Pearse Doherty
Donegal · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I move amendment No. 1 to Seanad recommendation No. 2: To delete from the row dated "1 September 2026" down to and including the row dated "1 May 2030" and substitute the following: " 15 July 2026 €502.88 €502.88 €371.85 €371.85 €371.85 €0.00 €210.45 €172.14 €167.25 €79.17 €11.48 14 October 2026 €502.88 €502.88 €371.85 €371.85 €371.85 €0.…”
“Next week, this House will rise, the doors of Leinster House will be locked and Ministers will head off on their summer holidays. Their parting gift to ordinary Irish people across the State will be to have locked in fuel price increases that will hit them in their pockets.”
“That is not acceptable and it is why we in Sinn Féin have tabled this amendment to say that these price increases should not be going ahead and that prices should be properly monitored at the appropriate time.”
“This is tied to the latter amendment and I will speak further at length on that. Recommendation No. 1 deals with the diesel rebate scheme, which operates within a window that closes on 1 October.”
“Hope is what we rely on when we have no control. It is not a substitute for prudent economic planning. There is zero certainty here. There are no guarantees that the Strait of Hormuz will remain open or that global supply lines will not be choked tomorrow morning.”
“As if that were not good enough, the Government is not just hitting people with increases on petrol and diesel. On top of that, it is going to hit them with an increase in the cost of home heating oil, natural gas and a basic bag of coal.”
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“You would find it tough to walk the length of yourself and not know somebody who was living in a home that was crumbling, who was a victim of the defective block scandal. That has spread in the east of the county and elsewhere in the west of the county. Every single day, we hear of more and more cases in the west, whether in Gweedore, Glenties or Kilcar. It goes right through. I have seen what Charlie McConalogue put out and it is insulting, because people who are living this nightmare know the reality. If the Minister thinks this is going away, it is not. I genuinely believe that the Government needs to just bite the bullet on this issue.”
“I agree with Deputy Conway-Walsh that there are TDs who are genuine because they know neighbours and, in some cases, family members who are involved, but they know that this legislation is locking them into a nightmare, not for next year or the year after, but for tens of years. There are elderly people who have no income outside of the State pension. Where will they get the €50,000, €60,000 or sometimes €90,000 to rebuild their house? This is not going away. We will be back here and the only thing that will change is that these homes will be more expensive to rebuild in the future because the Government is refusing to deal with the reality here and now. This crisis is only getting bigger. I see it in my county. Deputy Mac Lochlainn comes from the epicentre of the crisis in Donegal, the Inishowen Peninsula.”
“It fails people because the Government is demanding of them that they put their hands in their pockets, go into debt and find tens of thousands of euro, whether they are borrowing it for families, digging into nest eggs or whatever it is, for something that they had no hand, act or part in. The fact is that their homes were built with deleterious materials. Indeed, it is the State that is responsible, that should be regulating these products and that is culpable, and that is why 100% redress should be provided. The Minister might try to fool himself. Those in the Government parties who will vote for this Bill might try to fool themselves.”
“Under the scheme, people are forced to find tens of thousands of euro. I spoke to one individual who described the absolute nightmare he went through for a number of years. I asked him what he thought it would cost his own pocket. He said he did not even want to think about it, but it was probably in the range of €80,000 to €100,000. That is money people do not have. I spoke to a fellow here last night who was not even at the stage of tenders and so on. They are accepted for demolition. They are not even thinking about where the money would come from. This scheme fails people of all types.”
“Also, there are the issues of the damage threshold, semi-detached properties and side-by-side remediation. I have heard my colleagues speak about the real impact of this legislation and of what our amendments would do for the lives of people across the State. What is going to be the end point of this legislation that the Minister is putting through tonight? If he is being true to himself and knows anything about how this matter is playing out on the ground, he will know there are people who will not be able to rebuild their homes. Therefore, in five years or ten years, this issue will not have gone away. The affected homes are going to deteriorate and crumble, and their owners are going to be prisoners within them because the Government has a scheme that does not allow them to rebuild.”
“7, we have put forward an amendment dealing with the fact that what is required is an end-to-end remediation scheme for all those impacted by defective concrete blocks and related building materials. That is also fair because asking individuals who never thought they would be project-managing the rebuilding of their homes to take on that responsibility, whether they are young or old, single or married, is absolutely appalling. It was not requested in other areas where there were defects and it should not be asked of people in my constituency or others right across the State as the number of victims of this scandal increases. Amendment No. 7 also deals with issues such as retrospective payments, an issue that has seen so many people, including early movers, insulted.”
