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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“Supporting farmers is the right thing to do. It will not break the economy. Supporting farmers is what any responsible Government should be doing. The ability is here to support people in terms of the scale of this crisis but the Government is refusing to do it, and the reason it is refusing to do it is for the simple reason it is called carbon tax. Is that not the truth?”
“It would cost €14 million a month to actually remove carbon tax from green diesel, the cost of which has gone through the roof for farmers. Talk to agricultural contractors and talk to ordinary farmers. Talk to the farmers who are telling me that this scheme, which we have not seen as the applications are not even open yet because this a Government that dithers, delays and only acts when it is pushed into things, is going to create more paperwork. What the Government will not listen to is that it has the ability to reduce the excise duty on green diesel at the pump for the farmer right now. It would cost €14 million a month in the context of a surplus of over €9 billion, money we are going to take in this year, and we are not going to spend. The Tánaiste should not give me his guff about this breaking the economy.”
“The Minister steadfastly refused to cut excise duty on green diesel, despite all of the evidence and the knowledge that farmers are under serious pressure. The reason is that the excise duty on green diesel is carbon tax. It is the carbon component. Does the Tánaiste know something? A farmer does not care what it is called. He does not care whether it is excise, carbon or whatever else. He just knows that the price has gone from 97 cent a litre up to €1.80 and, as Minister for Finance, the Tánaiste is refusing to cut it at the pumps. He has the ability today to still support farmers in a way that really matters, right here, right at the pumps, by actually removing carbon tax from green diesel. Why will he not do it?”
“That is what the Minister is missing and what he is failing to understand. This question was very simple. The Minister can do this in a different way, which would benefit everybody but he does not want to do it because he is penny-pinching.”
“I am asking about diesel. Under European law, the minimum excise duty to be imposed on her diesel is €330 per 1,000 litres. She is paying more than that. That is the reality. The issue here is that the resources are in the State. The Minister knows that. The money is there. The money is there to help people. It is there to help hauliers, nurses and gardaí. It is there to help the people but the Minister is refusing to do that. His head has been seriously stuck in the sand for the past two weeks. People power had to be employed in ways it had never been before to get Deputies Simon Harris and Micheál Martin to wake up and listen. These half jobs are not good enough. Some €2.07 is far too high when it comes on top of everything else, including all of the pressures and the withdrawal of various supports from families last October.”
“Does the Minister accept that the nurse pulling up to a petrol station, putting diesel into her car and paying €2.07 per litre, the price I was seeing last night, is paying more excise duty on that fuel than is required under EU law? It is a simple question.”
“There is still capacity to do some of that because we are still not at the minimum levels of excise duty on petrol and diesel. A carer who rocks up to the petrol station tomorrow will pay €2.07 per litre. He or she is paying more excise duty on that litre of diesel than is required under EU law. That is a fact and that is wrong. It is wrong at a time of huge surpluses in this State and when the Government now has €4.1 billion extra that it did not expect to have. People are really suffering but the Government is still refusing to listen, refusing to understand and, what is worse, refusing to act appropriately.”
“I do not know if he is doing it deliberately or not. If you cut excise duty directly at the pump, it benefits the hauliers, transport operators and bus companies that need that measure for cash flow, but it also benefits everybody else. It benefits carers, nurses, doctors, teachers, street cleaners and everybody else in society. That is what should be happening here. That is the best way to cut costs for the hauliers, who would then not have to wait three months and deal with more paperwork and red tape as they fill in applications to the rebate scheme. What people are demanding and took to the streets for, although the Tánaiste refused to listen to them, is a cut to excise duty at the pumps. They wanted costs driven down.”
“Obviously, the priority questions were submitted before the announcements last week, which the Government was forced to make by people pressure and by parties in opposition like Sinn Féin, but we know that half measures do not cut it. Still we see so many people, particularly hauliers, who are locked out of the rebate scheme. There are reasons for this, such as if they are transporting livestock, their own product or if they do not have a haulage licence. There is a serious issue with cash flow. I have argued time and again with the Taoiseach that the direct reduction needs to be given at the fuel pumps. That would benefit not only hauliers but also everybody else who relies on petrol and diesel and who are paying extortionate prices during this time of crisis.”
