It is fair to say that families across the State are in absolute shock at the rising costs they are facing, especially for petrol, diesel and home heating oil. The truth that is lost on the Government is that many of these families were already struggling long before these latest price hikes arrived. They were struggling because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael removed vital cost-of-living supports in the most recent budget and actually left working people and families worse off this year than they were last year even before the recent hike spikes. The Government's decisions to remove energy credits, increase student fees, local property tax and rent, and do nothing about the soaring costs of insurance, groceries and other essentials have meant that households today simply do not have the capacity to absorb the large increases in fuel prices we have seen in recent weeks, yet the parties in government and the Independents who prop them up seem completely oblivious to the pressures people are under. Two weeks ago, a Fianna Fáil TD told me in a TV studio that it was premature to talk about a cost-of-living crisis. It is cloud cuckoo land stuff. I ask Government TDs this evening whether they still think it is premature or have they finally realised that, for many families, the cost-of-living situation has moved beyond a crisis and become an emergency? Of course, one of the reasons that the Government refuses to act is simple. Higher fuel costs are not an accident. They are Government policy. Since 2020, the cost of petrol, diesel and home heating oil has been permanently increased six times, not by Putin or Trump, but by Micheál Martin, Simon Harris, Eamon Ryan and, latterly, the Lowry and Healy-Rae Independents to such an extent that 65 cent of every euro now being paid at the pumps is going to the Exchequer. By the way, these same parties plan to increase these taxes four more times between now and 2030. When workers are struggling to fill their cars and heat their homes, the Government is deliberately driving these costs higher. There is an alternative to the immediate crisis, however. It is before this House this evening. Sinn Féin has put forward a straightforward and practical solution, that is, reduce the taxes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil to give families immediate relief. The answer is here. All that is required now is for Government TDs to wise up and recognise the reality facing families across the State and support this motion.

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