“The amendments we are dealing with in this legislation - the amendments tabled by the Sinn Féin Deputies - go to the very core of the issue. If accepted by the Minister, they would probably satisfy the vast majority of people in my constituency regarding the challenges they have. Of course, there are other issues, including those related to the administration of the scheme and the criteria, but a core issue is the 100% redress, as we lay out in amendment No. 5 and as campaigned for in my constituency and elsewhere for many years. Despite the campaign, the Government fails to acknowledge the reality that people will be left behind until redress of 100% is provided. In amendment No.”
“People do not need soundbites any more from the Taoiseach. They need a Government that is willing to act, stand up to energy companies, end the rip-off, get prices under control and make life more affordable.”
“In recent weeks, the Taoiseach himself said that energy companies were gouging customers, yet despite using that word and acknowledging that people are being ripped off, the Government has still failed to do anything meaningful to stop it. We know that wholesale electricity costs have collapsed but Irish households still pay among the highest bills in Europe. The ESRI has confirmed what we already knew - electricity prices doubled between 2018 and 2024. It says that there is no clear explanation for what suppliers are charging. There is no explanation because they are engaged in price gouging and ripping people off. What is the Taoiseach going to do to deal with this? Does he support what the ESRI has been calling for and a possible Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, inquiry into this practice?”
“It was a Government decision that restricted the way in which pharmacies were claiming, and it has resulted in this. Will the Taoiseach please answer the question? Will he reverse the decision? Should people with dementia and Alzheimer's, who were getting it free, have to pay for it in January?”
“Do not try to pull this one - that the Government is actually reducing the cost of medication - when people out there have been getting letters from their pharmacies saying from 1 January the HSE will no longer be providing blister packs and there will be an additional charge of €20 per month for the packs. Please do not tell people that black is white and white is black. People know what is happening out there. The question is whether the Government is going to reverse this. These are elderly people and vulnerable people who rely on blister packs to ensure they take their medication on time. Many people cannot afford to pay for them.”
“I asked the Taoiseach the question and he did not answer it. I asked him the question, with respect, of whether he believes people with dementia and Alzheimer's who were receiving the blister packs free of charge should be charged for them from 1 January. No matter what way the Taoiseach presents it, these packs were being funded. For right or wrong, they were being funded. Of course there are issues. The issue is that the man who was talking to me this morning and his wife who is suffering with dementia will have to pay in January for the blister pack they were getting free of charge.”
“Back in October when it was finalising the new community pharmacy agreement we in Sinn Féin warned it was a big mistake to exclude the blister packs, but the Government chose to ignore that warning, chose to push on and now elderly people and others are paying the price. It is not right, it is not fair and it needs to be stopped. I have simple questions. On behalf of the man I was talking to, and I am sure many others right across this State, I ask the Taoiseach whether he thinks it is right that people with dementia, Alzheimer's and other conditions who received their blister packs free of charge up until now will have to pay for them on 1 January. Will the Government reverse this terrible decision and ensure vulnerable people can continue getting their blister packs free of charge?”
“The explanation the Taoiseach and his Government have offered is the State never agreed to pay for the dispensing of these blister packs in the first place. Does he really think that matters to people who rely on them? The fact is the government has been paying for these for decades. If there was a mistake in how the packs were being paid for and a correction had to be made, it should have been made to ensure those folks could continue receiving their tablet blister packs as they have been but, no, the Government decided to punish vulnerable people, to ratchet up their costs instead of making sure they are looked after. The truth is the Government had a chance to sort this out.”
“It hiked up student fees, the local property tax and the cost of petrol and diesel. It stands back and allows big energy companies to jack up electricity and gas bills and now it hits the most vulnerable elderly people. It is putting huge stress on people during the Christmas period as they know they are going to have to face these charges come 1 January. My phone, and I am sure those of others as well, has been hopping with people very worried and very angry over this. I spoke to one elderly man this morning. He is in his late 70s and told me his lovely wife suffers from dementia. He said without the blister pack he would find it very hard to manage her medication but he does not know where they are going to find the extra money to pay for them. He says they are literally down to the last euro every couple of weeks as it is.”
