Mary Lou McDonald
Dublin Central · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“Now he watches as Paudie, his other son, aged 16, deteriorates with the same disease. He says Paudie does not have weeks to wait. He says, "I can't lose him [too]. He is all I have left." That is what is at stake here. This is urgent. Caithfidh an Rialtas an rud ceart a dhéanamh dóibh siúd a bhfuil Friedreich's ataxia orthu.”
“We know that both scramblers and e-scooters are being used by gangs to distribute drugs, to openly and actively intimidate, and to evade the gardaí and, yet, we heard the Garda Commissioner say that there would be no chance of pursuit training until next year because of the EU Presidency. I found that really shocking.”
“Their hopes were very high that the HSE drugs committee would finally approve Skyclarys, but those hopes were to be dashed. The committee decided against approving the drug. Instead, it referred it to a rare disease review group. In other words, one committee passing the buck to another committee.”
“This cruel condition moves relentlessly, ravaging their bodies and their lives, yet the system stands still, putting up obstacle after obstacle, forcing them to wait and wait as time slips by. This drug was approved by the EU Commission back in 2024. Two years on, it is available in France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Czechia.”
“So we are clear, it is not that all of this is frustrating for those living with Friedreich's ataxia; it is actually terrifying for them. I met Emily three or four weeks ago and I was speaking to her again on Tuesday. Even in that short time span, she told me that her swallow and speech had disimproved. We are on the clock here.”
“There is someone the Tánaiste knows very well in the Public Gallery. She is the unstoppable and heroic Cara Darmody. Cara has just completed her third 50-hour protest outside the Dáil, calling for real action for children and young people waiting for an assessment of need.”
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“The Taoiseach's response reflects his lack of urgency on this question. He is quite happy to simply take a laissez-faire approach and hope that others will sort this out. He knows that for the past six years, throughout this process of modernisation, ambulance workers have been left understaffed to the point that they have very deep safety concerns. Those concerns are well-grounded. He has left them overworked. So many of them are burned out that there is now an issue around recruitment and retention in that very service. He has also left them underpaid. Yesterday, those workers were on the picket line. If the Taoiseach maintains the position he has articulated today, we will face next week, the week after and the week after that an escalating crisis in the service.”
“There is a crisis in our ambulance service. The Taoiseach's complete and utter inaction over six years has deepened that crisis. It is unacceptable for him to now look the other way. Standing on the sidelines simply will not cut it. The Taoiseach is supposed to be in charge, so he should take charge. There is a week before the next strike. I urge him not to waste that time. He should act, intervene, step in and help sort this out.”
“It is a service critical to people's well-being, their safety and their health. I do not know what the Taoiseach sees when he looks at a paramedic, but I know what I see. I see someone who shows up, who is there for you, who has your back in your most vulnerable moments and who gets the job done. Yet, they are denied fair pay. They are taken for granted and disrespected by the Government. That is at the root of this crisis. The Taoiseach needs to recognise that reality, he needs to listen and he needs to be active in fixing this. Caithfidh an Taoiseach freagracht a ghlacadh agus teacht ar réiteach don ghéarchéim sa tseirbhís otharcharranna. Seo fadhb a chruthaigh an Rialtas. Caithfidh an Taoiseach gníomhú, idirghabháil a dhéanamh chun cúrsaí a réiteach go tapa agus tuilleadh stailceanna a sheachaint.”
“The Taoiseach's response to the 24-hour stoppage means that we face escalating stoppages next week and the week after. His failure to intervene has real consequences. He says to use the industrial relations mechanisms of the State, but he knows that there is a deadlock and, without intervention, this could take months to resolve. Yesterday, there was a significant impact on ambulance services, with even longer waiting times. The Taoiseach cannot sit this one out. His inaction risks walking the country into a summer of crisis, with rolling strikes week after week. People do not want that. They are really worried. They want this resolved fast. Paramedics do not want this. They want to be at work saving lives. This is not any regular industrial dispute; this is our ambulance service.”
“Our ambulance workers should not have to strike to be heard by the Taoiseach. They should not have to stand on a picket line to fight for fair pay, recognition and basic respect, but that is what they were forced to do yesterday. They were left with no other option because the Government has failed to deliver improved pay for the incredible work, vital skills and life-saving expertise they bring to work every single day. Paramedics were asked to step up and to take on advanced training to modernise the ambulance service, and they did what was asked of them. In typical Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael style, however, the Taoiseach washed his hands of his obligations and left them hanging - not for a week or a month, but for six long years.”
