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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Every one of 1,050 lines we hold for Mary Lou McDonald, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 8 of 21.
“The State not alone failed Garda Margaret Loftus; it actively protected her abuser, Garda Trevor Bolger. Margaret was subjected not alone to a prolonged, sustained and violent assault, as has been commented on in the public domain, but also to a sustained campaign of threat, intimidation and menace by Trevor Bolger. Yet, this man was promoted, given a firearm, given more responsibility and protected. This raises the most serious questions for An Garda Síochána, including its failure to investigate, its promotion of this individual and his ongoing employment by the State. It also raises a very serious question for the Director of Public Prosecutions. This man was charged with a section 2 assault, which is the most minor assault. He walked away with a suspended sentence of three months, not even a rap on the knuckles.”
“Obviously I have hit a bit of a nerve there with the Taoiseach. Maybe it is just me, but I do not think a chair of Bord Bia whose company was importing Brazilian beef stands on credible ground. That is a view that I hold and I know that will be held by many farmers and people beyond that. On the childcare issue, the Government is not serious about providing the right number of places. There are 50,000 children now waiting for a place. The Taoiseach's big idea is to provide only 800 places over the next number of years. That is a joke and a bad one. The Taoiseach has made no reference to his promise of €200 childcare. He has obviously ditched that but he does not have the integrity to just state it plainly. He wants people to wait years more for a plan that might deliver that.”
“The nub of it is, the Taoiseach promised affordable childcare and he has not delivered it. He failed to produce the childcare places that are necessary and I would like to know what he is going to do about this in the here and now, not in 2027 or 2028.”
“Does the Taoiseach really think that hard-pressed parents can wait another two or possibly three years before the Government even produces a plan to cut their childcare bill and wait longer for its delivery? More children in primary school-----”
“The Taoiseach has known for a very long time that the Government needs to invest in buildings and sites to increase childcare spaces but it has dithered, it has delayed and now we have tens-of-thousands of children waiting. The big problem is that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are very good on promises but very bad when it comes to delivery. The Taoiseach promised a roadmap to €200 per month childcare within the first 100 days of his Government. Parents waited more than 300 days and what they got was a rehashed pledge to deliver an affordability roadmap sometime between 2027 and 2029. Children needing a childcare space now will have started school by then.”
“The news of these childcare closures will come as no surprise to the tens-of-thousands of parents desperately seeking a childcare place for their child but it will add to their stress. The childcare crisis is one of capacity but it is also one of affordability and the Government has done a very poor job of tackling these persistent issues. The job of government is to build a strong, sustainable childcare system that is affordable and that is good for children, good for society and good for an economy where people can have a good work and family life. However, the Government has not shown any ambition, vision or urgency to deliver this childcare system that working families so desperately need.”
“Unaffordable fees are crippling families. Parents, in many cases, pay the equivalent of a mortgage each month. Across the State, as the Taoiseach knows, there are nearly 50,000 children on waiting lists denied a childcare place. Many parents find themselves relying on family members to mind their children while they are at work. Some are forced to cut back on their hours or consider leaving their jobs entirely. Now we hear that mounting cost pressures have seen nearly 1,000 early childcare facilities close their doors over the past six years. The Government committed to reviewing core funding to operators but that has not happened and it has had devastating consequences. Of course, it is just another promise broken by the Government.”
“I wrote to the Taoiseach this morning regarding Bord Bia's chair, Larry Murrin, whose position I now believe to be completely untenable given that his company was importing Brazilian beef. I hope he will act on my letter. The childcare system is in crisis.”
“However, at this moment the community at Portland Row in the north inner city faces the imminent closure of a playing pitch, one of the few community facilities available in the entirety of the inner city and the only one available to this community. How can that stack up? How can that be right? The community has to be heard. The Taoiseach has to be as good as his word if he is going to produce these reports.”