“We are talking of tens of thousands of older people living with conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer's. They rely on tablet blister packs to help manage their medication. We are also talking about people with disabilities who are under real pressure with the cost of living. The packs help them make sure they take the right dosage at the right time of day. The Government's decision means the cost of dispensing the blister packs - paid for by the State for decades - will now be passed on to these vulnerable customers. They will be hit by fee charges of up to €50 a month in some cases for these packs. This is a bad decision for the Government at any time but it made this cruel choice during a cost-of-living crisis when every euro is precious to people. It is like it cannot stop itself from making life harder for people.”
“Tá fearg mhór ann go mbeidh ar dhaoine leochaileacha íoc as pacáistí táibléad blister mar gheall ar chinneadh an Rialtais. Beidh tionchar ar leith aige seo ar dhaoine atá ag dul siar i mblianta agus ar dhaoine atá ag maireachtáil le néaltrú agus galar Alzheimer a bhraitheann ar na pacáistí seo. Tá a fhios againn nach bhfuil sé seo ceart. Caithfidh an Rialtas gníomhú chun a chinntiú go leanfaidh na daoine seo a bheith ábalta a gcuid pacáistí táibléad blister a fháil saor in aisce. The Taoiseach's Government's decision to restrict medications covered under the phased dispensing scheme operated by pharmacies is a disaster. The Government's decision means some of the most vulnerable people will no longer receive tablet blister packs free of charge.”
“We can raise our voice, have sanctions and so on but one thing we can do is not invest in the company that is proudly associated with the IDF and the genocide in Palestine. That is what we need to do. Deputy Harris is a new Minister. I want him to state clearly to the House whether he believes that taxpayers' money should be invested in companies like that. There are many companies across the world that our money could be invested in. The NTMA does a good job but surely to God the Tánaiste can make a statement here that any other decent Irish person would have no problem with. Do not invest in companies that are involved in supporting genocide.”
“This issue has been raised for many years. We have a new finance Minister. I would like a bit of straight talking from this finance Minister about his position. We are all appalled by the genocide that we have seen before our eyes with 70,000 people slaughtered. Deputy Carthy talked about one company. When accusations were put to the CEO of that company that his equipment was involved in the killing of Palestinians in Gaza, he said that is true. The UN human rights report stated that the company had provided defence infrastructure, military software and AI that allows automated decision-making, so it is using AI to automate the slaughter of Palestinians. Sometimes there is not much we can do about that.”
“Does the Minister accept that the legislation that underpins the revaluation increased the bands by 20% and that official statistics in counties such as Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo and Galway also had house prices increasing by 40%? The Minister referenced Revenue date published back in September. It estimated that 15% of all households in Galway would actually increase a band. There will be major differentiation across regions. Everybody is paying higher local property tax under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Every single person is paying more. Everybody's property tax increased as a result of this but some had their tax substantially increased. At a time developers are being given hundreds of millions of euro in tax breaks by the Minister's party, people out there are being hit again and again as a result of this revaluation.”
“There is an issue if, for example, property owners go from the lower band up to the next band and they are being asked to pay an extra €140. Is the Minister telling me that he has no new information despite the fact that 1.4 million people have actually filed the returns? Is he saying he cannot tell me today what percentage has moved up a band or not?”
“The information the Minister is giving me is outdated, obviously. As he mentioned, it goes back to September. Since then the letters have gone out, the evaluations have been done and the returns have been filed. I assume going from his answer that he does not have information as to what percentage of people actually went up a band. I raise this issue because the Government introduced legislation that increased the band valuation by 20%, but when that legislatoin was introduced, house prices had already gone up 29%. In counties such as Donegal, Cavan, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo, they had already gone up 40%. All of those property owners are going to be hammered as a result of what the Government has done. Many houses are going to be moving up a band as a result of that.”
“The local property tax, LPT, increase kicked in last month. The Government has ensured that virtually every household in the State has experienced a property tax increase. Thousands faced a substantial increase as they were pushed into higher valuation bands. Now that the households that are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis have gotten their letters through the door telling them that their property tax is going up, how many have filed updated valuations for the LPT that have gone up a band? What is the average additional cost to those households that have moved into an increased band?”
“That is why they are coming up in the middle of a storm saying to the Government and the Minister that they need emergency supports this winter. The Minister needs to hear the pleas of the nearly 500,000 people who cannot heat their homes at this point in time, or is the message to them that they have to buckle up and tighten their belts until, in a couple of years’ time and closer to a general election, it will be okay again and we will get back into the "normal rhythm" of things?”
