The fact is the Government did survive today, but that was not down to any conversation anybody had out there with people who were actually at the pin of their collar. It has been said by many but I am going to repeat it. Out at the protests were people who had never been seen on a protest before and who did not want to be anywhere next or near a protest. We are talking about agricultural contractors, farmers and those involved in the bus and coach industry. As Joanna Byrne has said, some of them are here today. There is some confusion and displeasure in relation to those who have the Bus Éireann and school bus transport rebate schemes, but these people have never got anything. They will tell us about the whole period during Covid when they were not looked after in any way, shape or form. We have had nothing but disrespect from the Government and the absolute denigration of those who, as a last resort, went out to put the pressure on. We have seen the impact of the pressure. We have had a ministerial resignation. We would like to think that we may see more of that into the future as people are held accountable by their own electorates and by the people they know because, to date, we have had a Government that has not listened to the severe pressure that people are under. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, is no different than me. He is a constituency operator who has had people come into his office, including carers and those working as community nurses, who long before this period arrived spoke of the serious pressure they were under and that they were not sure how they could make it through or how the necessary work they were doing was going to wash its own face, because it would not. We had 320,000 people who were not able to pay their energy bills and were in arrears. Then we have this. As Deputy Kennedy has said - actually, I meant Deputy Kenny; it is not the first time I have got that wrong - we do not hold the Government responsible for the madness of genocidal Israel and for Donald Trump, but we do hold the Government responsible for not listening, for not taking action and for the utter ineptitude of putting fuel on the fire in relation to the protests and what was going on during the week. Reference was made to those who were discommoded, and they were, but it could have been ended by the Government much more easily. What we need to see is real action. The Government survived today but it will not survive into the future because we need to see a real Government that delivers for people. What we have seen to date is failure. It is failure to listen and failure to act in real terms.
Sentiment score: -0.15
On diesel, petrol, home heating oil-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
-----not enough has been delivered. It is too little, too late.
Sentiment score: 0.00
It is what we had in Dundalk.
Sentiment score: 0.00