“I put to the Taoiseach that the actions on the ground in the inner city in particular starkly contradict the aspirations of the task force plan. I will give two examples. There task force has an aspiration to expand artistic spaces and develop new cultural hubs, yet in Smithfield in the north-west inner city, The Complex, a critical hub and piece of community and artistic infrastructure, has been shut down. Will he explain that contradiction? The task force lauds the importance of community facilities for children's sports to foster a healthy and well community. Therefore, all plans must include well-designed public spaces, green spaces, playgrounds and recreational areas.”
“Some of them are very distressed and this matter needs to be cleared up now compassionately, giving carers the respect they are entitled to.”
“I want to return to the issue of carers, thousands of whom have received letters telling them that they may owe tax. This is a mess of the Government's making. Carers are not tax dodgers. They are people who care for others and who save the State a fortune. Some of them may work part-time just to make sure they can make ends meet because carers experience the cost-of-living crisis just like everyone else. Now, out of the blue, they get this letter from Revenue stating they may in fact have a tax liability and a bill. It is not lost on any of us that this happens at the same time that we discovered that ten of the Taoiseach's own Ministers who had been overpaid had failed to make arrangements to pay back the money they owed. Carers are in shock.”
“The Government has failed to recruit and failed to resource and as a consequence, lives are at risk, and sadly and tragically, in this case Stephen's life was lost. I want to hear what the Taoiseach will do to make sure that this simply does not happen again.”
“I have given the Taoiseach the circumstances surrounding Stephen's death. My colleague Deputy Conway-Walsh has written to the Minister for Health setting it out. I cannot imagine the fear that must have been felt in that car that night. Imagine, on dark country roads, your father crying out in pain, your husband fighting for his life and knowing still how far away you are from the hospital. That is the cost of the failure of this service. An emergency like Stephen's should be responded to within 19 minutes. That is the rule. That is the standard. That did not happen in his case. As a matter of fact, in more than half of such emergencies the 19-minute threshold is not met. The paramedics themselves are crying out for more resources.”
“What will the Government do to make sure that no one ever has to go through what Stephen Lavelle and his family went through on that awful night?”
“The ambulance effectively becomes a bed outside the hospital and sometimes they are stuck there for hours, parked up rather than on the road responding to emergencies. The ambulance service is stretched to breaking point and the Government has known all of this literally for years, yet the recruitment of paramedics has not even scratched the surface of what is needed. The Government has stood by and allowed all of this to happen, and it is people at their most desperate and vulnerable moments who pay the price. Tá ár seirbhísí otharlainne i ndeireadh na feide agus ag cur saolta i mbaol. Caithfidh an Rialtas scála na géarchéime seo a aithint agus gníomhú go práinneach. Does the Taoiseach accept the scale of this crisis? Does he accept that ambulance delays put lives at risk?”
“There are stories from all across the country of ambulances taking far too long to arrive. It is especially dangerous in rural areas where hospitals can be an hour or more away. We have outstanding paramedics but we do not have nearly enough of them. Four years ago, the Government was told that the service required an additional 2,000 staff by 2026 but not even a quarter of that number has been recruited. The service is badly understaffed and paramedics operate under incredible pressure. Because of a chronic lack of beds in our hospitals, ambulances often arrive at emergency departments to find that there is literally nowhere for the patient to go, so the paramedics cannot hand over care.”
“He was screaming in pain. They kept getting disconnected from the ambulance service because of the bad mobile phone coverage. Stephen's head began to droop. His eyes were wide in his head. Rebecca started CPR in the car. They finally did meet the ambulance but that was when they were only three minutes away from the hospital. When they arrived, nobody was waiting for them at the hospital. Anthony ran in and got help. It was now well after midnight. Stephen's pulse came back after eight minutes of CPR. He was ventilated and brought to the ICU. Sadly, Stephen passed away the following morning. He was 68 years old. My heart goes out to Stephen's heartbroken wife and family. There are no words to adequately describe the horror faced by Stephen and his family. It highlights in a most harrowing way the severe crisis in our ambulance service.”