“The head of the Psychiatric Nurses Association of Ireland calls this decision "inconceivable". I call it dangerous. It is dangerous for children who need urgent help. The Government cannot close these beds. These children need them and more.”
“The Government is closing down ten beds at St. Vincent's Hospital, Fairview, for children in mental health crisis at a time when so many of our young people are crying out help and left in awful situations. We are talking about children in some cases with severe depression, anxiety, self-harming, eating disorders and suicidal. It is real pain. It is real suffering here. Their poor parents are at their wits' end and sent from pillar to post desperately seeking services for their children and banging on doors of a broken system. Waiting lists continue to grow and grow. We only have 50 CAMHS beds right across the State. That is half of what is needed. The lives of children and young people in mental health crisis are on the line. Every single bed counts. We need more and now the Government is closing ten of them.”
“As a working-class child of two working-class parents, that dream is gone. There is no pathway forward, only increasing pressure and diminishing hope. They are the people the Tánaiste needs to be listening to, not waving his graphs. He should listen to ordinary people and respond. What was the Government's response this week? It would not cut a single cent of carbon tax from home heating oil. She is in a house that she could not heat for three weeks. She works full-time and her partner does the same, and the Government ignored her this week because it is not listening and it is completely out of touch.”
“A young woman wrote to me and lots of other people this week. I think it is important for me to read out what she said. Listen to this. She said: My own situation is becoming unbearable. Despite being in a dual-income household, I haven't been able to afford home heating oil for three weeks - three weeks without heat, not because I have been irresponsible but because I simply cannot afford it anymore. At the same time, I'm paying extortionate rent for a home that I can't even properly live in. Damp is setting in because I can't afford to heat it. I feel trapped. I am being squeezed from every angle with no relief and the future feels completely out of reach. She went on to say: I will never own my own home in this country despite working full-time and doing what I was told - going to college, getting the degree.”
“I really do not understand why the Tánaiste is not listening to ordinary people. There has been an outpouring right across the country. The Tánaiste can wave his graphs all he wants, but he needs to really listen to ordinary people.”
“Is it any wonder that this Government is so detached from people's lived realities? It is staggering. The Government refuses to act on the issue of home heating oil. It dismisses and belittles those in hardship. It makes life even harder for many of those same people. I will ask the Tánaiste a direct question. How does he justify the decision not to decrease excise duty on home heating oil by a single cent? Given all that he knows about people being pushed to the pin of their collars and going without heat in their homes, why does the Tánaiste, as Minister for Finance, simply ignore those people, refuse to listen to them and refuse to act on their behalf on the issue of home heating oil?”
“These are people who were left with no choice but to rise up out of desperation because their livelihoods are being decimated. That is the reality. They are seeing cut after cut and price rise after price rise and they felt they had no other option but to take a stand. Now, to add insult to injury, many of those same workers are returning home to find parking fines landing through their letter boxes. This is the wrong response. It is a response that punishes people who are already pushed to the brink. These are people who did not have money last week and they are now being asked to fork over hundreds of euro for parking fines. For goodness' sake, where is the common sense in all of this? Has the Government learned nothing over the last week? It is it not listening to where people are at?”
“Instead, he will impose that increase in the very depths of winter. For families already stretched to the brink, that is no relief at all. What does it say about the Government that, after weeks of anger and hardship, it still does not get it? The Government still simply does not understand the lives people are living. It does not understand the fear of a bill landing that cannot be paid, the quiet dread of a cold home or the constant calculations required just to get through to the end of the week. There is a complete lack of urgency, of empathy and of basic understanding from the Government. What we have seen is not just inaction, but a pattern of behaviour that poured fuel on this crisis. Last week, members of the Government chose to insult, demean and even threaten those who took to the streets.”