“If everything is so hunky-dory, why are they on strike? Is the Taoiseach trying to suggest that the ambulance workers are wrong? Is he trying to suggest they are imagining the circumstances they are in? Here is the core dishonesty in the Taoiseach's reply. This situation has dragged on for six years and the Government has demonstrated an absence of good faith and respect. It asked the paramedics to step up. It asked them to upskill, to retrain and to take on greater responsibilities. They have done all of that. They were happy to do it, because they want to provide the most excellent service they can. For its part, the Government promised recognition, staffing and fair pay and it has not fulfilled that. The Government has left them understaffed, overworked and underpaid. That is why they are on the picket line today.”
“The striking ambulance workers are right to demand fair pay, proper conditions and safe staffing. When will the Government deliver?”
“There is the problem in a nutshell. The Government is blind to the expertise and skill of those who save lives every day. It asks ambulance workers to upskill and then refuses to pay for the upskilling properly. Is iad Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael atá freagrach do staid na seirbhíse otharchairr inniu. Is teip ghlan é nár chuir siad pá cóir ar fáil d'oibrithe. D'fhág siad iad gan aon rogha. Ní féidir leanúint mar sin. Caithfidh an Rialtas idirghabháil a dhéanamh chun teacht ar réiteach láithreach. The Government's inaction and refusal to listen has effectively left people without an ambulance service today. What is the Taoiseach going to do about it? So far, he has stood back and acted as a commentator but he is not a commentator; he is the Taoiseach.”
“She also said that the matter could be sorted out at the stroke of a pen if the Minister just looked at the work they do and ensured they are paid fairly. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, refuses to intervene, however. Yesterday, at a meeting in Clare, she shocked people when she referred to paramedics and EMTs as ambulance drivers.”
“Overworked paramedics are under extreme pressure as a result and are struggling to plug the gap caused by acute staff shortages, and patients pay the price. People are left waiting far too long for ambulances. The situation is particularly bad in rural areas, where it can be hundreds of miles to the nearest hospital. People have died after delays in an ambulance getting to them. The Taoiseach is aware of this. I previously raised with him the harrowing death of Stephen Lavelle in Mayo, and there have been others. I spoke to one paramedic yesterday who told me that the workers have children to feed, bills to pay, rent, mortgages and kids in college in respect of whom they have to pay big fees. She said that a strike was the last thing they wanted but that they had no other option.”
“This was to be driven by the upskilling of front-line staff and the delivery of pay that recognised their enhanced roles. Ambulance workers kept their side of the deal. They have taken on advanced training, education and additional responsibilities. They have transformed this service from a transport service to full pre-hospital emergency care. The Government broke its side of the deal, however. For years now, it has refused to deliver the fair pay ambulance workers deserve. It has left the ambulance system stretched to breaking point. Six years ago, the Government was told that more than 2,500 additional ambulance workers would be needed by this year. Only 500 have been recruited since.”
“Today, front-line emergency workers are on strike. Paramedics, advanced paramedics, specialist paramedics, emergency medical technicians, EMTs, and supervisors are all on strike. People who save lives are on the picket line. They stand there as a result of the Government's refusal to resolve long-standing issues relating to pay and conditions and staffing. Ambulance workers do not want to be on strike; they want to be at work helping people and saving lives. The Government, however, forces them to fight for respect, recognition and fair pay. It is to their credit that they will continue to respond to life-threatening situations during this stoppage. This strike could have been avoided, but the Government has let the situation fester for six years. Back in 2020, an independent report recommended the modernisation of ambulance services.”
“The Government parties do. They are in the Gallery here. This is deeply frustrating. This is doolally stuff, with no bearing on how decent people are currently living, on the Minister of State's watch.”
“Families must be guaranteed the right to remain with their communities, so really our motion is straightforward. The Government must reverse this disgraceful decision, fund the regeneration plans, provide Dublin City Council with the resources and the staffing necessary to accelerate this work and, most importantly, start treating the people of Dublin's flat complexes with the dignity, urgency and respect that they rightfully deserve because the people of the inner city have waited long enough - far too long - and they should not have to spend yet another decade fighting for what every family in this State should already have, namely, a safe, warm and decent home.”
