How much noise needs to be made before the Government snaps out of its slumber and legislates for all of the people affected by the huge fuel price increases? It has selective hearing, sight and amnesia. It has selectively chosen who is to receive the most minimal cuts to fuel costs in some sectors while the general public and those in many industries who have to be on the road daily are forgotten. Was the Minister of State nice and warm when he woke up in his house this morning? I will tell him who were not: the people who rely on home heating oil and have to choose between heating and eating. What has the Government done for them? Nothing that makes a single iota of a difference. Private bus and coach operators that are not contracted to Bus Éireann are feeling the pressure and watch on as those with State contracts only receive cuts and rebates. Some of them are sitting in the Gallery as I speak this evening, so worried about the longevity of their livelihoods that they are still watching this debate. Home help carers and disability workers on the road from morning to night performing an essential role in every city, town, village and townland in this country have been left behind. How long before we hear of them being told to modify their travel or cut back somewhere due to the ever-rising fuel costs? Incredibly, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage issued a circular on 10 April telling the fire services not to automatically roll out with the ambulance services as per normal due to rising fuel costs. They are instructed not to conduct training unless it is essential and to only perform essential checks on their fire tenders. In all the back-slapping I listened to today from Government, it forgot to mention to the people of this country all of those people in services it had left behind, many of them crucial in their own ways and some even life-saving. The Government's failure to act has crossed a line with the people and there is no going back. It knows that itself deep down because its backbenchers have been in hiding for the past week. I am unapologetic for not accepting second best for workers, families and all the services the Government has left behind in its clamour to cling to power. I am unapologetic in voting no confidence in the Government because I know whose side I am on, and that is that of the people of this country. The Government may live to survive another day in this Chamber, but out there where it matters, its time is up. It has lost the confidence of the people.

Sentiment score: -0.10