Go raibh maith agat.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Government has been weakened and damaged over its inadequate response to the energy crisis and fuel protests, with further challenges to come. The Government has now lost a Minister of State, and a backbencher - two Healy-Raes for the price of one, and a high price indeed. The Government won the vote last night but the pressure for hard working families and households in this cost-of-living crisis has not gone away. For hundreds of thousands of PAYE workers, struggling to pay soaring bills, where is their support package? For those who turned up at the office, the shop or the factory or who logged on at home for work this morning, what message has the Taoiseach for them? The budget last October delivered no relief for working people. Energy credits and one-off payments were withdrawn. The Government gave tax breaks to developers and fast-food chains – tax breaks paid for by workers. The Government could instead have taken the progressive step of indexing income taxes, as the Labour Party sought, but it did not. At the behest of business interests, the Government delayed the living wage and an increase in statutory sick pay while voting down our Labour Party Bill to give workers a real right to remote work. There is real suffering across our communities. Households are facing rising bills. Grocery prices, already increasing, are set to soar further as food security is impacted by global shocks. There are rising rents and mortgages, and electricity and gas bills that families are struggling to pay. All of us are hearing this, that people simply do not know how they are going to manage. The only relief the Government has given is a few cent off petrol and diesel. Over two emergency packages now, we have seen special supports for those that shouted loudest but nothing to relieve the real pressure on PAYE workers and families. They are left with no option now but to seek pay rises in the months ahead. We will support the trade unions in that endeavour because more support is needed. In recent days, I have spoken to parents in Galway and Dublin desperate to see their children stay here rather than emigrate. I have spoken to young adults who see no future for themselves here. What help can the Taoiseach offer them? What is he going to do for the 320,000 households in arrears on their electricity bills, the highest number ever, or the 180,000 in arrears on gas bills? Yesterday, an ESRI report confirmed that Ireland has the highest energy prices in Europe. Yes, they were relieved in recent years by VAT reductions and energy credits but that took us down to eighth highest, and those credits are now gone. We know there are no easy answers to the global energy shock but the Taoiseach must heed the advice of the IEA. We need radical action now to harness more renewables, bring down energy costs, tackle climate emissions and ensure fuel security. Will the Government publish a national fuel security plan? Will it promise PAYE workers it will bring forward targeted supports for them and help the desperate households now in arrears on energy bills?
Sentiment score: 0.03
We came out on Wednesday morning.
Sentiment score: 0.00
With respect, the Taoiseach has got to stop rewriting history about Government formation. As he well knows, he had done the deal with the Lowry gang and the Healy-Raes before-----
Sentiment score: 0.25
-----the engagement with us.
Sentiment score: 0.46
Indeed, that deal is now unravelling, as we saw with the departure of half a Healy-Rae.
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Also, the Taoiseach has to stop rewriting history about last week. The Labour Party in my name issued a statement last Wednesday morning calling on the Government then to engage with the representative organisations. It took the Government until Friday afternoon to do that. We also called for the lifting of the blockades on Wednesday morning. We had a very clear position and I will not accept the Taoiseach's claim on that. On the ESRI report, yes, it acknowledged Government supports had helped, but those supports are gone. The ESRI also pointed out that Ireland has such high energy prices because we have never diversified sufficiently into renewables where other counties have.
Sentiment score: 0.21
What is the Taoiseach going to do------
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-----to ensure radical action on climate and renewables that we need for energy security?
Sentiment score: 0.73