“After weeks of turmoil, protest and public anger over soaring fuel prices, what is most striking is that the Tánaiste's Government is still not listening. Right across the State, over 750,000 households rely on home heating oil to keep their homes warm. For them, this crisis is not abstract. It is immediate and it is punishing. It is the difference between heating their home or going without. Despite everything that has happened over the past number of weeks, the protests, the pressure and the clear message from workers and families right across this State, the Government still has not reduced excise on home heating oil by a single cent. There is nothing. The Tánaiste now expects a pat on the back for not increasing the carbon tax on home heating oil in a fortnight's time.”
“Sula dtosaím, tabharfaidh mé aitheantas do bhás an-bhrónach bean as Gaoth Dobhair i mo chontae féin, Dún na nGall, Moya Brennan. Ba bhean iontach í Moya a raibh croí mór aici. Bhí sí ar dhuine de na daoine ba dhílse agus b'fhírinní a bhí ann riamh. Cara a bhí inti fosta. Ba dhuine de chairdiúlacht agus de chineáltas do gach duine a raibh aithne acu uirthi. Ar ndóigh, bhí glór a tháinig ó na haingil aici. Chuir an glór sin Dún na nGall ar an léarscáil dhomhanda. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis. Cuirim mo chomhbhrón ó chroí in iúl do Tim, Aisling agus Paul, do chlanna Jarvis agus Uí Bhraonáin uilig, dá teaghlach, dá cairde agus do gach duine atá faoi chian ina diaidh. Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.”
“They do not match either the scale of the crisis or what is needed. This is why today’s amendment from Sinn Féin matters. It is because the Dáil has a choice to accept a late, limited response that leaves people behind or to demand real action and leadership that meets the scale of this crisis. The Government failed to act when people needed it. It is now refusing to act at the scale required.”
“The Minister seems to want to bring us back to the days of section 31, when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael censored our political party and prevented us from being allowed to even talk on the national airwaves. This crisis is not about media rows, however. It is about ordinary people. It is about those who have no choice but to drive to work, who are trying to heat their homes today and who are struggling with the wider cost-of-living crisis. They needed decisive action and real relief. They are not getting it from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. When Ministers quote the figures relating to today’s package, they need to understand one thing. They need to understand that for the people living through this crisis, those figures do not change their reality. They do not change the pressure in a meaningful way.”
“This Government is not acting and is not listening. It was dragged to take action by public anger and by pressure, because people could not take any more. Even now, after all that, what has been brought forward falls far short. As if that was not enough, the Government is turning its fire not just on the protesters but also on the media. We have had a Minister question RTÉ’s coverage of the protests. That is, as has been said by others, a sinister intervention. It is an attempt to lean on journalists, to second-guess editorial decisions and to signal that coverage of political protest should somehow be policed. That strikes at the heart of a free media. We have been here before in this country and Sinn Féin suffered the consequence of it.”
“No amount of spin regarding today’s figures changes that reality for anyone. Let us be honest about how we got here. I cannot for the life of me understand why the Social Democrats and the Labour Party voted against the Sinn Féin amendments to help people keep their homes warm, get from A to B, drop their kids to school and go to appointments. I was shocked to see them voting with the Government and voting against the sensible proposals we put forward.”
“Once again, it leaves far too many people behind. We again see a familiar pattern of limited measures focused on particular sectors while ordinary workers and families are expected to carry the burden. That is the core of this failure. Even in the context of today’s announcement, the choices made will not cut it. There were real choices to be made, and we have put them forward in the amendments. The Government could have removed excise duty from home heating oil, but it did not. It could have cut the cost of diesel to bring the level to a more affordable one, but it chose not to. It could have done the same with petrol, but it decided to turn its face against that. It could have gone further to deliver real, immediate relief, but it refused. Instead, it produced a package that will not even keep pace with rising prices.”