“I want to tell the Taoiseach about the final hours of Stephen Lavelle's life, a man from Erris in north Mayo. On the night of Saturday, 10 January, he became gravely ill shortly after arriving at the pub in Binghamstown. An ambulance was called at 10.25 p.m. but despite several follow-up calls, no ambulance arrived. A doctor was called and by the time they arrived, Stephen's family were growing more and more distressed. The doctor told Stephen's son Anthony, "This is a category one emergency. You need to get him to hospital right now", but there was still no sign of the ambulance. In desperation, the family carried Stephen to a car to drive the 56-mile journey to Mayo University Hospital. His wife Martina, his son Anthony and his daughter-in-law Rebecca all accompanied him. As they drove, Stephen's condition deteriorated.”
“This is D-day for The Complex arts facility in Dublin's north inner city. At midnight, its lease expires and, as it stands, we risk losing what is a key project for our community. This issue has gone on and on for years and the project has been passed from Billy to Jack. Promises of intervention have been made and have amounted to nothing. Central government, Dublin City Council and the Arts Council all have a role play. At this final hour, we need all concerned to get their act together and save this project. Passing the buck needs to stop. This complex has proven to be a valuable resource and its contribution has been widely recognised, including by the Government's Dublin city task force, which acknowledged the central role of The Complex in sustaining artistic and community life in the area. We are simply not prepared to lose it.”
“The issue is that it is not a specific or isolated incident. I would like to know the extent of this. I know about the case of this woman in particular. I have given the details of it. Dr. Michael McCarthy, who is president of the Irish Society of Medical Oncology, during the summer said: The reality in Galway is that patients are now typically [and I emphasise "typically"] waiting seven to eight weeks for their first session. With every week that passes, the risk increases that their cancer will grow, or worse that it will spread to other parts of their body. This is not an isolated phenomenon. I have set out the profound terror and distress this woman and her family experienced, but she is not on her own. I want to know more from the Taoiseach. We need numbers-----”
“I want him to tell us what action he is going to take in this regard to guarantee not a single patient is left to wait weeks and weeks to start their lifesaving chemotherapy.”
“Michael McCarthy have warned that it is getting tougher and tougher to deliver care on time. He says we are now behind the curve and we are slipping back. Advocates have repeatedly warned we do not have enough staff, space or equipment to cope and the human cost is being paid by patients and families. This has to change because lives are on the line. Níor chóir go bhfágfar aon duine a fhaigheann diagnóis ailse le fanacht ar feadh seachtainí roimh ceimiteiripe a thosú. Caithfidh an Rialtas a chinntiú go bhfuil fáil ag othair ar chóir leighis chun a mbeatha a shábháil gan mhoill. I want the Taoiseach to tell me how many other cancer patients are currently left waiting and waiting like this.”
“We all know early treatment is vital when it comes to surviving cancer. The National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 states treatment should start within 15 days of diagnosis but patients are being left to wait way beyond that timeline. Last summer the Irish Cancer Society rang the alarm bell loudly. It raised the major regional disparities that exist in accessing cancer treatment, with patients in the west often waiting seven or even eight weeks for their chemotherapy. That is terrifying. This is not the first time I have raised serious concerns about access to chemotherapy. The Taoiseach will recall the scandal of 800 children’s chemotherapy appointments being cancelled in 2023. The National Cancer Strategy was designed to guarantee prompt diagnosis and treatment but while Ireland has come a long way experts Dr.”
“The stress and anxiety of having cancer, worrying about it growing and spreading but not being treated got worse for her day by day. Her husband says they began, to use his words, "begging for chemo". She even offered to travel to other hospitals but her wait continued. By the second week of January this woman was still waiting for her chemotherapy appointment. Then she presented at the accident and emergency department in significant pain. She was left, by the way, to wait on a trolley. Only after being admitted to hospital did she begin her chemotherapy and it is very shocking that she started treatment only after she was admitted to hospital as otherwise she would have still been waiting. No cancer patient and no family should ever have to go through what this woman and her family went through.”
