What we are looking at here is insufficient action by Government to deal with the pressure people are under at this point. It is little that they are getting, but they would be getting nothing if it had not been for those protestors who went out onto the streets. I spoke to many of them. Many of those who were out in the Minister of State's own part of the world probably voted for him. I have no doubt that they voted for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in an awful lot of cases. I could not get over the fact of how let down they felt by those they had supported probably over generations. That is the reality. Who are we talking about? We are talking about hauliers, farmers, farm contractors and bus and coach operators, many of whom did not always get any wins in rebate schemes that existed previously, so I would like to think that the schemes being operated will be delivered for them. Being left out altogether, however, are the regular Joe and Josephine; the 750,000 people who use home heating oil. Nothing is being provided for them - not a penny. We hear the statistics at the minute. Some 19.2% has been the increase in electricity bills over March and April. We know 317,000 cannot pay and are in arrears on their electricity bills. I think 25% of those are in arrears on their gas bills. The ESRI reports - this is historic - that 14% of Irish households in 2024 were unable to afford adequate warmth or energy. Think of that. That is long before we get to the place we are in now. We all accept this is down to the lunacy of Donald Trump being led by genocidal Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu. We understand there are limits to what the international community and the Government can do on that. However, people expect sense here. They expect supports. What are we talking about in terms of supports? We are talking about energy credits to reduce electricity bills. We are talking about cuts to fuel taxes. The Government could go further in relation to petrol and diesel than 15 cent. That is before we talk about the abject failure there has been on green diesel. I cannot get over the fact that kerosene has not been touched in any way, shape or form. We need an emergency budget. Pearse Doherty has said it. Mary Lou McDonald has said it. Many in the Opposition have said it and more will be saying it into the future. We need cuts to the USC. None of this is good enough. We also need the cost-of-disability payment because they are the people the Government has really let down.

Sentiment score: 0.05