“Is it not great for someone in the Minister's position to talk about getting back into the "normal rhythm" of something soon? When I go back to Donegal and talk to my constituent who simply cannot heat her home, I will tell her not to worry because the Minister says we are going to get back into the "normal rhythm" of things in a couple of years, closer to an election no doubt. It will be closer to an election because that is what the Minister does. He gives plenty of promises in the run-up to the election but, first thing after an election, promise after promise is broken. The Government brought forward a budget that had inflation rates nearly half of what they are currently. Things are worse off. That is why people in wheelchairs were outside the Dáil today.”
“For the budget in which the Government withdrew supports and broke promise after promise about income tax cuts that were made to workers during in election, the Department expected that inflation would be 1.9% next year and 1.8% this year. Maybe the Minister will outline that inflation is actually way above 1.8%, not far off double that figure. Would the Minister not agree? We understand the flash estimate puts inflation at 3.2%. Does the Minister have any concern that there are people out there who are finding it really difficult to make ends meet? Many of them are not making ends meet. The Government projected a budget based on a projected rate of inflation that is way lower than what is actually happening in the real, lived experience of people's lives.”
“Will the Minister outline the level of inflation that was projected when his party decided on the budget of this year? It was a budget that made a decision to pull the cost-of-living supports, such as energy credits and others, and not give any tax break to workers other than a handful of highly paid executives. How does the inflation rate that was projected when the budget was prepared compare to what we are seeing now in real terms? How will this impact on household wages?”
“It should not take a 15-year-old child constantly banging on the door of the Government for it to wake up and do what is needed in a national crisis. These children have had enough of the go-slow from Government, enough of the run-around, enough of the jaded excuses and the shortcuts. This is not going to cut it anymore. Tonight must be a watershed moment, a moment to turn the page. It is time for the Government to do its job and deliver for these children.”
“Year after year families of children waiting for an assessment of need have listened to big promises from the Government, promises that have been broken over and over. That has to stop now. It is time for the Government to deliver and that is what tonight's motion from the combined Opposition calls for. It calls for setting a date by which the Government will comply with the legal entitlement to an assessment of need within six months. It calls for implementation of an emergency action plan to keep clear the backlog. It also calls for the delivery of an ambitious workforce plan to train, recruit and retain enough staff needed, funding of special needs' services and therapies, and the provision of appropriate school places for children with special needs. It should not take a 15-year-old child to do the heavy lifting.”
“He assured her that the Government was committed to timely assessment of need but since that meeting, the waiting list has actually increased by over 1,000 children. The big question is: when will the Government stop breaking the law? We have yet to see a detailed plan setting out how the Government will comply with the legislation and deliver a comprehensive assessment of need within the six-month statutory timeframe. The Government announced reforms of the process today and we need to carefully study these proposals because the detail matters, especially for children and families already facing long delays. We have been here before. In 2020 the Government cynically chose to introduce a short-cut assessment process. Two years later, the High Court ruled this short-cut was illegal and in breach of children's rights.”
“Cara herself wrote that if someone asked her to find a location in Ireland where 100% of the people present were breaking the law, then she would go to the Taoiseach’s Department on a Tuesday morning for the Cabinet meeting. This has dire consequences for these children. Early intervention is key and that is why the six-month rule exists. Every day a child waits for their assessment is a delay in their development. Any parent of a child with additional needs will tell the Minister that every day makes a difference. Cara has met with three taoisigh over the past number of years, including Micheál Martin and Simon Harris. They all promised to tackle the crisis and every time the crisis only got worse. The Tánaiste last met with Cara in September.”
“How else could one possibly describe a situation in which tens of thousands of vulnerable children, children with special needs, are denied vital help and education assessments? These are assessments that determine the treatments, the therapies and the services they will need to overcome barriers, to support their development, to determine their educational pathways and to enable them to live full lives and reach their potential. In every one of those cases the Government is breaking the law. It is breaking the law 18,097 times. Under the 2005 Disability Act, there is a legal requirement on the Government to provide a child with an assessment of need within six months but children are waiting an average of 27 months, more than four times what is required by law.”
