The people of Ireland are bleeding and need help now. I welcome the €2.4 billion allocated to cost-of-living measures and the reduction of VAT on gas and electricity bills from 13.5% to 9%. I will not say the Government has done nothing but I will say that it needs to do more. In my constituency office in Dundalk I hear from my constituents what is happening on the ground. People cannot afford to put food on the table, heat their homes, put fuel in their cars or shoes on their children. They are afraid to turn on the cooker or the washing machine.

They are panicking that they will not be able to buy books or uniforms for their children. The Minister should not forget that the kids have only gotten their holidays and their parents are thinking six weeks ahead. Pensioners living in old houses are unable to heat them. People with a disability are unable to access services. Families are unable to find rental accommodation. They tell me about all the buildings around the town lying empty and there seems to be no urgency in bringing them back in order that they can have the homes they badly need.

A number of people have come into my constituency office lately telling me that they would be better off on social welfare. A young married man with two young children came into my office last Friday, crying. He cannot afford to look after his family. He goes to work in Dublin five days per week. His fuel bills have doubled and he cannot cope anymore. The words he used were "enormous pressure". He was told by his landlord that he must vacate the property he is leasing at present. He went to look for new accommodation, which is impossible to find. Although he found some, he could not afford the €1,800 asking price. He did considerable research lately and found out that he would be better off if he left his job and went on social welfare. He would then be able to get €1,150 through the housing assistance payment towards his rent. He would not have to drive to Dublin to work. He would get all the benefits to which he is entitled, such as a medical card. He does not want to go down this road but he has no option. The Minister's Government can help him.

The cost of living in Ireland for a family of our four is estimated at a monthly loss of €3,072.72, without rent. If rent is added to this, it is more than €4,500 per month or €54,000 per year, before someone pays taxes. It shocked me during the week when I heard the Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, state that families could not afford clothes or food for their children. The shoes they are wearing are open-toed. That is a very low level.

Families have come to their breaking point. Inflation has soared to its highest levels since the 1980s. It was at 8.3% in May. Our President, Michael D. Higgins, has slammed the Government's housing challenges as a "great, great failure", stating that, "it is not a crisis ... [but] a disaster". Why will this Government not react now? It has the resources to help these families, pensioners, students and front-line staff. The money is there for the Minister's Government to help the people in Ireland who have built this great country over the years. They deserve to be looked after now, not later.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. He has articulated the real-world experience of many people at this point in time. Not everyone but, certainly, a share of the population is very much feeling the effects of what is a 40-year high level of inflation. The Deputy has acknowledged, to be fair, that the Government has made a range of interventions in different areas to address cost of living. We have had some universal measures, including the electricity credit, the reduction in transport costs and, most recently, the elimination of hospital charges for children under the age of 16, but we have also had a number of targeted measures, in particular with the fuel allowance through the two bullet payments, for example, and the increase in the rate of fuel allowance that took effect on budget night last year. Doing it that way was an exceptional measure.

We have reduced the drugs payment scheme threshold to €80 per month and put caps on school transport fees. We have cut the annual public service obligation, PSO, levy. We have launched a major national retrofitting scheme and we have already touched on the reduction in VAT on gas and electricity and in excise on fuel. It is important that it always pays to work. The overwhelming majority, who are able to, want to work. The evidence is that they are working. We have an unemployment rate below 5% and we have now exceeded the pre-pandemic level of employment in Ireland. It is more than 2.5 million people, which is approximately 150,000 more than were employed pre-Covid. That is a remarkable turnaround and is testament to the resilience of the Irish people and indeed, the Irish economy.

That is why it is important that, as well as addressing cost-of-living measures through expenditure, we have a tax package in the budget. We have a programme for Government commitment that we will honour because we do not want a situation in which the constituent that the Deputy highlighted ends up getting a pay rise or does some overtime and pays half of that in tax because he has crept into the marginal rate of income tax. A static tax system at a time of rising incomes is equivalent to an increase in tax. It seems to be only on this side of the House that there is support for a reduction in income tax for people who are earning quite modest levels of incomes - in the mid-€30,000s.

I have acknowledged we will make an intervention in the autumn in the normal annual budget, but we will also be focused on a set of measures that can kick in as quickly as possible and will be temporary and one-off in nature. The advice that we have received from all the main bodies is to target resources, insofar as we can, to those who need them most. Work is actively under way on preparing that. We will have the summer economic statement next week, which will clarify exactly the envelope of money we have for next year's budget.

I am a sportsperson. Morale is very important when one is involved in sport. It is also important for society. Morale in this country is very low. Families are suffering and the people of Ireland built this country to what it is today. The Minister and I know that this country is highly respected throughout the world for the amount of work that it does. All I am trying to say is that the people of Ireland want a bit of help. There is no point in waiting for the rainy day funds. If my family was suffering and I had the money to help them out, I would do so. The Minister's family, which is the country, is asking this Government for help. We are looking for help now. We are not just waiting for a rainy day fund. I am not making this a political football. The Government has helped so far. Some €2.4 billion is a considerable amount to have given so far, but we have this extra money just lying there. Now is the right time to react. We need to keep this country building for our children's future and everything else. This country has a very old population and will need more and more money. To make money, money has to be invested. I am pleading with the Minister to have a look at the situation and invest in Ireland.

We have sought to help to date. We will do more and we will help people who most need it, in particular. We are working on finalising the summer economic statement, and the preparations for the budget are now under way. We are looking at all of the options that are open to Government with a view to making a real impact. It is our assessment that the autumn, coming into the winter, is when people will need help most. We know there are people who need help now. We are criticised every time we highlight that there is an additional needs payment, but we should all highlight the fact that there has been a change in a rule in order that people working full time can now access that payment. If people need assistance with a fuel bill, with repairing a boiler or for clothes and food, they should approach their community welfare officer. I believe they will find him or her supportive. We have to, as a Government, acknowledge the fact that global economic conditions are changing. They are deteriorating. At some point that will impact on Ireland. The cost of borrowing for us as a country, as well as for individuals, is rising. We have to take all of that into account, but work is well under way on the package the Deputy touched on.