I acknowledge the awful tragedy that we saw in Dublin city centre this afternoon. I join other Deputies in expressing my horror and shock. From what we have seen, we know there has been one fatality and up to three people seriously injured in this event. Our thoughts are with them, their families, the first responders and those in our city's hospitals who are doing everything they can for them. I thank Deputy Healy for tabling this motion and for the opportunity to speak on it. With so many competing issues of real national importance, it is critical that we take every chance we have to focus on an issue that cuts across so much and affects almost everyone, but of course impacts on people with the least means the most. The rising cost of living has been one of the most challenging hallmarks of this decade. So many people and families have been left in a deeply precarious situation following the inflation crisis of recent years. I want to use my limited time to focus on two significant areas of real cost pressure for people, which are food and energy, while of course acknowledging that there are many more. On energy, we have to ask why Irish energy wholesale costs are so much higher than in other European countries. When we look at it, we see that the costs are largely a factor of the kind of fossil fuel that is used. In our case, that is gas. It was the main driver of Irish wholesale electricity costs shooting up in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine and still today accounts for a sizeable proportion of the ultimate household costs. It is clear that, had we not had substantial growth in renewables, even with the grid management costs that come with them, Irish household energy costs would today be far higher. I know that is little comfort to people who are already struggling, but this demonstrates the value in driving further forward to bring renewables online to enhance our ability to withstand global energy shocks that we know will be experienced again in the future. As the Minister of State knows, 1 March is the date on which a new regime will come in affecting residential tenancies, which we have spent much of the last two hours discussing. Part of that law will increase security of tenure, with six-year tenancies encouraging longer terms in what the law says will be more stable living situations. Is it not now the right time to come forward with additional supports on the energy side, with retrofits for renters? If rent costs are going to be reset and increased to market rates, why not take some measure to make the overall cost of renting cheaper while enhancing our building stock and reducing emissions from the housing sector? Deputy Healy's motion rightly focuses on the severe impact on households of grocery inflation, which at the end of last year hit its highest level in two years, lasting well beyond the immediate shock of the inflation crisis and persistently driving up costs for families. Last month's consumer price index shows that food prices were up 3.9%, with unprocessed foods up a staggering 5.8%, but, again, prices in Ireland, for a combination of reasons, are higher than they are on the Continent, at almost 110% of the EU average according to Eurostat, the third highest in the European Union. People see this in their shopping baskets, especially with meat, dairy and coffee, but we do not see tailored solutions that recognise the unique combination of factors that hit Irish consumers. Targeted cost-of-living supports focused on essentials like groceries would go a long way in helping some of the hardest hit families here. The climate crisis is a giant cost-of-living crisis. The most vulnerable will always be impacted the most. If we do not put in place the help to support people to make choices that break that cycle of dependence on consumer goods and services that are always open to volatile pricing, people will forever be stuck in this doom loop of ever-rising costs. Those are hard choices to make in the present but they make for a far cheaper and healthier future for all. Speaking of retrofit supports, solar panel grants, electric vehicle grants, sustainable farming supports, childcare supports, and targeted cost-of-living measures, it is all connected, and one smart intervention begets another. These were the guiding principles of our party while in government and it is something we have seen precious little of since. I urge the Minister of State and the Government to look at this approach and to reconsider the consumer pays all approach we have seen adopted in the last year.

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