This is a global energy crisis we are facing and we need to see it in those terms. Showing solidarity to those who are victims of war right now is a good thing. While I support these measures, the challenge has been that many of those who are out on the protest - and I know a lot of them - are hard-working and decent people and this was seen in many ways as being the last straw. I genuinely feel that in the last budget we did not do enough for workers. We did not index link the tax bands, though that is something we should always do. We should always make work pay. It is of concern to me when I hear employers talking about the fact that people are reluctant to work more than 19 hours because they will lose certain benefits. The challenge we saw is because a lot of workers, particularly in my constituency, commute. The Tánaiste will know many of them. An estimated 6,500 people commute from my constituency to work and college every day. Not alone did they not see sufficient benefits - there were some in the budget, but they were not sufficient - but once fuel prices increased, it became a significant problem for them. What we have to do in the context of the coming budget, and in prioritising resources, is to look after those who work hard and contribute to the community as well as to protect the vulnerable with our disability strategy and looking after older people. It also requires, from an energy security point of view as well as an environmental one, that we move much more quickly on our investment in renewables. It is absolutely essential for wind and solar energy and indeed that we see the clearing house. That is happening at Government level, but it has to be a top priority that we start to see offshore wind being developed to a far greater extent. This is one of the concerns. People are not afraid of contributing to the State if they can see their money is being spent well, but I worry that we are seeing a situation where public expenditure is getting out of control in many cases and people are not seeing sufficient return on their investment. We are fortunate the economy is so strong that we are able to deliver this package, which cannot be done anywhere else in Europe, but we may not always have that luxury.

Sentiment score: 0.08