“These communities are tired of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Ministers turning up occasionally for photographs and then disappearing when decisions have to be made. They are especially tired of being asked to pay more rent for sub-standard homes. Let us remember that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party all supported rent increases for council tenants while these same tenants continue to live in deplorable conditions. Families are paying higher rents while mould climbs their walls, overcrowding worsens and regeneration is delayed yet again. The people of Dublin's inner city deserve so much better than this. Let me say clearly that regeneration must never become code for displacement. Residents must remain central to every decision and communities must remain intact.”
“Families are now living in overcrowded flats and parents are trying to raise families in conditions utterly unfit for modern life and the Minister's response is that the homes are too small to regenerate or that families should be forced to remain in inadequately small accommodation. This is bureaucratic cruelty masquerading as policy and is absolutely indefensible. The message it sends to working class communities is devastating which is that after all the consultation, promises and engagement, this Government is still not prepared to treat these communities equally. These are not abstract policy debates for us in Dublin Central. These communities are our neighbours. They are our communities. They are the people we represent.”
“A regeneration plan was developed with residents and not imposed on them. We know that this is the approach that can work because we have already seen it in action. In Killarney Court in my constituency, regeneration transformed living conditions for residents and families while the pilot project in Ballybough Court shows what is possible when communities are listened to and properly supported so nobody in government can claim that this cannot be done. The problem is not the communities. The problem is the lack of political will and now the Government has pulled the plug. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has refused to fund the regeneration of Oliver Bond House and Pearse House because some flats would be amalgamated to meet modern living standards. That is an absurdity.”
“The flat communities of Dublin's inner city are not a problem to be managed. They are communities to be respected - communities built on resilience, solidarity and enormous pride. Let us tell the truth here this evening. For decades, these communities have been failed with families forced to live with damp, mould, chronic overcrowding and rodent infestations - conditions no Minister in this Government would tolerate for a single week or day. Yet these families have endured this for years because successive Governments lacked urgency and, more importantly, lacked respect. We are talking about the people of Ballybough, St. Michan's, Oliver Bond House and Pearse House. Across Dublin's inner city, these communities fought to be heard and after years of campaigning and engagement, finally there was a pathway forward.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — Dublin City Council (DCC) has 6,000 flats across 100 complexes built from the 1930s to the 1960s; — due to poor maintenance by the Council, and underfunding by central government, living conditions in these flat complexes are amongst the worst in the city; — these sub-standard conditions have a significant impact on community cohesion and the well-being of residents, in particular, young people; — damp, mould, rodent infestation, chronic overcrowding and inadequate sports and community facilities, continue to blight the hard-working communities who live in these flat complexes; — in 2017, following a collective complaint to the European Committee of Social Rights at the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, by the residents of many of these flat complexes, the Irish Government was found to be in breach of Article 16 of the European Social Charter (Revised), which protects the right of the family to social, legal and economic protection, including the provision of adequate family housing; — despite valiant campaigning by residents, supported by the Community Action Network and the Communities of Practice, the conditions in these flat complexes have continued to deteriorate; — in 2023, DCC undertook a comprehensive engagement with communities in flat complexes, and produced a plan for the deep retrofit and regeneration of these flat complexes, to bring their homes in line with contemporary standards; — this plan is based on successful estate retrofit and regeneration, such as Killarney Court and the pilot project in Ballybough Court; — the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, is refusing to fund the initial proposals for the retrofit and regeneration of these complexes in Pearse House and Oliver Bond House, on the spurious grounds that it would lead to a reduction in the number of homes in each complex; — this decision is now fatally undermining years of community consultation, and further delaying the bringing of these flat complexes up to legally required standards for rental accommodation; and — Dublin City Councillors from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Labour Party, the Green Party and some Independents voted for the recent Council Budget, which included significant rent increases for Council tenants, including those living in sub-standard accommodation in the inner-city flat complexes; and calls on the Government to: — reverse its current position of refusing to fund DCCs proposed retrofit and regeneration on the inner-city flat complexes; — put the views and needs of our strong and vibrant long-standing inner-city communities at the centre of all policy and funding decisions related to the retrofit and regeneration of the flat complexes; and — provide DCC with a dedicated team of staff, headed by a senior assistant director of service, with a comprehensive budget, to drive an accelerated programme of flat complex retrofit and regeneration.”