“For those relying on home heating oil - and there are 750,000 of a million of them - the situation is even worse. This is not an abstract situation. This is about people wondering how they are going to get to work. This is about parents deciding which bill does not get paid. It is about older people and carers rationing heat in their homes. All the while, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have delayed and dithered. They refused to act as costs spiralled out of control and pressure mounted. Now, after weeks of delay and public anger forced their hand, they are bringing forward a package that still falls far short of what is required. It does not match the scale of the crisis. It does not provide certainty to workers who rely on their cars every day. It does not address the reality facing households that are dependent on home heating oil.”
“Tá daoine ar fud an Stáit seo faoi bhrú millteanach agus tá sé ag éirí níos measa. Tá costas breosla ag ardú agus tá an costas maireachtála ag goilliúint. Le scéal fada a dhéanamh gairid, níl aon spás fágtha ag oibrithe agus teaghlaigh na praghsanna seo a iompar. Tá gníomh cinntithe de dhíth orthu ón Rialtas seo ach in áit sin fuair siad moill, lag-iarracht agus freagra nár shroich an méid atá de dhíth ag daoine. The reality facing people right across this State is stark. In rural Ireland and in communities right across the country, people have no alternative to the car. There is no reliable public transport network and there is no option but to pay. Right now, that cost is crushing people. Fuel prices have surged and families are watching the cost of filling the tank as it spirals week after week.”
“I move that: That Dáil Éireann: recognises that: — unsustainably high energy and fuel prices in this state further compounded a pre-existing cost of living crisis; — the duty of the Government is to protect people from severe energy shocks to the greatest extent possible; and — the Government has the ability to cut the cost of fuel; notes that: — home heating oil has hit the highest price on record going back 30 years; — petrol and diesel are on course to exceed their highest price on record this month; and — the price of green diesel and other fuels are at unsustainably high levels; condemns the Government for: — not reconvening the Dáil last week and not introducing emergency supports; — delays and half measures that abandoned many households and left sectors of the economy badly exposed; and — not engaging directly with the protestors that has made the situation worse; and calls on the Government to: — take the maximum action necessary to cut fuel prices so they are affordable for the workers, families and sectors that rely on them.”
“I move amendment No. 1: In paragraph (1), to delete the table proposed to be inserted by subparagraph (a) and substitute the following: "TABLE RATE OF NATURAL GAS CARBON TAX With effect as on and from (1) Rate of tax per megawatt hour at gross calorific value (2) 1 May 2021 €6.06 1 May 2022 €7.41 1 May 2023 €8.77 1 May 2024 €10.13 1 May 2025 €11.48 ".”
“Talk to the fishermen who will tell you that the diesel went up €10,000 in a fortnight. That boat is tied up; the crew is out of work because of inaction from your Government. We will not accept half measures and we will vote against this resolution for that purpose but also because you are asking us to lock in increases in carbon tax every year to 2030. That is what this resolution states. I say to every party that stood on the protest line and talked about carbon tax, by God do not be voting for it tonight because that is what you will vote for if you support this Government.”
“He and his father stood in a farming shed that evening in the middle of the protests. It was lambing season. The father is well beyond pension age but cannot retire because he cannot afford it. He said he and his son cannot even draw a wage from the farm now yet there is a 4 cent cut to green diesel - private jets get a 24 cent cut under Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Independents. It shows your priorities.”
“You decide to come in here with an insult to those individuals - a complete and utter abdication of your duties in saying you are doing nothing on home heating oil. It is absolutely disgraceful. If you listened, you would understood where people are at. Talk to the farmers. I spoke to a farmer - a late night call. Somebody who was in a desperate situation.”
“If you did, you would understand that your measures simply do not go far enough. How could you stand up, understanding where people are at, and decide to say you are just doing nothing on home heating oil and you are just going to leave people to paddle their own canoe in relation to that issue? Simon, I stood in the homes of these people. They invited me in. They have shown me their tanks running dry. They told me they have had to put on an extra coat at night. I have been in homes where somebody opened their wallet at the start of the week and had €50 left. I talked to a plumber who was called out to a house because the plumbing system was airlocked because they ran out of oil. He could not charge them the call-out fee because the only thing that house had was a 25-litre drum because they could not afford any more.”