“I want to raise a very alarming and distressing case. It is the case of a woman from the west of Ireland left to wait six weeks to start her chemotherapy. At the end of November last, this mother of two young children received the devastating news that she had breast cancer, the same cancer her mother had died of in her 40s. To get a diagnosis of cancer is traumatic enough but to be told you have the same cancer that took the life of your mother is really terrifying. However, she did not give in to fear, she was up for the fight and she expected the health system would have her back. She was referred to University Hospital Galway for chemotherapy and expected to commence her treatment with the urgency required. However, as she waited the days rolled into weeks. Christmas came and went and still no appointment.”
“Will he finally accept that his complacency, dithering and deference to Brussels have put Irish livelihoods, the environment and consumers at real risk?”
“The Mercosur fiasco has the Taoiseach's fingerprints all over it. He claimed for years that he was defending Irish interests, yet when the decisive moment came Ireland was left isolated in a tiny minority because the Taoiseach had failed to lead, build alliances and act. France and Poland took a stand and Austria and Hungary likewise. Belgium could not support the deal an the Netherlands made its opposition clear. Ireland, on the Taoiseach’s watch, showed up late, voted “No” and utterly failed to influence events. Now this dangerous deal advances, threatening Irish farmers and exposing consumers to low standards, weaker traceability and food produced in ways that we would not tolerate here. Why did the Taoiseach let this happen? Why did he fail to build the blocking coalition that was clearly possible?”
“As we return for this new year, those families who struggled last year are struggling still on the Taoiseach's watch and he steps by and tries to argue that is not the case. They are living this reality.”
“The actions and decisions of the Government speak for themselves. It is clear for anybody who wishes to see precisely what the Government's priorities are that they are to look after those at the top. We saw that in the Government's €9.4 billion budget - landlords and developers - and now in this decision. It is a decision, approved by the Government, to increase the pay of CEOs. Here is the point of contrast. Some 1.3 million workers, as I told the Taoiseach, earn €45,000 or less. That is half the workforce. I cannot believe the Government is, frankly, so tone deaf and detached from reality that it cannot see the profound unfairness in its actions. It gives pay hikes for one set of privileged workers and nothing for working people. That has landed badly.”
“Níl fadhb ar bith ag Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael ardaithe móra pá a thabhairt do phríomhfheidhmeannaigh i gcomhlachtaí leath-Stáit, ach tagann siad le faic i gcónaí don chosmhuintir. Cá bhfuil cothrom na Féinne ansin? The Taoiseach abandoned ordinary workers in his budget. Can he explain to them how he can stand over big pay hikes for semi-State CEOs when they do not get a red cent of a break on their income taxes?”
“The Government left people with disabilities €1,400 worse off, but it could and did find the money for generous tax breaks for developers, landlords and banks and now we know it found the money to deliver bumper pay increase for top brass semi-State executives. Where is the fairness in that? For many workers, wages have been outstripped by relentless price hikes. The daily struggle of low- and middle-income workers to keep their heads above water, look after their children, pay their bills and put food on the table is very real, but the priorities of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in government are clear. The Taoiseach, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will always show up for those at the top. Meanwhile, ordinary working people are taken for granted, brushed aside and short-changed over and over.”
“Can the Taoiseach imagine their disbelief when they see the Government increase the salaries of semi-State CEOs by €60,000 and €70,000, increases far higher that which is earned by those who keep the country going, such as young nurses, gardaí and teachers, those who work in retail, factories and hospitality, cleaners and carers. There is no big pay hike for them. On the contrary, the Government's bumper budget of €9.4 billion abandoned those working people and, in fact, left them worse off. The Government could not find the money to give ordinary workers a break in their income tax. There was no money for a cost-of-living package, no money for an increase in the renter's tax credit, no money to maintain energy credits as electricity bills go up and up and no money to cover the extra cost of living with a disability.”
“The Government has approved big pay hikes for CEOs of semi-State organisations and the pay increases are substantial. The pay packet of the head of CIÉ is up by €35,000. There is a €60,000 hike for the CEO of the Irish National Stud, a €50,000 pay bump for the chief executive of Bus Éireann, a €75,000 hike for the head of Iarnród Éireann and it has also been reported that a pay increase has been sought for the RTÉ director general, which would bring the salary package for that position close to €300,000. I think we can agree that is good news for the CEOs of semi-State bodies. The contrast with the Government's treatment of working households could not be more stark. These are households, workers and families who count every euro just to make ends meet. Some 1.4 million workers in this State earn less than €45,000 per annum.”
