Yesterday, I raised the matter of the patient safety Bill with the Taoiseach. I record that the 221+ group, working with the Minister for Health, alongside my colleague, Deputy Cullinane, and Deputy Kelly, have agreed an appropriate wording for an amendment to that Bill. I commend and thank all of them for that work. It has been most constructive and very much welcomed by the 221+ group.

The cost-of-living crisis is impacting on households. People struggle to keep up with soaring bills across the board. Many people, three in five, according to a report from Deloitte, have no money left at the end of the month. People are now very worried about the months ahead. Times are especially hard for those on low pay whose wages have been outstripped by soaring costs. A report published by the Mandate trade union today presents the stark reality faced by many working in the retail sector. We see two thirds of retail workers earn less than €450 a week and only 20% of them earn more than €500 a week. The main reason for this is that many workers are not able to get the hours they need to make a decent living. Sharp practice by some employers denies additional hours to workers when they become available, forcing many close to the breadline.

We are living through the biggest squeeze on household incomes in 40 years. Rents are through the roof, mortgage repayments are soaring, energy bills are out of control, grocery bills are increasing sharply and childcare fees are sky high. How can someone on a low or middle income get by? The answer is with very great difficulty. Many are on the brink. I spoke to one retail worker this morning who told me about the stress and pressure that she is under. Here is what she told me:

I work hard but I just don’t get the hours I need to live with any security. Things were bad already, but we were just about getting by. Since the rise in living costs, I am having real trouble paying my bills. We’re really worried about being able to keep up the mortgage now. I don’t have a hope of putting any money away for a rainy day or if something goes wrong. The money isn’t there. I have colleagues - people who put in tough shifts - but they are now choosing between putting food on the table or paying the electricity bill. There is so much uncertainty and worry. It’s really tough going.

Léiríonn tuarascáil Mandate go bhfuil oibrithe ar phá íseal faoi bhrú ollmhór de réir mar a leanann an ghéarchéim sa chostas maireachtála ar aghaidh. Ní mór don Rialtas pacáiste tacaíochta a thabhairt chun cinn chun an chinnteacht atá ag teastáil a thabhairt do theaghlaigh.

The cost of living is devastating for people but just as it did last year, the Government is moving far too slowly in responding. Like last year, the Government is failing to give workers and families the clarity and certainty they need. In the last couple of weeks, the Government refused to back mortgage relief measures and refused to legislate to ban extortionate rent increases. When I asked the Taoiseach yesterday about extending the eviction ban, he came up blank. People are struggling now. They want to see a plan from the Government that will help them make it through the difficult months ahead. People are worried now. I ask the Taoiseach to give them the certainty they need today. I ask him to lay out clearly what actions his Government will take as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite hard.

I will take a moment to pay tribute to Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, MSP, who announced her resignation today. I met her many times in Dublin and also in the context of the British-Irish Council. I always found her to be an impressive, competent, articulate and thoughtful politician, a true European and a friend of Ireland. Certainly, she will always be welcome at our table. Táimid fíorbhuíoch de Nicola Sturgeon, Céad-Aire na hAlban. Is polaiteoir cliste, misneach agus láidir í. Bhí sí mar chara na hÉireann agus cara na hEorpa.

Maidir le ceist an Teachta, tá an costas maireachtála an-ard in Éirinn anois agus tá a lán teaghlaigh agus daoine faoi bhrú. Rinne an Rialtas go leor agus cabhróidh an Rialtas sa todhchaí freisin. I acknowledge the fact that many people are suffering as a consequence of the rising cost of living. As the Deputy previously acknowledged, people appreciate that the factors driving it are largely international, including high energy prices, the war in Ukraine and a prolonged period of monetary policy that has now given rise to a high level of inflation.

The Government has taken many actions to date. We will continue to act in the coming months to help people with the cost of living. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to fully compensate people for rising costs. We will do that as best we can for those on the lowest incomes and those who need the most help. However, it will not be possible for us to do it for everyone as, ultimately, anything we do is done with taxpayers' money and has to be recouped from people and businesses in the long run.

It is worth once again putting on the record the 25 interventions the Government has already made to help people with the cost of living. These are: an autumn double payment of weekly social welfare and pension payments; a double payment of child benefit; a €400 fuel allowance lump-sum payment; a €500 working family payment lump-sum payment; €500 for people with disabilities, people who are blind and people on the invalidity pension; a €200 lump-sum payment for people in receipt of the living alone allowance; €500 for carers; a Christmas bonus double payment for pensioners and people on social welfare; in the past few weeks, a €12 a week increase in pension and weekly social welfare payments, which is the largest single increase since the mid-2000s; the largest ever expansion of the fuel allowance scheme, with a particular focus on people over 70; increased income thresholds for the working family payment; the expansion of hot school meals; an increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance; two fuel allowance lump-sum payments; an energy credit of €200, with another €200 being paid at the moment and a further €200 to come in March; a reduction in student fees; a 25% reduction in childcare costs; a rent tax credit; a reduction in public transport fees; a reduction in the cost of the drugs payment scheme; and reductions in VAT and excise duties.