“For decades, Dublin inner-city flat complexes like Oliver Bond flats have been failed by the State with families been forced to live in damp overcrowded flats and communities left to battle neglect, antisocial behaviour and organised crime alone. Dublin City Council agreed a regeneration plan to deliver safe modern homes for local families but yesterday, the Government pulled the plug. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage blocked funding. Why? It was because some overcrowded flats were to be amalgamated to make them big enough for families to live in because the Government chooses to keep them in small overcrowded flats. Think about that. It is absurd, cruel and a betrayal of this community. The Taoiseach visited Oliver Bond flats in 2020, looked residents in the eye and promised regeneration.”
“The Taoiseach acknowledges on the one hand go bhfuil daoine is teaghlaigh faoi bhrú, that people are under pressure. He acknowledges the stress that people are living with daily. I am sure the Taoiseach accepts the figures and facts presented to him of over 300,000 households in arrears, of energy prices, including gas and electricity, rising again and of people here already spending more than anyone else across Europe on their electricity costs. He acknowledges all of that but then when the obvious question is asked of him, which is what will the Government do to respond now in May, not next October or January, as these bills are landing and as families are under this level of pressure, the Taoiseach comes up blank. All he offers is spoof and distraction.”
“Tá tuilleadh arduithe ar phraghsanna leictreachais os ár gcomhair amach, ach tá Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael fós sásta suí siar agus faic a dhéanamh. Tá cáinaisnéis éigeandála agus creidmheasanna fuinnimh ag teastáil láithreach. The time for lame excuses is over and the time for action is now. An emergency budget is not just another call from Sinn Féin. It is essential to help prevent households from going to the wall. Energy credits are vital to help families cope with runaway electricity prices. It boils down to this. The Taoiseach can either deliver an emergency budget, provide the energy credits, give households the lifeline they desperately need, or he can stand back and continue to do nothing.”
“It will not take on the energy companies to get the prices down. It will not provide energy credits to help households with bills and it pushes back against the immediate need for an emergency budget. We have a do-nothing Government led by a do-nothing Taoiseach. As prices go through the roof, the Government leaves people in desperate situations - stress, worry, cutting back, going without and working hard but still struggling for the basics - but it has the resources to act. The surplus provides room to help but the Government's message to the working people of Ireland is to struggle on, make do and wait for next year's budget as the bills pile up. This is not just a bad political choice; this is, in fact, a dereliction of the Taoiseach's duty to the people who keep this country going.”
“Nearly 250,000 customers will see their average yearly bill shoot up by almost €300 and that is only the start. More increases are on the way. We already have the highest electricity prices in Europe, which was confirmed by Eurostat today. We pay €480 a year more compared to the EU average. Other suppliers will hike their prices in coming weeks, and why would they not? The big energy companies have nothing to fear from the Government. It has not laid a glove on them. It has taken no action to get prices down and its gutless, carte blanche approach and refusal to rein in these companies has left us with the highest electricity bills in Europe, bills that are landing now and have pushed more than 300,000 households into arrears. People are sick of the Government standing back as they take hit after hit.”
“The urgent need for an emergency budget grows by the day. In the past week, we have had report after report all saying the same thing: this crisis is getting worse. This morning, we heard that rising prices hit the average household by close to €2,000 a year. Families are under huge pressure to keep up with the cost of groceries, fuel, insurance and energy bills, and €2,000 is a lot of money for those working families. For many, it is the difference between staying afloat or going under. The big question everyone is asking is: what is the Taoiseach waiting for? How bad do things have to get before he wakes up and acts? What happened on Friday last should be a loud wake-up call for his Government. PrepayPower, Ireland's largest pay-as-you-go energy provider, announced sharp hikes in its electricity and gas prices.”
“How is it that 100 electric buses costing €10 million of taxpayer's money are purchased and then sit idly for up to two and a half years? Why did this happen? It happened because when purchasing said electric buses, it was overlooked that you had to have chargers for the electric buses. We have seen a litany of incompetence from the Taoiseach's Government - the bike shed cost hundreds of thousands, 14 steps in a park in Dublin cost €700,000 and I do not have the scope to describe the fiasco of delay and waste that is the National Children's Hospital. Now, there is this. Is this the most incompetent, wasteful Government in the history of Irish Governments?”