“Two weeks ago, I asked the Taoiseach two questions. I asked him, first of all, whether the Government would vote against Mercosur when the vote comes to the European Council, and I asked him whether he would work with like-minded member states to form a blocking minority against this ruinous deal. He failed to answer either of those questions. I would now like him to make the Government's position clear because the vote is scheduled to take place in Brussels tomorrow. There is a chance of securing a blocking minority. France, Poland and Hungary have stated they will vote against the deal. Italy wants the vote postponed. I want the Taoiseach to be clear at this juncture because it is now time to be straight with people. Will the Government vote against the Mercosur deal at the European Council meeting - yes or no?”
“The fact is that he has spectacularly failed our children, in particular those I have listed who are awaiting assessments of need, looking for school places or living with scoliosis and spina bifida. He has no answer to that because his is a government of failure, legislatively and-----”
“The Taoiseach should please forgive me, as I did omit the issue of infrastructural failures from my list. I thank him for jogging my memory. In fact, the mythical metro of which he speaks has gone on for decades. It is a bit like the children's hospital. It is one of these things that is spoken of in hushed tones, billions are allocated and maybe one day we will wake up and it will be a reality, or maybe not - certainly not on the Taoiseach's watch. I would not have any great hope. It is the Taoiseach who engages in spin and soundbites when he is called out about the reality of people's lives on the ground and the fact that people are struggling with their bills. He refuses to help. In fact, he takes action to make matters worse.”
“Children with scoliosis and spina bifida were promised they would wait no longer than four months for their surgeries. Does the Taoiseach remember that promise? Harvey was just one of the children for whom that promise was broken time and again. Today, 233 children wait for their operations. Every day they wait, the Government fails them, just as it failed Harvey. Tá faic déanta ag an Rialtas. Le linn na chéad bhliana in oifig, bhí sé gafa i scannal, teipeanna agus gealltanais bhriste. There we have it - the Taoiseach's do-nothing Government's year of failure laid bare. Those failures have big consequences for so many people. Does the Taoiseach accept his Government is the worst-performing government this century?”
“It promised to give workers a break on their income tax but instead gave those tax breaks to developers, landlords and banks. As soon as the Government got back into power, its promises disappeared like snow off a ditch. The most damning failure of this do-nothing Government is its failure of the children who are denied assessments of needs and school places, children living in poverty and children living with scoliosis and spina bifida. This will be Gillian and Stephen Morrison Sherratt's first Christmas without Harvey. The unimaginable pain of losing Harvey has been compounded by the fact he was deliberately removed from a waiting list by Children's Health Ireland. That was done without the knowledge or consent of Harvey's parents.”
“The Government allows big energy companies and large supermarket chains to price-gouge and fleece people. It does nothing to stop it. Worse than that, over the past week, we have seen the most mean-spirited, lousy approach in respect of blister packages, which is putting pressure on low-income people, including the elderly. Again, this was done without costing the Government a thought. Then there is the Government's waste of public money. Millions of euro have been wasted on bike sheds, security huts and empty offices. There is also, of course, a raft of broken election promises, of which there are many. The Government promised to cut student fees but hiked them up. It promised action to get bills and prices down; they go up and up.”
“Its failure in housing persists, with devastating consequences for people desperate to put an affordable roof over their head. When it comes to passing legislation, the Government is at nothing. It has passed the fewest number of laws in the first year of any government this century. In 25 years, over six governments, this Government is the worst. It is a go-slow coalition that cannot even get the basics of governance done. Then there is the cost of living. People are hammered with price increases and rip-off bills but the Government refuses to help. It refused to bring forward a cost-of-living package. It delivered a budget of €9.4 billion that, astonishingly, left working people worse off. It hiked up the price of petrol, diesel, home heating oil, road tolls and the local property tax.”