A lot has been done, but we acknowledge that inflation is still high, that prices continue to rise and that we will need to act again in the coming weeks to help people with the cost of living through the spring and summer. Ministers will meet this week with a view to making a decision at Cabinet next Tuesday on further actions we can take.

Finally, I have not yet had a chance to read the Mandate report but I have seen the summary. The Government is committed to making work pay better and ensuring that efforts are rewarded. There was a 7.8% increase in the national minimum wage only a few weeks ago. We think that will actually exceed the inflation rate for this year, and that will result in a knock-on increase for others on low pay. Statutory sick pay is now a reality, workplace tips and gratuities are now protected, we have had the additional public holiday and we are now moving towards a living wage over the next four years.

I also acknowledge Nicola Sturgeon, who has been an outstanding leader and an outstanding advocate for the independence of her country. I have absolutely no doubt but that she will continue always to advocate for the country and the people she loves. Nicola, beir bua agus beannacht.

The Taoiseach gave me a very studied non-answer to my question, unless he is contesting the reality that three in five people report that they have no money left at the end of the week, or unless he is contesting the fact that those on low and middle incomes are struggling badly and need answers from him now as to what he is prepared to do now, not retrospective self-praise, which, I remind him, is in the end no praise.

I have asked the Taoiseach to set out specifics. People are struggling with the cost of their mortgages, they are struggling with the cost of their rents and their energy bills are now sky-high. As for groceries, it is widely reported that people are making choices between food on the table and the electricity bill. Will the Taoiseach please be more specific and set out in his view what needs to happen to support these struggling families?

I am not in a position to be specific today. Ministers will have to meet later in the week to look at all the options, come to a decision on them and then bring a recommendation to the Cabinet on Tuesday. I will be able to be specific in a few days' time, once we have made those decisions. I do not think it is unreasonable of me to point out what has been done. It would be a more gracious Opposition leader who would be willing to acknowledge what has been done. I have pointed out what has been done.

I have been a bit concerned as I have listened to some of the things the Deputy has said over recent weeks. We have stood opposite each other in this Chamber again on only a few occasions so far this year, and in that period the Deputy has proposed an uncosted energy price cap, she has proposed to reopen historical compensation schemes, she has proposed to refund what she says are illegal nursing home charges to a cost of up to €7 billion, she has proposed to increase the rent tax credit and she has proposed mortgage interest relief. None of that can possibly add up. People in Ireland have a good education system; they are able to add and subtract.

As am I.

Even with Sinn Féin's 13 tax rises, it cannot afford to keep all those promises. People are starting to see through Sinn Féin.

It is the Government's policies that are referred to in this report.

I also acknowledge Nicola Sturgeon's stepping down today after an eight-year term as Scotland's First Minister. She has been undoubtedly a powerful force in Scottish politics throughout that time. I wish her well personally following that surprise announcement.

The Taoiseach has acknowledged that people across the country are struggling despite the Government's measures introduced in the budget last year. We in the Labour Party predicted last October that there would need to be a mini-budget or a series of further measures implemented by the Government in the spring in order to deal with the cliff edge so many households face now as they see one-off measures come to an end. The Taoiseach has said he will meet with Ministers later this week and will make recommendations to the Cabinet on Tuesday. We are likely, therefore, to see in coming days a drip-feed of leaks emerge from the parliamentary party meetings of Government parties. We are likely to see kites flown and the Government testing the waters to see which proposals are politically expedient and which are not. I hope I am wrong in that prediction but I think it is very likely. However, it would be an insult to households across Ireland who are simply powerless at present. They are unable to plan for the future because they simply have no clarity or certainty from the Government on what will be included in what it is not calling a mini-budget but what will undoubtedly be some sort of cost-of-living package of measures. We are already hearing stories about what may be introduced by the Government but we need clarity.

I will give the Taoiseach an example of a household in my constituency which simply cannot withstand this non-stop kite flying and needs urgently to see clarity from the Government. I raised this case earlier today during the debate on the windfall tax. My constituents, a family of two adults and two children, received a heating bill recently. Despite having been away for three weeks over the two-month billing period, their district heating bill for those two months alone stands at €1,700, a shocking figure. They cannot afford to wait weeks without knowing with any clarity what will come from the Government to assist them.

