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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“Nathan is now an adult who is able to avail of this drug and have a fulfilled life, yet Diarmuid, who is ten, is not able to have it. Imagine the distress of a parent knowing that one child has the drug that changes your life and the other child is denied it because the HSE and the Government have not got their act together. I ask the Government for a compassionate intervention to allow these drugs be made available to children who are in a race against time.”
“Matters are particularly urgent for young Aaron Langan. Aaron is a nine-year-old from Laghey in my county, Donegal. His family are fearful that if Aaron's mobility is further impacted by this condition that he will not be able to have this life-changing drug, even if the HSE approves its reimbursement. Aaron's mother and father were here in the Dáil last year campaigning and pleading with Government to get its act together to allow them access to this lifesaving drug. At that time, Aaron was walking. Today, he is in a wheelchair. As a result, the issue of mobility is absolutely crucial. This drug is not just a life game-changer for Aaron. Young Diarmuid O'Sullivan from Donegal is another example. Diarmuid is ten years of age. His older brother Nathan was on a trial in Britain.”
“Yes. I want to raise the urgent issue of access to the drug givinostat for children living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or DMD, as it is commonly known. Givinostat was approved by the European Medicines Agency last June. Nearly a year has passed, the HSE is still reviewing whether it is going to cover the cost of this drug for children and adults across the State. What makes the delays around givinostat's availability particularly distressing - and I am sure the Minister of State knows this - is that it is only available to children who still have mobility. These children are in a race against time, and their parents are looking on as the HSE and the Government drags their feet while their children are seriously at risk of not being able to have the life-changing support offered by this drug.”
“That includes €336,000 on the Leinster House bike shed, €100,000 on the Holles Street hospital bike shed, and now the Minister defends €127,000 on a bike shed in the Kerry hospital. It was the most expensive option, at 20 times dearer. These are vanity projects and the Government has lost the run of itself on public spending and value for money. The Government is tone deaf when it talks to people about how they will have to wait until next year's budget for supports and have to tighten their belts. Yet the Government signed the cheques for designer bike sheds and the Minister stands there and defends that at a time the Government is telling people it is imposing a recruitment embargo. Nurses are at breaking point.”
“The public is sick to the teeth of this. The Minister stands there and defends €127,000 being spent on a designer bike shed at the same time as the Government is imposing a recruitment embargo. Does the Minister not know how tone-deaf that is and what the family whose mother is lying on a hospital trolley in a corner of one of those hospitals feel when they hear that, or when the carer who is sitting at home cannot actually care for people because there is a recruitment embargo that does not allow the hours for home help to be provided? Does the Minister not understand that people are sick to the teeth of the Government, which is a serial waster of public money, spending money over and over again on vanity projects?”
“How can the Minister justify imposing a recruitment embargo across parts of the health service while defending €127,000 for a designer bike shed?”
“Hospitals are told to cut back. However, when it comes to the Government's waste and excess, the chequebook is always open. People watching this and listening to this story are working hard. They are paying their mortgage and their rent. They are trying to pay their bills, whether for electricity, groceries, fuel or energy. They are trying to do their best. They do not get to waste €127,000, shrug their shoulders, and just move on. The Minister's Government does it again and again, and nobody is ever held accountable. Let us call this what it is. This is not just bad luck. It is not oversight. This is pure waste. It is squandering the people's money but the Government keeps on doing it and nobody is held accountable.”
“Now, on top of all of that, the Government has imposed a recruitment embargo on parts of the health system. While essential posts go unfilled under the Government's watch, it has signed off on a luxury bike shed and lectures the public about value for money and the need to tighten their belts in these challenging times. Let us be clear that this is not just waste. This is a culture of arrogance. It is the same culture of arrogance where there is always money for the vanity projects and the indulgence but never money for the patients and those on the front line. It is the same rotten culture that gave us the previous bike shed scandals. There is one rule for the ordinary workers and the ordinary people but when it comes to the Minister's Government and to wasting the public money, there is no end. People are told to tighten their belts.”