“This morning, 15-year-old disability rights campaigner Cara Darmody began another 50 hour sit-out protest at the gates of the Dáil. She will sleep in a tent on Kildare Street tonight and tomorrow night in awful weather to force the Minister, Deputy Foley's Government to take real action to end the scandal of children waiting and waiting for their assessment of need. When Cara staged her last 50-hour protest back in May there were more than 15,000 children waiting. Seven months on, there are 18,097 children whose assessment of need is overdue. The HSE expects that list to reach 25,000. That is scandalous. I do not know what words the Minister would choose to describe the dreadful situation but I describe it as a national emergency.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: recalls: — that children are legally entitled to an assessment of their health and education needs under the Disability Act 2005, and that the assessment must take place within six months; and — the motion regarding Assessment of Need passed by this House in May 2025; notes: — that the law is still being broken with respect to the 18,097 children whose Assessment of Need is now overdue, and with just 4,534 assessments conducted in the first three quarters of this year the number of children being failed is rising every quarter; and — the achievements won by Cara Darmody due to her dedicated campaigning for increased access to Assessments of Needs; condemns: — the failure of the Government to stop breaking the law and to comply with its legal obligations to provide assessments within six months; and calls on the Government to: — set a specific target date by which the Government aims to comply with the legal entitlement to an Assessment of Need under the Disability Act 2005; — implement an emergency action plan to clear the backlog and provide these children with the assessments to which they are legally entitled; — deliver a longer-term sustainable solution, including an urgent workforce plan to recruit, train and retain enough staff to finally end this breach of children's rights once and for all; — fund special needs services including speech and language, physio, and occupational and behavioural therapies; and — provide appropriate school places for children with special needs.”
“That is why they are gathered outside the gates of Leinster House pleading for the Government to introduce an emergency winter disability payment and do the right thing. Will the Government listen to the disability sector? Will it reverse its decision and introduce an emergency winter disability payment because these individuals cannot wait 12 months for it to get its act together?”
“As has been mentioned already, as we speak there are people with disabilities protesting outside the gates of Leinster House because they are struggling with the cost of living. The hard reality is that in the budget the Government took away the supports that these individuals were relying on. People with disabilities are up to €1,400 worse off. The Government stripped away the vital supports they depend on to deal with the spiralling cost-of-living crisis. Those are not my numbers but the Irish Wheelchair Association's numbers. The Government shamefully left vulnerable people high and dry. This has caused serious anger, worry and stress for people with disabilities, many of whom are going to be forced into real deprivation.”
“They have lost hope under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael because they see that house prices are runaway prices, they see what the Government is doing with rents and that it is going to push them up further, and they see that home ownership has collapsed. They have given up. Does the Minister, Deputy Chambers, accept that the Department of housing releasing that video, sharing that video, was hurtful to so many people who, under the Government's policies, have been forced to move back into their parents' box room?”
“The Minister is not listening and he is not hearing. He does not understand what it feels like for people in their 20s, 30s or even 40s who have been forced to move back into their parents’ house and are now living in the box room when the Department of housing shares a video saying that maybe they should do the dishes when they are at home so they will be seen as an adult. Can the Minister understand how hurtful that is or the lack of hope that is out there? When I was in my 20s I was married, I built my house and I had my first two children. There is an entire generation out there whose lives are on hold or, worse still, an entire generation out there who are no longer here because they have lost hope.”
“We will have their back to make things better and ensure they can build a good future and an affordable life here in Ireland. I will ask the Minister the question many young people have asked me in the last number of hours: does he see why young people are offended and hurt by the Government sharing this video? Does he accept that it is wrong for this Government to make young people feel that they are somehow at fault for its housing crisis?”
“These are the choices they have to make when they should be here, building a future, starting relationships and starting families. Instead, their lives are being put on hold. If this Government gave a damn about our young people, what it would be doing is bringing action forward to bring home ownership back into reach and get runaway rents under control. What is the Government doing? Instead, it is doing the opposite. It chooses to make things even worse. It is going to push ahead with legislation that will see young people hit with big rent increases come next March. What I want to say to young people out there and those watching today is that we are going to keep fighting for them here. Sinn Féin will keep fighting for them.”
“The hard reality is that two thirds of 18- to 34-year-olds are still living with their parents. The number of young people forced to live with their family is increasing at a faster rate than in any other country in Europe. Why? Under the Minister's Government, home ownership has collapsed for an entire generation. We see it all again today in black and white in the report from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland. A total of 80% cannot afford to rent an average apartment built this year. Is it any wonder so many people do not see a future here? The Government's policies are forcing them to choose between moving back into the box room or leaving Ireland for the opportunity of a better life in Australia or Canada.”