Other constituents of mine, a single mother and her child who are housing assistance payment, HAP, tenants, have been forced to turn off their heat and hot water altogether because they cannot afford the extortionate bills. With seriously cold weather due to arrive at the end of this month and a "beast from the east" predicted, that mother, and so many others, cannot afford weeks of kite flying from the Government.

We have heard from so many other constituents. One family cannot pay off their tracker mortgage, which is likely to have risen by over €450 per month with the new interest rate increases. They say they simply cannot afford to cut back on anything else.

Right across the country people are struggling. What we need to see is clarity from the Government now as to when the mini-budget will be announced and what its measures will include. Will they be targeted, as Social Justice Ireland has called for, or will they be simply a series of more universal measures which are unlikely to make any real impact for the families I am talking about who are struggling and are in such a dire state of paralysis because they simply do not know how they will meet their spiralling bills?

We had a budget in September and it was passed by this House in the form of the Finance Bill, the Appropriation Bill and the Social Welfare Bill by very clear majorities. We will not have a mini-budget. That is not necessary. The budget set out the fiscal parameters for this year, and anything we do or announce between now and the next budget will be done within the confines of those parameters. However, we have some room to manoeuvre. There has been an underspend on the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, which means we will be able to do more for business. We have some reserve funds. We will also have revenue coming in from the windfall tax on energy companies. That allows us some room for manoeuvre within the budget parameters of this year. There will be no requirement at all for a mini-budget between now and budget 2024 in the autumn.

I take the Deputy's point about kite flying and speculation. I do not want to say anything today that might raise expectations that end up being dashed next week.

The Taoiseach is departing from his usual practice.

I do not want to make promises today that I may not be able to keep-----

Like a 30% tax rate.

-----and I encourage Opposition parties to follow that policy and not to make promises they cannot keep. People will have clarity no later than next Tuesday. Ministers will meet over the coming days and we will be in a position to set out what we will do on Tuesday. It will probably require a short finance Bill, perhaps next week, or if not next week-----

So it is a mini-budget.

It is a mini-budget.

-----within the next few weeks, to do what we propose.

It is a short-term budget.

As to what the measures will look like, they will be both universal and targeted. They will be targeted because pensioners, people on low incomes and people in receipt of social welfare payments are suffering the most from the rising cost of living, particularly because groceries and energy costs have gone up the most. There will therefore be targeted measures and there will be a welfare element to this, as I said on Sunday. There will, however, be universal measures as well because all households, including middle-income households, are experiencing the rise in the cost of living, and I do not think it would be right to tell middle-income families that they are being left out and that we are doing nothing for them.

If it looks like a rose and smells like a rose, it is a rose. This sounds like a mini-budget. If there is a finance Bill, it sounds very much like a mini-budget. I am glad that the Taoiseach has confirmed that there will be clarity on Tuesday. Will we have a Dáil debate next week? Are people likely to know next week what the nature of the measures will be, which ones will be targeted and which ones will be universal? It would be reasonable to give legislators in this Chamber some indication of a timeline for the introduction of these measures. I agree with the Taoiseach that speculation is unhelpful. There has been speculation on things like a 30% tax rate, for example. These kite-flying suggestions are simply not helpful in the context of struggling families and households.

I want to finish by referring to the Mandate report that was launched today. I was glad to meet Mandate earlier and to hear directly from it about the stark examples and situation of so many of its members, 64% of whom earn below €451 per week. That is in a context where, in Dublin, average monthly rents are €2,324 per month. This figure illustrates the shortfall for so many people who simply cannot afford even to pay rents, let alone meet the other bills that are spiralling. I ask the Taoiseach to give us clarity on the timeline for next week now that we have established that next Tuesday will be critical.

I can assure people that there will not be a cliff edge on 28 February when a lot of the measures are due to expire. We will make decisions no later than the Cabinet meeting next Tuesday, we will inform the Dáil and the public next Tuesday and then any legislation that has to be done between now and 28 February will be done. I know we will have the Deputy's co-operation with that matter.

On the Mandate report, as the Deputy knows, we are moving from a national minimum wage to a living wage. This is year one of the four-year process of doing that. I understand that in its report, Mandate points out that a lot of retail workers would like to earn more by working longer hours but the banded hours contract system prevents them from doing that. I believe in rewarding work and in making work pay more. If people want to work longer hours, they should be allowed to do so, provided it is not a breach of the working time directive. On foot of the report Mandate has published, the Minister of State with responsibility for employment affairs and retail business, Deputy Richmond, will be happy to sit down with Mandate, hear it out and see how he can respond in a meaningful way.