“As this is the last time I will take to my feet this year, I extend to everyone a very happy and peaceful Christmas. Nollaig shona daoibh go léir. At the start of this year, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael formed the Government on the back of a grubby deal with Michael Lowry and his group of so-called Independents - a grubby deal that was all about keeping power, not about what is good for ordinary people. It was a deal that saw the Government appoint a record number of super-junior Ministers to Cabinet. Of course, the courts will have their say on that matter on Friday. Eleven months on, at the end of the year, we have a do-nothing Government. It is a Government whose first year has been defined by failure, scandal and broken promises.”
“The Taoiseach needs to tell them today that he will reverse permanently this cruel decision and continue to fund the blister pack service. He needs to tell them they will not be charged-----”
“The Taoiseach's very cruel decision to withdraw funding for blister pack services has caused huge anger and worry. The Government's penny-pinching means that very vulnerable people will face charges of perhaps up to €50 a month for this service, a charge that many older people simply cannot afford, and may be forced to go without their blister packs, putting their health and welfare at risk. It is particularly distressing for elderly people with dementia, Alzheimer's, or other serious conditions requiring multiple medications. For them, tablet blister packs are a lifeline to help them remember the right medication to take at the right time and the right dosage. The stress that this has caused should not be underestimated. I have been inundated with messages from older people and their families, who are very worried, angry and hurt.”
“Today, they wake to the news that in fact those bills will be increased again. I ask the Taoiseach not to offload this to some task force. What will he do to ensure that those bills can be met, that they are reduced and that families can have an affordable life again?”
“We have had price hike after price hike. As I said earlier, not a glove has been placed on any of these gouging companies. Some 1 million households will face higher bills this Christmas. Over 300,000 households are in energy arrears. A so-called affordability task force has done absolutely bugger all to achieve affordability for those households and struggling families. We have a Government that is prepared to sit back and let households suffer. That is what I hear. Nobody is contesting the need for investment in the grid but the Government needs to accept the reality of what is happening in households right across the land as we approach Christmas. The reality is that working households, and let me emphasise that I am talking about working households, cannot meet their bills.”
“Not alone is the Government not doing anything to help working people; it also stands by as these bills will be increased again. Does the Taoiseach think this is a fair way to treat people already fleeced by non-stop electricity price hikes? What is his response to today's news? Will he intervene as Head of Government to put a stop to this increase?”
“If the Government really cared about fairness, if the Taoiseach's Government cared at all, it would put the onus for funding this upgrade where it belongs: on the mega-rich energy companies and other large energy consumers. It would not go to ordinary people again. The Government should not be adding a single red cent to these rip-off bills, especially during such tough times. It should be about getting costs down, reducing electricity prices and making life affordable. Tá an Rialtas ag roghnú billí leictreachais daoine a mhéadú ag an am is measa, nuair atá teaghlaigh faoi bhrú uafásach cheana féin le billí ollmhóra le híoc acu. Ní féidir leis seo dul ar aghaidh. The Government's failure to tackle the energy rip-off leaves people in desperate situations.”
“Now people face another increase to their already unaffordable electricity bills. The upgrading and modernisation of our national grid is incredibly important. It has to be a priority. God knows real progress is badly needed after decades of terrible planning and chronic underinvestment by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It simply beggars belief, however, that ordinary households will be hit with another increase to improve the grid while energy companies laugh all the way to the bank. Energy companies are making millions of euro, eye-watering profits. It is incredible, therefore, that struggling customers will be asked to fork out again.”
“They pay among the highest electricity prices in Europe. Hundreds of thousands of working households cannot pay their energy bills because of these non-stop hikes. Price-gouging energy companies are making bumper profits to the tune of millions of euro, if not billions. In the past couple of months, we have seen energy companies, one after the other, jack up their prices so that a million households now face higher bills this Christmas. They fleece people at every turn and the Government has not laid a glove on them. Worse than that, it has actually enabled this behaviour. At the same time, the Government cancelled energy credits in a budget of €9.4 billion, in which, astonishingly, it managed to leave working people worse off. It has also increased the price of petrol, diesel and home heating oil.”