most vulnerable people in this society, who feel there is no end to the cost-of-living crisis they are facing. I am disappointed that the Government has failed to realise that this motion of constructive solutions, created by the Labour Party to give the most vulnerable people in this society an opportunity to deal with the cost of living they are facing, is appropriate for these very people.

Sentiment score: 0.22