While the measures that were introduced will bring some relief, they do not go far enough. There are too many left out, including families, commuters, taxi drivers, home help staff, public health nurses and people who depend on home heating oil. The majority of rural houses in County Laois depend on home heating oil. They are facing double whammies and triple whammies. Workers and families on a medium income who do not get fuel allowance have been left out. The price of diesel has gone up by 70 cent. Five EU states are calling for a windfall tax to be put on the wholesale price and for that tax to be used, namely, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Austria. Where is Ireland? Ireland needs to join that. Five large EU countries are calling for it. The Irish Government should join that and use that money to bring in reliefs for people. The backers of it say that it would make it possible to finance temporary reliefs for consumers and curb inflation and send a clear message to the profit-making companies that is what needs to happen. Ireland should back that. Greece brought in its own measure. It brought in a three-month limit on the profit margins, not on the cap. I understand the argument around the cap. It put a limit in terms of the profit margin people can have. It is 12 cent for retailers and 12 cent for wholesalers. The Government here should do the same thing.

Sentiment score: 0.15