Hundreds of thousands of people in this country are being impoverished and having hardship imposed on them because of the deranged lunatic in the White House, Donald Trump, and the psychopaths who run the Israeli regime and their bloodlust and warmongering. People in this country cannot pay their bills, cannot turn on their heating and, in some cases, cannot travel when they have disabilities because of the mad dog, Trump, and because of Netanyahu and the Israeli regime. Despite this, our Government still cannot condemn what Trump is doing. It cannot impose sanctions on the regime in Israel he is doing it with. As we speak, there are people outside asking where is the occupied territories Bill to impose sanctions on Israel for its illegal occupation and its genocidal campaign against the Palestinians. There is now another reason to pass the Bill, which is that people in this country cannot pay their bills because of what these psychopaths are doing. We still treat them as normal states. Has the Minister of State ever seen anything like Trump boasting about the murder of people? Whatever we might think about the Iranian regime, boasting and saying you will kill them all is the behaviour of a psychopath. If you wanted to define "psychopath", that is a psychopath and he is running the most powerful government in the world and collaborating with a regime that is in the dock for genocide. By the way, the genocidal campaign against the Palestinians continues, including in the West Bank, and is being expanded into the ethnic cleansing of Lebanon, the explicit plan to occupy another country's territory, southern Lebanon, and waging a criminal war against Iran, which has now inflamed the entire Middle East and which is costing every single person in this country to the extent that some people cannot turn on the heating. Despite this, the Government cannot condemn it. It is not only that but it is also facilitating US troops, the people who are doing this to our people, at Shannon Airport. Never mind raining death and destruction on people in the Middle East and setting the world on fire, they are immiserating people here and yet these troops are going through Shannon Airport. I know how forceful the Minister of State has been about Russia's illegal war in Ukraine. Imagine anybody suggesting that a representative of this country should go and give shamrock to Vladimir Putin, or to meet him at all, and say nothing about what he is doing in Ukraine and allow his troops to go through Shannon Airport. There would be outrage, yet the Government quietly allow US troops go through Shannon Airport while Trump and these psychopaths in the White House and in the Israeli regime continue these crimes. People here are suffering for those crimes, yet the Government continues to take no action whatsoever. It then throws back this pittance, 2 cent on the litre. It is absolutely pathetic. It is an insult. Of course, people, Trump's friends, are speculating on all of this. People are getting rich out of it while all this cost-of-living misery has been going on since 2021. We are not Johnny-come-lately when it comes to addressing the very issues we are discussing. I have been looking back at our motion, which was the first motion on the cost of living to come before this House at the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis. We moved it on 6 October 2021. It referred to the need for price controls on electricity, fuel, petrol and home heating oil. It also referred to the need to boost the retrofitting of homes so that people could bring down their bills. It mentioned the cost of disability and addressing the poverty crisis that exists in this country and the number of people in energy poverty. Six years later, we are still dealing with the same issues. They have just got worse. In all of that time, the profits of the energy companies of this country have gone through the roof. They have gone up and up. ESB profits, Energia profits and Bord Gáis profits have all gone up and up. People are speculating on oil and all of that kind of thing and they are all making profits at the expense of ordinary people who are suffering cost-of-living misery and who are unable to turn on the heating. Some 700,000 people in this country are living in poverty. They are living in poverty in one of the richest countries in the world. Despite all this, this is the best the Government can do. The Government can do other things but refuses to do so. I honestly do not understand why unless it is because, as Deputy Murphy said, that the Government is not willing to stand up to these corporations. It can introduce price controls. Has that been done anywhere else? It has been done in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Croatia. Forms of price control have been introduced in Spain and I think that has also been done in Italy. It can be done. The prices of these goods can be controlled to give security to people. How do you pay for that? Just look at the profits that are being made. We should put a bit of a levy on the profits of the data centres, which are sucking up all of the electricity, or on the record €300 billion that was made in corporate profits last year. In fact, it was more than €300 billion. Profits have gone up by 200% to 300% over the past decade while ordinary people are being absolutely crucified. The Government will not do that, however. It is okay for those companies to profiteer while ordinary people suffer with this cost-of-living crisis. The Government will not even call out the people who are choosing to make it worse, like Trump and the Israeli regime. It is fairly obvious to me. The double standards are clear. We cuddle up to the warmongers and the psychopaths. We refuse to sanction or condemn them. We grovel before them with shamrock and let their troops go through Shannon Airport. Might these people use a nuclear weapon if things do not go well for them? Some of them would. Some of the Republican senators who support Trump are actually suggesting the use of nuclear weapons. That is just how mad these people are. At what point do we call a stop to this madness and stand up to assert this country's noble tradition of opposition to empire? This country's struggle for freedom started with a struggle against empire, colonialism and the First World War. We should remember that history and heritage and show it some respect, along with showing respect for the ordinary people who are being crushed by this cost-of-living crisis.

Sentiment score: -0.10