It was incredible for the Minister of State to say our motivation for calling for the introduction of a mini-budget was impatience and that it was because the Government is not bringing in its budgets quickly enough. We do not support the programme for Government. If its first budget is anything to go by, the Government has no interest in helping ordinary workers and families given that it prioritised the hospitality sector. We are proposing this mini-budget because it is pouring down on people out there. We are in the midst of the worst fuel crisis in the history of the planet. What does this Government decide to do to distract people this week? It says we should discuss nuclear power. If anything highlights the poverty of the Government's ambition in this area, it is that. It is an utterly brainless idea when states like Germany, Italy and Lithuania decommissioned nuclear power a long time ago. Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and others are actively winding down nuclear power because they know it is not the power source of the future, but the power source of the past. What is the Irish Government doing? It is going to start a conversation about it. The Government is utterly without ideas. We know what the future is but this is about what we can do now. Food prices are absolutely crippling people. In this mini-budget, we are offering a €100 credit. Yes, it is blunt but at least it will help people right now. We are proposing targeted energy credits for households that are struggling to pay their energy bills. All the Government says in opposition to this is that people should contact their energy company and draw down their hardship fund. That shows an absolute poverty of ambition and absolutely no ideas. PrepayPower Energy announced last week that electricity prices are going to rise by nearly 10%. We know the other companies are going to follow. We know food prices are increasing week on week, yet the Government has no answers. We are not just looking to shake the magic money tree. We are putting in place a plan, through windfall taxes, to fund what we are asking to do. This is not voodoo economics from us, but a plan for how to raise the money and where to spend it properly. The Government does not care about that because it is listening to who shouts the loudest and sectoral interests. It is letting down workers, families and households all over the country and it just does not care.

Sentiment score: -0.04