“Vastly cheaper options were available. The Government examined options that included one at less than €7,000, one at €10,000 and another at €21,000, but no the Government chose an option that was 20 times dearer than that. What was the excuse for all the Government's waste? What the excuse for this because it had tougher glass, because it looked nicer, because the spacing was a bit better and because the hospital green team thought it might be more publicly acceptable? If this was satire, it would be unbelievable. Patients are being treated on trolleys in corridors in our hospitals, in Kerry and elsewhere. That is the reality. Families are desperately trying to access the care and supports they need. We have staff who are being burnt out and are leaving the system.”
“Almost €100,000 was spent on a bike shed at Holles Street, and now we have another bike shed, costing €127,000, at University Hospital Kerry. It is another slap in the face to ordinary people right across this country, workers and families who are already at breaking point. This comes at the exact time that the Government is imposing a recruitment embargo across parts of the health service. Healthcare workers are being told that there is no money. Vacancies are going unfilled. Staff are working to exhaustion. Patients are waiting for longer and longer. Children are waiting for months for assessment, yet, on the other hand, somehow the Government, no problem, finds €127,000 for a designer bike shed, and that was signed off without blinking an eye. Does the Minister know what the most outrageous part of that is?”
“Seo scannal bothán rothar eile - €127,000 caite ar bhothán rothar in Ospidéal Chiarraí. Tagann sé seo ag an am céanna ina bhfuil Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte ag rá go bhfuil sé ag dul siar ar a bhuiséad, go bhfuil smacht caiteachais i bhfeidhm anois, agus go bhfuil moratóir ar earcaíocht ar fud chuid den tseirbhís sláinte. Deirtear le hoibrithe cúram sláinte nach bhfuil go leor airgid ansin. Tá folúntais nach bhfuil líonta. Tá foireann atá traochta. Tá othair atá ag fanacht. Tá páiste atá ag fanacht míonna i gcomhair measúnuithe. Ach ar an lámh eile, níl fadhb ar bith ag an Rialtas €127,000 a fháil agus a chaitheamh le cúpla rothar a choinneáil tirim. Another day, another bike shed scandal, and not for the first time involving the Minister's Government. We had a €336,000 Leinster House bike shed.”
“Imagine what that means to the family of that cancer patient. How in God's name has the Government allowed this situation to develop? How has it allowed vital radiotherapy machines to get so old that they break down so often? Cancer experts have called for an urgent replacement programme. Is the Government listening and will it act? Why has it been allowed to get to this crisis point?”
“I too want to be associated with the words about Brigid McGlynn and thank her for her many years of service to this House and to all who served here. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are presiding over a serious immediate crisis in cancer care. Of the 23 radiotherapy machines in our health system, 80% require immediate replacement. There is no structure for planned replacement in place. These are life-saving machines that are breaking down frequently. They need constant maintenance and new parts. The health committee heard this week oncology experts outlining the impacts of the breakdowns on cancer patients. They talked about missed treatments, delayed treatments, longer treatments, delays that reduce the chance of survival for people. Imagine what that means to somebody when they hear that, when they are fighting for their life.”
“These families cannot pay their electricity bills. They need support now. What the Tánaiste has said does not cut it for them because he does not understand the scale of the crisis. That is his problem.”
“It made a massive mistake and has plunged families into crisis - 317,000 families. Just picture that. How many children and adults-----”
“"Wow"? Listen to this. Does that make a blind bit of difference to the 317,000 families that cannot pay their electricity bills now? The Tánaiste is talking about extending the fuel allowance. That ends today. He is talking about stuff that has already happened. They still cannot pay their electricity bills. That is the problem. Doe the Tánaiste know what he is telling them? He is telling them to wait until next year's budget. The bills keep on rolling in, the prices keep going up, the pressure is mounting, the billions of euro keep on rolling into the coffers and the Government will not give Irish citizens the support they need at this point in time. We need an emergency budget. The Government needs to restore the energy credits that it withdrew from those families in last year's budget.”
“With respect, the Tánaiste not understand the scale of the crisis in people's homes. Does he really believe that what he has just said here makes a blind bit of difference to any one of the 317,000 families-----”
“It is now that bills are rising and that pressure is mounting, so they need the supports now. How many warnings does the Government need and how many stories does it have to hear before it finally acts, introduces an emergency budget and restores energy credits for households that cannot wait any longer?”