“The decision by this Government to share the video has caused fierce anger. The video suggests that those forced to move back in with their parents should help around the house so they will be viewed as adults. God almighty, how patronising is that? Did anybody in the Government look at this video before it was shared on the official platforms by the Department of housing? Did anybody think about how people would react? Two weeks ago, I stood here on Leader's Questions and I raised the case of a young couple forced to move back into their parents' house. They were forced to do that because they could not afford the rent any longer. That couple are now planning to head to Australia. Last night, I was thinking about them and the hurt they would feel after seeing this video. However, they are not alone.”
“Demeaning, hurtful, insulting and a two-fingered salute to an entire generation - these are the words people are using to describe the decision by the Minister's Government to share a video advising people how to cope with moving back into the family home. People in their 20s, 30s and 40s are forced to move back in with their parents. I know SpunOut helped with this video. It is a very good organisation that does great work. It is no reflection on it or the young people in the video but it should not be left to a youth organisation to clean up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's mess.”
“Before I begin, I send my support and the support of my party to young Cara Darmody, who has begun her 50-hour sit-out protest to demand timely assessments of need are delivered. It is shameful that a young woman has to do this over and over again but we are deeply inspired by her. Tá físeán a bhí curtha in airde ag an Roinn tithíochta ar na meáin shóisialta tar éis fearg millteanach a chruthú. Déanann an físeán iarracht dallamullóg a chur ar dhaoine maidir le freagracht an Rialtais as polasaí tithíochta atá tar éis an oiread sin daoine óga a bhrú le filleadh ar ais le cónaí sa bhaile lena dtuismitheoirí.”
“Confidence in the Government's stated opposition to the EU Mercosur agreement has been further undermined in recent days by the withdrawal of Brazilian beef from sale across Europe and the fact an Irish MEP, Regina Doherty, from the Tánaiste's party, gave a full throated support for the deal on RTÉ radio - I am not sure if he heard her - contradicting the Government's stated position. I would appreciate if the Tánaiste answered my questions. What action has been taken by the Government to help construct a minority blocking mechanism at EU level to stop Mercosur? Can he state clearly to the House and, more importantly, to farmers that Ireland will vote against the deal at EU Council level? Can he take this opportunity to call on other member states to vote against the deal?”
“Why should anybody take the Tánaiste seriously in relation to his latest promise that he will put money back into people's pockets? The ESRI and everybody else knows that what the Tánaiste has done is taken money out of their pockets and left them worse off in a €9.4 billion budget. How the hell could he do that? It is unbelievable in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, Simon.”
“How did he break all these promises? He should answer the question. He made pledges to people over and over again. He is Tánaiste and he wants to be Taoiseach in a couple of years. He promises tax cuts every year to workers. There are no tax cuts in this budget, as he pointed out. He said energy would be cheaper under Fine Gael. People have never paid more. The Government knew that and withdrew the energy credit. People now have to get €321 extra. The Tánaiste promised cuts in third level fees. People are paying €500 more than they paid last year. The Tánaiste promised no shocks in fuel prices. The Government is pushing up fuel prices with carbon taxes. The Tánaiste promised things over and over again and broke them one after another. The question is simple.”
“I am referring to the Government’s own economic research body. What does it say about the budget? It states there will be income losses next year across the board. It states these will be even higher for those on lower incomes, affecting their disposable income. It states this will lead inevitably to reductions in household living standards in 2026. That is what the Tánaiste has been able to achieve with a €9.4 billion budget. This is because he prioritises his buddies. He has left behind and abandoned ordinary people. I put to him, to Sensible Simon-----”
“After everything that has happened, why should anybody take the Tánaiste seriously when the promises he made before the general election have been broken one after the other and he has done the opposite of what he promised?”
“Does the Tánaiste accept that his €9.4 billion budget has left ordinary workers and families worse off? Does he accept that what he is promising in the Irish Daily Mail today is directly contradicted by his own litany and record of broken promises? Will he now commit to a real cost-of-living reset, including the immediate restoration of the energy credits, €10 a day childcare, a ban on rent increases, meaningful rent relief, the scrapping of further carbon tax hikes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil, the abolition of the universal social charge on the first €40,000 of income, and ending the means test for carers and, maybe, the sweetheart deals for banks, developers and vulture funds?”