Tonight at 7.45 p.m. the country will come to a standstill to cheer on the boys in green in Prague. It is wrong that so many people in the North who share the same passion and identity may be unable to watch their national team free to air because it is geoblocked. This is something the Government urgently needs to address. I was a young lad when Donegal's famous son Packie Bonner made that save to set Ireland up for victory in Italia '90, and that memory stays with me. Let us hope the lads can do the business tonight and take us a step closer to our first World Cup in 24 years. The nation believes and the nation is right behind them. I lár ghéarchéim breosla as cuimse, tá an Rialtas i ndiaidh teaghlaigh atá ag brath ar ola teasa tí a fhágáil ar lár. Ní fhaigheann formhór acu an liúntas fuinnimh go fóill. Caithfidh siad dul i ngleic le costais ag dul in airde agus in airde agus roghanna dodhéanta á ndéanamh acu. Níl faoiseamh ar bith ón dá cent atá ceadaithe. Teastaíonn fíorthacaíocht ó na teaghlaigh seo agus teastaíonn sé anois. Rud a dhéanfadh difríocht láithreach ná chun a fháil réidh leis an gcáin charbóin ar ola teasa tí. Let us talk about fairness because the Tánaiste spoke about fairness yesterday. Where is the fairness for the 750,000 households relying on home heating oil? The vast majority of them do not get any fuel allowance. They have seen their costs to fill soar to eye-watering levels and the Government's response is a reduction of 2 cent per litre and €20 in the cost of a fill. Incredibly, the Government is going to take back this measly €20 in a couple of weeks when it jacks up the prices by increasing carbon tax. That is not fairness. It is insulting and people know it. Let me tell the Tánaiste what this actually looks like. A support worker who contacted me is working constant overtime trying to keep two children in college and one in school. She told me she is exhausted and burned out and still cannot get ahead. Electricity is up, food is up and fuel is up. She is now sitting with no heat on, asking what the point is. Another women who contacted me in the past day is 67 years of age. She is still working. She told me she only turns on the heat when her grandchildren visit. She is saving the last little oil she has for them. Think about that for a second. People are denying themselves basic heat in their own homes. That is the reality of the Tánaiste’s decisions, whether he likes it or not. Sinn Féin put a clear proposal to the Tánaiste this week to remove excise duty and strip out carbon tax from home heating oil - real, immediate relief - but he refused and dug in. I again ask why. Why, when he knew that these measures are not enough, did he choose to leave people short? The Tánaiste should be bringing a financial resolution before the House today. We should be reducing excise duty on home heating oil tonight and giving the maximum reduction possible on diesel and petrol. He needs to recognise he has made a serious mistake, because from today this place will not sit for 20 days and families will be left high and dry to fend for themselves, trying to stretch whatever is left in the tank and making impossible choices. Again, my question is simple. Will the Tánaiste act now to do the right thing? Will he recognise the mistakes he has made and stop abandoning the 750,000 households that rely on home heating oil to heat their homes? Will he bring the resolution and cut excise duty on that fuel, or is he going to continue to abandon those households and leave people to struggle knowing full well that his measures do not come close to cutting it?
Sentiment score: 0.01
More spin and more deflection from the Minister. What he says is nonsense. Everybody knows what happened. We have led on this issue. We put forward an amendment that would have seen the maximum reduction in the price of diesel for people and the same reduction for petrol and would have seen excise duty completely removed from home heating oil, the cost of which has nearly doubled in four weeks. What did the Tánaiste do? What did his colleagues in Fine Gael do? What did Fianna Fáil and the Independent lackeys who support the Government do? They voted it down. They left 750,000 families in the lurch. That is what they did. They abandoned them. I put it to the Tánaiste directly, what does he say to people, the majority of whom do not get fuel allowance? What does he say to that woman who was talking to me, who is sitting in her home and cannot put on the heating? What does he say to her? What does he say to the woman I spoke about last night in the Dáil, who was wrapped in a blanket with a disabled son and is afraid to turn on the heating? The Tánaiste abandoned those people and I am telling him we can do the right thing now. He can recognise he has made a mistake and bring a financial resolution forward, as Sinn Féin have proposed, to cut excise duty to the maximum amount on home heating oil and give people real support at this time of crisis. That is what the Tánaiste should be doing.
Sentiment score: -0.07
That is leadership and that is what we will continue to fight for on behalf of hundreds of thousands of people right across this State.
Sentiment score: -0.38
I did not say that.
Sentiment score: 0.00
What do you say to that woman who does not get it?
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What do you say to that woman who does not get it?
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Business Post authors said that.
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The Business Post -----
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Are you calling out the three journalists in the Business Post?
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Is that what you are doing?
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Is that what you are doing?
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It is not.
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There is. Do not be stupid.
Sentiment score: 0.21
Will I show you the manual?
Sentiment score: 0.00
Do you not know that mineral oil tax is excise?
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Are you serious?
Sentiment score: -0.08