“The number of households in arrears that I quoted to the Taoiseach come from February. That predates the Trump-Netanyahu attacks on Iran. That has made matters worse, which I absolutely acknowledge. What the Taoiseach cannot acknowledge is what the regulator and the CSO are telling the Government directly today, namely, that the cost-of-living crisis is getting worse, including for groceries and energy, and families are struggling. I have given the Taoiseach the figures for the level of arrears. They are terrifying. The Government has allocated diddly-squat - sweet feck all - for working families.”
“He does not accept that action is now needed. That is not a real or sustainable response. He needs to stop doubling down. Help is needed. Energy credits are urgent. Ní féidir leis na céadta mílte daoine a mbillí leictreachais a íoc ach fós tá Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael ag diúltú gníomhú. Tá cabhair ag teastáil ó dhaoine láithreach. Tá cáinaisnéis éigeandála ag teastáil anois. Families are now asking how bad things have to get before the Taoiseach wakes up. How many families have to fall behind in their electricity bills before he acts? What is the number? Is the number 400,000? Is it half a million? What number spells crisis for the Taoiseach? For every single one of these households, the crisis is now - it is today. They cannot wait until next year’s budget, so the Taoiseach must act. We need an emergency budget now.”
“He withdrew the credits anyway and he left households terribly exposed. He stood idly by as big energy companies, one after the other, hiked their electricity prices up and up and now his energy Minister tells people to brace themselves for even further electricity price increases. There are households in arrears, sky-high prices, fear of disconnection and more price hikes to come. Today’s CSO report makes clear that people cannot wait until next year’s budget. It tells them what they already knew - that the cost of living is getting worse. Food prices and energy prices are up and pressure on families has increased and the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, sits back and watches. The damage and hardship caused by withdrawing energy credits is plain to see but he does not listen. He does not recognise that he got it wrong.”
“As a matter of fact, 197 households have already been disconnected this year. Many are forced to switch to pay-as-you-go meters where they end up paying the most expensive tariffs and bills. These are families who do everything and are desperate to keep up but they just find themselves in awful situations and the Taoiseach's Government – Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael – simply shrugs its shoulders. The crisis did not fall out of the sky. The Taoiseach knows it has been getting worse, so how can he not accept the need for an emergency budget? How can he not see the need for energy credits? Last October, we told him that cancelling energy credits in his budget was a terrible decision. The regulator warned him that even more households would struggle to pay their bills as a result of his decision but the Taoiseach ignored those warnings.”
“Yesterday the Taoiseach told working people and families struggling to get by to wait until next year's budget. He might help them then or he might not - wait and see. That was his message. The consequences of that indifference were exposed yesterday. While the Taoiseach downplayed the pressure on households, the regulator released startling figures. The number of households behind on their electricity bills has shot up again. Listen to this. Some 316,838 households were behind on their electricity bill in February. That is frightening. More than half of these households are in debt for over 90 days and the number is growing. More and more households find it harder to pay their electricity bill, find it harder to get back on track and the fear of disconnection is real.”
“Can it guarantee that the additional funding announced last week is new money and will provide an appropriate place for every child?”
“Children with additional needs are being failed by the State. Some 7,860 children will need special class or school places for this September but the Government has planned for only 5,500 places. That leaves at least 2,300 children without appropriate places and takes no account of possibly hundreds more. These are not statistics; these are children being failed by the State. Parents have been left in limbo weeks out from summer and are unsure if their children will have school places. Some parents have received as many as 14 rejection letters. They are doing everything asked of them and still getting no answers. This is an abject failure of political will. Will the Government act to guarantee sufficient places, special needs assistants and supports for every child come September?”
“There was a cost-of-living crisis before the war in Iran. More than 300,000 households were already in energy arrears. This crisis has very deep roots. The Taoiseach failed to acknowledge that. The budget last October left workers worse off and left people with disabilities worse off. The Taoiseach failed to acknowledge that. Families and workers are really struggling and the Taoiseach has no response for them except to talk down to them and dismiss them. I have asked the Taoiseach to introduce an emergency budget. I have told him the very specific measures that we in Sinn Féin believe need to be taken, namely, energy credits, supports, including a disability payment, and, critically, a permanent cut in the USC. These are the things that need to happen if the Government is to be serious about assisting people in a time of crisis.”
