If we ever needed evidence that the Government is out of touch, then the protests, supported by a huge majority of people in two polls over the weekend, are a wake-up call for this Government. Unfortunately, the vote is over. However, the fight for fairness for workers and families goes on. We know from yesterday's vote that this Government is not for the people. Here is a message for the people: the next chance they are going to get is in the upcoming by-elections. They will have a chance to give their view and use their voice. I ask everyone to turn out and show how sick and tired they are of this Government. The Minister is one of the main people talking about solutions. When motions like this are put forward, solutions are put forward time and again. Does the Government ever take them on board? It never does, but the Minister still goes on about how there are no solutions from those on this side of the House. We will give them - 25 cent off the price of diesel, the complete removal of excise duty, including carbon tax, on home heating oil, and a maximum cut to excise duty, including carbon tax, on green diesel. In the medium to long term, we will talk about renewable energies. The Government is going to do what it always does, namely sell it off to private industries. What will those industries do? Like the energy companies and all the developers in this country, they will profiteer. If the Minister really wants to solve the problem, he should keep renewable energy in State ownership and make sure that the people profit rather than the profiteers. The Minister talked about how we are going to pay for this. Under the sweetheart deal agreed by Fine Gael, the banks paid less than 1% on over €3 billion in profits last year. Taxing them would cover it. The Government gave developers €250 million for apartments they were already building. The State had a €12.5 billion surplus last year, €2 billion over what the Government had projected. There is where the money is coming from, and this so-called magic money tree. It is there. Support the people.

Sentiment score: 0.10