We extend a very warm welcome to the students of the Holy Faith school in Glasnevin who are in the Public Gallery. They are very welcome. There is real anger among workers and families pushed to the brink by the cost of living. People are working and paying their way yet they are falling further behind with each passing week. We finally have a very frank admission from the Minister for public expenditure, Jack Chambers. He now admits that last year's budget - in his own words - did not give workers a break. There it is. The Taoiseach's own Minister is finally saying out loud what we have been telling him for six months - what the Taoiseach has been denying for six months - that his €9.4 billion budget did absolutely nothing for ordinary working people. In fact, it left them worse off. That budget drove the deep anger and frustration we now see across the State. As prices were rising and bills were mounting, while working families were under the most severe pressure, the Government withdrew supports. It abandoned its election promises one after another, and it left people high and dry. The Taoiseach had the resources and he made the wrong call. Now the consequences are everywhere. Workers are squeezed, households are stretched to breaking point, people are cutting back on basics and making impossible choices, wondering how they will get through the week, not to mind the next month. The Taoiseach's own Minister now admits the truth. Will the Taoiseach do the same? Will he admit that he got it wrong? Will he accept that his poor decision-making left working people exposed to the full force of this cost-of-living crisis? Let us be clear. The Government did not just fail to help people but it made things worse. Workers were punished but others did very well - corporate landlords and the banks. Big funds were protected. Those at the top were well looked after. That was the Government's political choice. That was the Taoiseach's personal priority. The Government withdrew supports and then it piled on the costs and increased the charges. School transport costs are up. The junior and leaving certificates were reintroduced, and all of it landing on those same people - the workers and families who are already struggling. The Government does not listen or understand. It is out of touch with the reality of people's lives. The Taoiseach's Minister now says that everything is on the table for the next budget. Everything. Let us test that. Is his promise to cut the USC on the table - a promise he broke? For low and middle income workers, the USC is a constant drag on wages. Every extra shift and every extra hour worked is taxed again. It punishes work and eats into pay packets. D'admhaigh an tAire, an Teachta Chambers, nach raibh aon fhaoiseamh d’oibrithe sa bhuiséad deireannach. Táimid á rá sin leis an Taoiseach le sé mhí anuas. An féidir leis glacadh leis sin anois faoi dheireadh? An aontaíonn sé lena Aire féin? Having failed workers last October, is the Taoiseach seriously asking them now to wait until next January to see any support from him? The crisis is now. It is immediate. It is being felt every single day at kitchen tables across the country. People cannot wait.
Sentiment score: -0.09
The Taoiseach's response is very telling because he ignores the immediate reality of people's lives.
Sentiment score: -0.27
He ignores the fact that hundreds of thousands of households cannot pay their electricity bills; that families the length and breadth of the country are struggling with their rent, grocery bills, and to put bread on the table. He does not want to know that. There is nothing strategically positive about leaving people in poverty. There is nothing good about creating that level of stress or hardship for families and workers across the country. The Taoiseach's own Minister accepts that. He has said out loud what we all know: that the last budget failed working people and families. He has said and accepted that. How very telling that the Taoiseach cannot accept that. He turns his face away from the people he should serve. He turns his face away from the reality of their lives.
Sentiment score: -0.24
It seems, no matter how hard it gets-----
Sentiment score: -0.36
-----Fianna Fáil and Micheál Martin, are quite happy to let people struggle on but people will not tolerate that-----
Sentiment score: 0.21
-----and the Taoiseach will get his response again.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Taoiseach is completely out of touch.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Taoiseach is completely out of touch. Does he actually pay bills?
Sentiment score: -0.05
Does he go to the supermarket?
Sentiment score: 0.00
Do you?
Sentiment score: 0.00
Do you?
Sentiment score: 0.00
No, you do not.
Sentiment score: -0.30
When?
Sentiment score: 0.00