“Instead of addressing this, the Government has allowed this crisis to deepen, forcing families into impossible choices every week: heat or food, electricity or rent, keeping the lights on or falling into arrears. This is not inevitable. It is a political choice, and it is the Government's choice. That is why this is happening. Sinn Féin has set out a clear alternative: an emergency budget to cut costs and support households right now. That is what is needed. It includes reinstating the energy credits that the Government withdrew and providing direct, immediate relief for families under severe pressure just to get by. The Tánaiste might not understand this, but out in the real world, people cannot wait for next year's budget or for the Government to get its act together in October. They need the supports now.”
“Report after report, warning after warning, are telling the Government the same thing: the crisis is worsening and the Government is standing idly by. How many warnings is the Government going to ignore before it acts? This is not about statistics on a piece of paper. This is about people's lives. It is about people living in cold homes, parents skipping meals so that their children can eat and older people afraid to turn on the heat in their homes. It is about people rationing heat and cutting back on essentials. It is about living with constant anxiety over the next bill that is going to come through the door. All the while, the State runs multibillion euro surpluses, so there is no excuse whatsoever for inaction. The State has the money but it is a question of why people have never felt under so much pressure.”
“The Government's response was to withdraw energy credits. At the very moment families needed help most, it took the supports away and made a bad situation worse. That is not just wrong, it is indefensible. This report does not stand alone. On Tuesday, we learned that 317,000 households could not pay their electricity bills. People already falling behind are now being pushed further and further. Yesterday, in another report, the Central Statistics Office, CSO, told us that grocery prices were rising again, piling pressure on already stretched households. Bills are going up while supports are going down. This crisis is so severe that families with two incomes can no longer afford to pay their bills. This is not marginal; it is a social emergency.”
“Is í an fhírinne, áfach, ná go bhfuil sé seo i bhfad níos measa mar léiríonn an tuairisc tréimhse ina raibh na creidmheasanna fuinnimh ar fáil agus nuair a bhí costas leictreachais níos ísle. Anois, áfach, tá siad i bhfad níos measa. People have been crying out for months for help. They have been telling the Government that they cannot pay their bills. Workers, families and pensioners are doing everything right and they are still falling behind. This morning, the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, confirmed exactly what they had been saying. The crisis is deep, widespread and getting worse. The real picture is even starker, however, because the report reflects a time when energy credits were still in place and electricity costs were lower. The crisis has got much worse since.”
“I thank the Leas Cheann-Comhairle. He will indulge me in welcoming the páistí ó Scoil Náisiúnta Chnoc na gCaiseal in the Kingdom, County Kerry. They are very welcome to the Dáil today to witness proceedings as guests of Deputy Pa Daly. Tá daoine ag labhairt amach le míonna anuas go bhfuil siad ag cuardach cuidithe. Tá cuidiú de dhíth orthu. Tá siad ag rá nach féidir leo a gcuid billí a íoc. Tá oibrithe, teaghlaigh agus pinsinéirí ag déanamh gach rud i gceart ach go fóill tá siad ag titim siar. Maidin inniu, dhearbhaigh an ESRI an rud a bhí ar eolas againn, is é sin go bhfuil an ghéarchéim seo go dona, go forleathan agus ag éirí níos measa. Bhí deacracht ag suas le 30% de theaghlaigh a gcuid billí fuinnimh a íoc.”
“However, let me say, policies and Governments can change and the tide can turn. An Ireland of thriving rural communities is possible where people live, work and build their own homes in their own communities, where we value our family farm and contractors and where young people do not feel there is no future but are enabled to live their lives in the communities where they were born, like the generations before them were able to do, where our Gaeltacht and island communities is thriving. This is not about narrowing people's horizons but broadening them. It is about breathing life into the heart and soul of Ireland, the communities that make up our country. Rural communities, just like any other, deserve to survive and thrive.”