“You spoke for ten minutes earlier on and you spoke again but not once did you recognise the hardship facing ordinary Irish people across this State-----”
“That is the type of leadership and action people at the protests - ordinary people the length and breadth of this State - have told me they are demanding and need. We are not going to accept half measures. We did not accept the half measures from the Government the last time. Simon Harris stood there and he sneered at me. He said we were on our own and isolated. Well, by God, Simon, you got your answer because the people of Ireland were right behind us and they were calling you and your party out for your inaction over and over again. They forced you into the situation where you are today, a place you did not want to be but you still ignore them, insult them, look down at them, sneer and jeer at them. That is what you are doing.”
“I move amendment No. 1: In paragraph (1)— (a) in subparagraph (a)— (i) by the substitution of the following for the row dated 15 April 2026: “ 15 April 2026 €381.00 €502.88 €250.00 €371.85 €371.85 €0.00 €210.45 €21.00 €167.25 €79.17 €11.48 " and (ii) by the deletion of the rows dated 1 August 2026 to 1 May 2030, and (b) by the deletion of subparagraph (b).”. When I stood at the protests right across this State with the ordinary Irish people, I pledged to them I would have their back. I told them that I would fight their corner and I am not going to let them down. That is exactly what we are doing here today. We are the only party in the Dáil tabling an amendment to the Government's proposal that would actually reduce the cost of petrol and diesel and end the carbon tax on green diesel and the same on home heating oil.”
“A late bloomer to democracy? I took your party to the High Court because you denied democracy. Micheál Martin was found guilty in the High Court of trying to stop the people of Ireland having a by-election. Do not lecture me about democracy-----”
“A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, we put forward the proposal to reduce it with the first vote that day. They voted against it. We would not accept their half measures and that is why people rolled up. That is why people took to the streets.”
“-----and this Government has not earned it. It has ignored the warnings, it has allowed the crisis to escalate, it has responded too late and even now it refuses to act decisively. I was elected by ordinary people, I speak out for ordinary people-----”
“I say to the so-called Independents over there and to the backbenchers opposite in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that they know damn well what is happening in their communities. They are hearing it every single day. People are angry and people are struggling and people are being pushed to the limit here. Sinn Féin has brought their voice into this Chamber and now all the Independents and backbenchers over there have a choice to either stand with Micheál Martin and Simon Harris or stand with the ordinary Irish people. Confidence is not something you demand; it is something you earn-----”
“Match that reduction with petrol. Remove carbon tax from home heating oil and do the same on green diesel to support our farmers and contractors-----”
“That is not leadership; that is arrogance. That is a Government that is out of touch. What are people being asked to have confidence in? A package that still does not make fuel affordable. A 10-cent cut in excise gone with the next price increase. The Government outright refuses to cut carbon taxes, there is no removal of excise on home heating oil at all, nothing that fundamentally changes things for ordinary households or rural communities, no real relief for workers, farmers or families and no support at all for disabled people. This is not a solution; it is a holding operation designed to contain the anger, not solve the problem. Do you know something? People see right through it. Let me say what would actually build confidence. Cut excise on diesel to a level that makes it affordable and hold it there.”
“These are families struggling to heat their homes for God's sake and workers struggling to get to work. Farmers and rural communities are trying to keep going and this Government's instinct was not to help them but it was to threaten them.”
“There was no action on home heating oil and no meaningful support for households or rural communities. It did not come close to addressing the problem. Then what happened? They walked away and refused to recall the Dáil, which did not sit for 20 days. All the while, households faced soaring bills while workers struggled to get to work. Farmers and contractors face rising prices and input costs with no support from Government. We have seen businesses being pushed closer and closer to the edge. It was a failure and dereliction of duty, leaving people with no option but to rise up and take to the streets. Instead of listening, what did Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents do? They dismissed them. They talked down to them. They refused to meet them. They threatened them. They threatened the Army on their own people.”