“These are practical steps that can be taken right now to make a real difference and to lift some of the pressure people are under to make ends meet. Caithfidh Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael dúiseacht agus, i ndáiríre, géarchéim an costas maireachtála a thuiscint. Ní leor leath-iarracht. Tá cáinaisnéis éigeandála ag teastáil láithreach chun faoiseamh ceart a thabhairt d'oibrithe agus do theaghlaigh. Expecting households to cling on until next year's budget is not only unfair it is downright insulting. This cost-of-living crisis is happening now. The stress is at kitchen tables now and at this time. The Taoiseach needs to do his job and he needs to act to make life more affordable. The Government has a surplus of billions. A fraction of that would make a real difference. Bring forward an emergency budget and finally listen.”
“Even when anger boiled into protest, it still failed to understand people's lives. Workers and families cannot take this any more. They cannot wait for any longer. We need an emergency budget. We have set out clearly what needs to be done, solutions that cut to the heart of the pressure people are under. We need energy credits for households, a €500 payment for people with disabilities and a suite of measures to protect the most vulnerable, and there must be relief for workers. Remember, the budget last October left them worse off. The Taoiseach will remember introducing the USC. It was brought in by Fianna Fáil when it crashed the Irish economy. It is a constant drag on people's wages and even more so during this cost-of-living crisis, so we propose a permanent USC cut that will put €500 back into workers' pockets.”
“Last October, the Government wanted people to believe that this was all over, and it could not have been more wrong. Since then, the Government's response has been all over the place. It has scrambled around taking a scattered approach, doing a bit here and a bit there but never showing the leadership required to truly grasp this crisis. What was needed from the Government was quick, decisive action to provide people with real relief and to give working households certainty for the time ahead. However, it is only when public anger grows that the Government moves. Twice, the Government has come to the table and twice the Government has got it badly wrong, with half measures each time and never being prepared to go far enough. It has left people to struggle on and to make do.”
“The credit union consumer sentiment index for April has been published and it lays bare the severity of the cost-of-living pressure on people, especially when it comes to soaring energy costs. It reveals that a third of consumers expect to cut energy use just to get by, while nine out of ten consumers fear that high energy costs will force them to cut back on household spending. The reality is that working people and families are struggling to stay afloat. A record number of households cannot pay their electricity bills, one in four cannot pay their gas bills and now they brace themselves for further electricity price hikes in the coming weeks. Workers and families are really, really worried about the time ahead, yet they see the Government refusing to listen and seemingly incapable of understanding the pressure they are under.”
“This morning, we hear of another scandal involving the care of vulnerable children in this State. Forged references were provided for staff at special emergency accommodation for children, putting vulnerable children in harm's way. These settings, as the Taoiseach knows, are unregulated, poorly resourced and unregistered facilities not inspected by the authorities, yet more than 1,000 children were placed in these settings last year. The State pays out literally millions to private operators to run them, all because of a severe shortage of foster carers and regulated care home placements - a shortage, by the way, that the Taoiseach's Government allowed to develop. What is the Taoiseach's response to this scandal and how will he ensure accountability for this, which is just the latest in a long line of such scandals?”
“He ignores the fact that hundreds of thousands of households cannot pay their electricity bills; that families the length and breadth of the country are struggling with their rent, grocery bills, and to put bread on the table. He does not want to know that. There is nothing strategically positive about leaving people in poverty. There is nothing good about creating that level of stress or hardship for families and workers across the country. The Taoiseach's own Minister accepts that. He has said out loud what we all know: that the last budget failed working people and families. He has said and accepted that. How very telling that the Taoiseach cannot accept that. He turns his face away from the people he should serve. He turns his face away from the reality of their lives.”
“Is his promise to cut the USC on the table - a promise he broke? For low and middle income workers, the USC is a constant drag on wages. Every extra shift and every extra hour worked is taxed again. It punishes work and eats into pay packets. D'admhaigh an tAire, an Teachta Chambers, nach raibh aon fhaoiseamh d’oibrithe sa bhuiséad deireannach. Táimid á rá sin leis an Taoiseach le sé mhí anuas. An féidir leis glacadh leis sin anois faoi dheireadh? An aontaíonn sé lena Aire féin? Having failed workers last October, is the Taoiseach seriously asking them now to wait until next January to see any support from him? The crisis is now. It is immediate. It is being felt every single day at kitchen tables across the country. People cannot wait.”