“Pick a way to measure it such as wages, infrastructure or opportunities, whatever way you cut it, people in counties like my own of Donegal are being left behind. People do not need to look at statistics; they feel it every day. They feel it when they are talking to their child on Zoom who is in Australia, and when they are walking down the village that gets quieter every year. Last week, the mask clearly slipped last week when the former Fine Gael Taoiseach looked down his nose at rural island, when he accused the hard-working people of rural Ireland of sponging off the State. These are the people who get up in the dark and head out in all weathers to make sure there is food put on his table. Leo Varadkar’s comments need to be a turning point where any doubt is cast aside that the decline of rural Ireland is Government policy.”
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have failed rural Ireland. Along with Independents, they pay lip service to these communities but turn their back on them time and again. That is the reality. There is a real anger out there that has been simmering below the surface. It is an anger that boiled up when the Government abandoned people in the face of the fuel crisis. When people screamed out for help, it turned a deaf ear. However, this did not start this month or even this year. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been chipping away at rural life for decades. Rural Ireland is being closed down one basic service at a time: banks, post offices, Garda stations, you name it, the basics any community needs to survive.”
“This is systemic. It is a political failure. People are asking what on earth is going on with children in the care of the State. When is the Government going to get a grip on this and make sure it comes to an end? We have seen too many programmes and reports.”
“What we saw on "RTÉ Investigates" last night was absolutely shocking. It went to the heart of any parent out there. Children in the care of the State are being placed in really dangerous and wholly inappropriate settings. We are talking about unregulated emergency arrangements with no proper oversight where children are exposed to violence and trauma that will stay with them for the rest of their life. Young people are leaving care into homelessness. It is appalling and it is absolutely shameful. These are children without a voice. They are overwhelmingly from working class communities and they are treated as if they do not matter while private profiteering continues. As we heard, none of this is new. Judges and child advocates have repeatedly raised the alarm with the Government and the concerns that Tusla is at a crisis point.”
“On top of that, we have fuel prices and groceries increasing and rents, insurance and student fees going up. It is never ending on families. I am telling the Tánaiste, what the Government needs to do is act now. It needs to bring forward an emergency cost-of-living package that supports families in the here and now. People cannot wait for the Government to get its act together in the budget in October for measures to be implemented in January. People’s bills are rising now. They are looking for help and leadership and the Government is continuing to give them the deaf ear.”
“The Tánaiste is still not listening. He is trying to spin it, and he can try to spin it whatever way he wants, but people, in their real, lived experiences, know where they are at. They see prices going up. They see the prices of electricity, fuel, home heating oil and groceries going up. They see all of that. They see a Government that is talking about surpluses - billions of euro more than were expected - and refusing to act. The Government does not need the European Commission’s approval to introduce energy credits. It withdrew those energy credits in the height of winter. We told the Tánaiste what would happen. What happened Simon? Never have we seen more people in the history of this State who cannot pay their electricity bills.”
“Does the Tánaiste accept that his Government got it wrong when it scrapped the energy credits that were so obviously needed? Will the Government now act to reintroduce those supports and bring forward an urgent cost-of-living package or will it continue to sit on billions of euro in surpluses while workers, families, pensioners and so many others across the State are pushed to the brink?”
“That decision is indefensible because, at the very same time, we see this week that the Government's economic spring forecast shows the money is there. The reality is that a fraction of the surpluses would make a real difference in ordinary people's lives. The Government has more than enough to act, more than enough to support households and more than enough to give people a real break. This is not about money but about political choices. The Government is choosing not to act. It is choosing to leave families exposed. It is choosing to let bills rise. It is choosing to tell people to wait - wait for the budget, wait until next year and wait while the crisis deepens. People cannot wait because the crisis is here, right now. The bills are landing right now. The pressure on families is right now. These families need relief immediately.”
“The newspaper also spoke to another man. He is a farmer from Cork in his 70s. He gets up every morning at 6 a.m. to go to work, every single day, not out of choice but because costs have spiralled far beyond what the pension can cover. The cost of heating is up, fuel costs have doubled and the price of everything is climbing up and up. This is not how people imagined their later years. After a lifetime of contribution, they should not be worrying about whether they can afford to heat their homes, but that is the human reality of this crisis. What did the Government do at the very moment people needed supports? It took them away. Energy credits are gone, scrapped just when the pressure was intensifying and just as households were already at breaking point.”