“I lost count, but maybe the Ceann Comhairle might inform us, of how many pats on the back the Tánaiste gave himself earlier? I tell you that I have never heard such an out-of-touch speech in this Dáil. This is a Government that still refuses to make fuel prices affordable at the pumps. If the Tánaiste were listening he would know that the cost-of-living crisis is crushing ordinary people. Fuel prices have surged. Still more than half of what people pay at the pumps is taken away in taxes. Week after the week prices rose and pressure mounted. What did Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents do? They did nothing of substance. There was no urgency, no real intervention and no leadership. They stood back while people were being pushed to the brink. Their first response was an insult and any benefit was wiped out almost immediately.”
“Níl an Rialtas seo ag éisteacht le gnáthmhuintir na tíre. Níl sé sásta an gníomh a dhéanamh le cáin a ghearradh ar bhreosla sa dóigh is go mbeadh sé ar phraghas réasúnta. I gceantar tuaithe na hÉireann fud fad na tíre, tá oibrithe, teaghlaigh, feirmeoirí agus comhlachtaí beaga faoi bhrú ollmhór, gan rogha ar bith acu ach praghsanna arda a íoc. Nuair a labhair daoine amach agus nuair a chuaigh siad chun na sráide, chuir an Rialtas seo a gcás ar leataobh agus bhagair sé orthu in áit éisteacht leo. Fiú anois, tá na bearta atá á dtabhairt chun tosaigh ag an Rialtas i bhfad rólag. Is Rialtas é seo a bhfuil teipthe air, agus níl muinín ghnáthdhaoine na tíre seo ann. Caithfidh sé imeacht. A government that does not listen does not have the confidence of ordinary people and, by God, this is a Government that does not listen.”
“Cancer campaigners have fought bravely to get the Government to see sense after it entered into a contract with an airline that will see the ending of these flights on Sunday. The campaigners were given to believe in commitments from the Government that decisions would be made last week but this can has been very firmly kicked down the road for a number of more weeks. On behalf of all of those, in particular cancer patients, who rely on these midday flights that will not now operate, when will the Government make a decision? Will the Government commit that the midday flights will return to Donegal and that the aircraft will be grounded overnight in the county?”
“The Minister for Finance bizarrely claimed, in an attempt to defend abandoning 750,000 households who rely on home heating oil, that there is no excise duty on home heating oil. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle may remind the same Minister for Finance what he told the Dáil just a few weeks ago, which was that liquid fuel for motor or heating purposes is subject to excise duty in the form of mineral oil tax. If the Minister for Finance is not aware of these basic facts, I will send him the Revenue manual later. On the issue I want to raise today, the people of Donegal are being abandoned once again. On Sunday we will lose our midday flights, which are crucial for connectivity between Donegal and Dublin.”
“What does he say to that woman who was talking to me, who is sitting in her home and cannot put on the heating? What does he say to her? What does he say to the woman I spoke about last night in the Dáil, who was wrapped in a blanket with a disabled son and is afraid to turn on the heating? The Tánaiste abandoned those people and I am telling him we can do the right thing now. He can recognise he has made a mistake and bring a financial resolution forward, as Sinn Féin have proposed, to cut excise duty to the maximum amount on home heating oil and give people real support at this time of crisis. That is what the Tánaiste should be doing.”
“More spin and more deflection from the Minister. What he says is nonsense. Everybody knows what happened. We have led on this issue. We put forward an amendment that would have seen the maximum reduction in the price of diesel for people and the same reduction for petrol and would have seen excise duty completely removed from home heating oil, the cost of which has nearly doubled in four weeks. What did the Tánaiste do? What did his colleagues in Fine Gael do? What did Fianna Fáil and the Independent lackeys who support the Government do? They voted it down. They left 750,000 families in the lurch. That is what they did. They abandoned them. I put it to the Tánaiste directly, what does he say to people, the majority of whom do not get fuel allowance?”
“Will he recognise the mistakes he has made and stop abandoning the 750,000 households that rely on home heating oil to heat their homes? Will he bring the resolution and cut excise duty on that fuel, or is he going to continue to abandon those households and leave people to struggle knowing full well that his measures do not come close to cutting it?”