“Let us be clear. The Government did not just fail to help people but it made things worse. Workers were punished but others did very well - corporate landlords and the banks. Big funds were protected. Those at the top were well looked after. That was the Government's political choice. That was the Taoiseach's personal priority. The Government withdrew supports and then it piled on the costs and increased the charges. School transport costs are up. The junior and leaving certificates were reintroduced, and all of it landing on those same people - the workers and families who are already struggling. The Government does not listen or understand. It is out of touch with the reality of people's lives. The Taoiseach's Minister now says that everything is on the table for the next budget. Everything. Let us test that.”
“That budget drove the deep anger and frustration we now see across the State. As prices were rising and bills were mounting, while working families were under the most severe pressure, the Government withdrew supports. It abandoned its election promises one after another, and it left people high and dry. The Taoiseach had the resources and he made the wrong call. Now the consequences are everywhere. Workers are squeezed, households are stretched to breaking point, people are cutting back on basics and making impossible choices, wondering how they will get through the week, not to mind the next month. The Taoiseach's own Minister now admits the truth. Will the Taoiseach do the same? Will he admit that he got it wrong? Will he accept that his poor decision-making left working people exposed to the full force of this cost-of-living crisis?”
“We extend a very warm welcome to the students of the Holy Faith school in Glasnevin who are in the Public Gallery. They are very welcome. There is real anger among workers and families pushed to the brink by the cost of living. People are working and paying their way yet they are falling further behind with each passing week. We finally have a very frank admission from the Minister for public expenditure, Jack Chambers. He now admits that last year's budget - in his own words - did not give workers a break. There it is. The Taoiseach's own Minister is finally saying out loud what we have been telling him for six months - what the Taoiseach has been denying for six months - that his €9.4 billion budget did absolutely nothing for ordinary working people. In fact, it left them worse off.”
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael attempted a shameful plan to cut SNAs, with some schools facing a loss of as many as six or seven SNAs with absolutely devastating consequences for children and young people. Of course, they were forced into a U-turn by the anger from parents, children, young people and, of course, SNAs. This cannot happen again. Our motion this evening calls on the Government to immediately engage with the Save our SNAs campaign and advance and implement its updated and improved circular on the role of SNAs. This is all to ensure that every child and young person gets the supports they need. Will the Taoiseach agree to engage with the campaign and support the new circular?”
“You do not leave hundreds of thousands of people unable to meet their electricity bills, or hundreds of thousands of people struggling to pay for their home heating oil. There is an obligation on the Government to listen, to hear and to intervene. Why will it not do that, with all of these additional billions that are now projected?”
“That is guff, plain and simple. The Taoiseach has given us a catalogue of his own failures. On housing, the metro and infrastructure, it is fail, fail, fail on his part. Now, as we learn that the projected surplus will grow from €5.1 billion to more than €9 billion, the Taoiseach has the poor mouth for struggling families. That is all he is offering. I do not know if the Taoiseach thinks that people live lives of fiction. I want him to hear very clearly that families are struggling now, today, in the here and now. Part of our economic resilience, and the health of our economy and our society, has to be to intervene when families are struggling. You do not leave them in the lurch.”
“With billions more available to it, why does the Government choose not to act for people who cannot heat their homes or meet their electricity bills? How does it justify refusing to act on the cost of home heating oil while prices remain so high? Why does it refuse to introduce energy credits when people desperately need them? Why does it not bring forward meaningful cost-of-living supports?”
“On the one hand, the Government talks of rising prices and further shocks while on the other, it tells people to struggle on and wait. That is unacceptable. The Government has been warned about soaring energy costs and has been told that its measures are inadequate and that people need real intervention but it did not listen. This failure is not confined to energy. We see it in housing. This weekend, figures show eviction notices surging since the Government's rent hike Bill came in - exactly as we warned. People see the same pattern. The Government does not listen, it delays and it makes the wrong calls and ordinary people pay the price. On the back of the Government's spring economic statement today, the question is simple.”
“They have worked hard, studied and built their lives and still they cannot heat their homes. Families now face rising school transport costs and the return of junior and leaving certificate fees. That is what the Government is bringing to people's doors. It has scrapped energy credits and refused even to cut carbon tax on home heating oil when people needed relief most. While pressure mounts, the Government pulls supports. The moment households need help, it steps back. When intervention is required, it chooses inaction. Now it seems its message is that things will get worse and it will look at it again in October. That is six months away. This is exactly what the Government did last year. It delayed and waited and when October's budget did come, its decisions actually left people worse off, so here we go again.”