“This morning, people are asking a very simple question: if the Government has been told to act, why is it still standing back? The reality for families is stark. Electricity bills are rising again, heating costs are through the roof, grocery prices are up week after week and households are being pushed to the pin of their collar just to get by. Here is the reality behind all those bills. The Irish Independent today spoke to an 85-year-old man from Balbriggan. He has been working for 71 years and still cannot afford to retire. He works 15 hours a week just to keep his head above water. He sees it plainly. The State pension is not enough to live on. After a lifetime of work, he is still paying for heat, food and insurance, with the cost of everything rising. He knows that if he stops working, he will not be able to pay his bills.”
“An tseachtain seo, den dara huair ó mhí an Mhárta, d'impigh an Coimisiún Eorpach ar bhallstáit céimeanna a chur i bhfeidhm chun an brú ó phraghsanna leictreachais a laghdú. Tá an Rialtas go fóill ag diúltú rud ar bith a dhéanamh chun cuidiú le gnáthdhaoine atá thíos le billí leictreachais iontach mór. Le bheith fírinneach faoi, tá an Rialtas ag déanamh rudaí níos measa tríd an gcreidmheas fuinnimh a bhaint díreach nuair a bhí siad ag teastáil ó dhaoine go mór. Beidh daoine anois ag cur na ceiste simplí seo, má tá an Coimisiún Eorpach ag impí ar an Rialtas gníomhú, cén fáth go bhfuil sé go fóill ag déanamh rud ar bith? This week, for the second time since March, the European Commission has urged member states to come up with measures to ease the burden of electricity prices.”
“He spoke about setting up a committee to look at this and talked about papers, and I thought it was a very good argument. We have lost time. This is coming down the tracks and we have to be prepared so I really welcome this debate.”
“I agree completely with the Deputy on this question. It is really welcome that this has come down. I acknowledge the Tánaiste's comments on this. We all acknowledge the shared island unit and the work it is doing but the question we need to ask ourselves is whether we believe we are enablers of bringing about constitutional change in a system that operates under the Good Friday Agreement and with consent, and most if not all of the people in this House believe we are. Therefore, we have to do the preparatory work. These are complex issues and it should not be left to academics, the ESRI or others to do this. We have to find a way and a space and we must recognise the space we will occupy in doing this but we must find a space to carry out some of this work. I think back to when Simon Coveney was competing for leadership of Fine Gael.”
“There is a serious problem here. I do not want to repeat it over and over again but the Government needs to get down from the ivory tower. It needs to understand where people are at. People expect more from a government. People expect the Government to have their back and fight their corner. The Government is not even asking.”
“It has not even bloody asked the Commission to put this on the table. Last week the Commission asked the Minister and his Department what else they think it should do in this toolbox. The Minister has not even asked. There are families today who cannot pay their electricity bill, and these are people who are working and two income households. The level of arrears they have has increased. We have record numbers in the history of the State who cannot pay electricity bills. The Minister has not even asked.”
“I know. I hear what the Minister is saying but, seriously, I do not know what more we need to do here. These are families. There are 300,000 plus of them who cannot pay their electricity bills. The Minister saying that if the Commission allows us to have a zero rate, we would be happy with that but the Government has not even asked.”
“Does he not recognise that given the scale of the crisis, where people are at, that so many households cannot pay their electricity bills and that one in four households cannot pay their gas bills, there needs to be an intervention now? People simply cannot wait.”
“I thank the Minister for his response. When he rises again, will he clarify for the House whether he has written to the Commission and asked it for this to be part of its tool? Has he asked the Commission to consider and agree a zero percent rate of VAT on domestic electricity? As he knows, the Commission has published its draft. It said it wanted to engage with member states. I am sure it engaged with the Minister in relation to this. Did the Minister ask the Commission and formally put that proposal to it in relation to the zero percent? In the absence of the Commission's agreement - the mechanisms in terms of member states having to agree - there are other measures that can be introduced. Energy credits is a way of supporting families and, indeed, the Minister brought it forward for many years himself.”
“I raised the crisis in people's homes in terms of their electricity bills with the Minister on numerous occasions. If we were to visualise this, it is 300,000 families. How many times would we fill Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium over and over again with the families who cannot pay their electricity bills? It is absolutely scandalous that people have been left in this situation. Time and again we have put forward the arguments that it was wrong to withdraw energy credits at a time of a cost-of-living crisis. It was wrong to leave people without those supports. Will the Minister make the argument at a European level to allow for zero VAT rate to be applied to residential electricity to give us the options to provide additional support beyond just energy credits to these families?”
“He can cut excise duty on home heating oil today. It would cost €14 million - not billion – per month. The Tánaiste refuses to do it, however. It would make a real difference to her and so many others like her but the Tánaiste refuses to do it. He is seriously out of touch with where public opinion is at on this.”
“The Tánaiste's mantra again speaks to me of the fact that he does not understand where people are at. Does the Tánaiste think the woman who wrote to me does not know what she is earning? Of course she knows what she is earning but she also knows that the cost of electricity has gone through the roof. She also knows that the weekly shop is a lot more expensive than it was last week, that the cost of childcare is another mortgage and that rents are increasing. Now she also knows that her house is cold for two weeks because she cannot afford to heat her home. I am not asking the Tánaiste to spend all of the €9.1 billion surplus. Rather, I am asking him to do what a responsible Minister for Finance would do when he or she sees that citizens are suffering and in crisis - to show leadership and act to support them. The Tánaiste can do that.”
“A young woman wrote to me to tell me she had no home heating oil for two weeks because she could not afford it on top of medical and childcare expenses. She wrote to me on the day the Government announced its latest package of half measures. She said for the first time in a long time she felt a sense of hope, like maybe the pressure might ease even slightly, but by the time she finished work and saw the news, that small glimmer of light was gone again. She said it is hard to describe how it feels. The Minister sits there and pats himself on the back. He said our budget surpluses have doubled. We have €4 billion extra that we never thought we would have, but an elderly woman has to put on a jacket because our house is cold and a woman who is married to a fella who works every hour that God sends cannot afford heat in her home.”
“This is the problem. The Minister does not understand the scale of the crisis or the lived experience of many people across the State. Before we had a fuel crisis, 320,000 families could not pay their electricity bills. Families were pushed to the pin of the collar because of increases in grocery prices, rents and insurance and childcare costs that were like a second mortgage. A generation felt home ownership was outside of the reach because of Government policies. The fuel crisis, brought on by external factors, has tipped people over the edge. People expect the Government to respond. I spoke to the Minister about an old woman to wear an extra jacket because she has no heating in her home. This is not an isolated incident.”
“Some 750,000 households across the State rely on home heating oil to heat their homes. Last night, at a public meeting attended by hundreds in Galway to discuss the cost-of-living crisis, I spoke to a carer who went into a home of an elderly woman. She worked all her life, paid her taxes and did everything right and apologised for the house being so cold because the heating had run out. The Minister refuses to cut excise duty on home heating oil to support household like hers, along with 750,000 other households. We have record surpluses of over €9 billion, yet the Government refuses to introduce a measure that would cost €14 million per month. Why is the Minister so out of touch? Why is he acting so Scrooge-like when he knows people are cold in their homes today because they cannot afford to heat them.”
“Last night I spoke to an elderly person in Galway who has no fuel in her tank to heat her home. Carers told me the old woman apologised to them because the house was so cold. At a time the Exchequer's coffers are bursting, people are going cold. That is not a republic that is worthy of the name. The Minister has the opportunity to change that and make a real difference for people, but he refuses to do so because he is too long in this bubble and is out of touch with ordinary people.”
“The Minister needs to get his head out of the clouds and sand and talk to ordinary people. He can pontificate all he wants, point fingers at me and say I am isolated and people do not back me in here. I do not give a damn because I know that I am on the side of ordinary Irish people. I know that people are being pushed to the pin of their collar. I have met them on the streets and in homes across the State over the past number of weeks. I know they need action and leadership and they are not getting it from the Minister. That is what I am doing here. I am giving them a voice and I do not care who else is on my side because I know the side I am on. The Minister is on the wrong side. The question people will ask me after this exchange will be how the fella across from me justifies €9 billion of a surplus.”