Workers and families continue to be fleeced by a cost-of-living crisis that is out of control. People’s finances are being pushed to the very brink. They are being hammered by sky-high energy bills, soaring food bills, runaway rents, mortgage interest rate hikes and a cost-of-living crisis that is hitting them from all sides. Almost a quarter of household gas customers found themselves in arrears in the first three months of this year. As energy credits run out, the number in electricity arrears is increasing again. Just so we are clear about the scale of what is happening, that means 160,399 domestic customers in gas arrears and 199,790 in domestic electricity arrears. It is an absolutely staggering situation. Yet, the Taoiseach opposes Sinn Féin's proposal to cut and cap rip-off energy bills. He also blocked our plan to provide mortgage relief to struggling homeowners. He refused our plans to cut rent and ban rent increases. Households remain under huge pressure and the Government sits on its hands.

Tonight, Sinn Féin will bring forward a plan for real action on food and grocery bills. The Government should back this plan. As the Taoiseach knows, inflation in Irish supermarkets is at the highest level ever recorded and shoppers are set to see their annual grocery bills rise by €1,200. That is a very big sum and people’s incomes will just not stretch that far in many cases. Many people are going hungry. Pensioners are skipping meals. With the school holidays now fast approaching, some families do not know how they will feed their children this summer. I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that this cannot continue.

Sinn Féin’s plan has essentially three elements. First, it would ensure savings made by supermarkets due to falling input costs are passed on to consumers by cutting grocery prices. Second, it would instruct the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to investigate possible price gouging in the sector. Crucially, it would allow for an increase in social welfare and pension rates to protect people from food poverty. These measures would make a real difference in the here and now for people. The Government cannot expect people to wait five months until the budget for relief. Kicking the can down the road and turning a blind eye to the huge pressure people are under is not an option.

I am therefore asking that the Taoiseach takes action to shield households from this latest hit in the cost-of-living storm. Time and again, we have brought forward measures. Every time, the Taoiseach has turned his face against them. He has rejected every solution that has been offered up. Tá billí fuinnimh agus costais bia ardaithe do oibrithe agus do theaghlaigh. Tá ghéarchéim ann ó thaobh an costais maireachtála. Cad atá an Rialtas ag déanamh? Ní féidir le daoine fanacht cúig mhí don bhuiséad. Tá cabhair ag teastáil uathu anois.

There is an immediacy to all this, as I am sure the Taoiseach will agree. The Government must take sensible, targeted measures to give support to those who need it, because people are finding it difficult to stay afloat now and they need help now.

Will the Taoiseach back Sinn Féin's plan to cut food costs that will come before the House this evening? What else does the Government propose to do to help families weather the storm of this cost-of-living crisis? I make specific reference again to the hundreds of thousands of households that now find themselves in gas and electricity arrears.

I thank the Deputy. On behalf of the Government, I acknowledge that we are facing a cost-of-living crisis. Inflation has reached very high levels in the past year or so. Thankfully, it is now slowing down, but that is not the same as prices falling. Prices remain very high. A lot of people and families are struggling with those bills, and everyone in government understands that. As I often say, when it comes to any household bill, there are three elements to it, namely, how much you are paid, how much you get to keep after tax and how far the money goes. The Government is helping with all those aspects. In respect of pay, for example, there was an increase in the national minimum wage this year which is above the rate of inflation for this year. Most people on low pay will get the knock-on increase that those on the lowest pay get. We also have a public sector pay deal, and, I imagine, a further pay deal will be negotiated before the end of the year. That is the pay element, with pay increasing.

The second element is people being able to keep more of what they earn. The rent tax credit is an example of that. Nearly 200,000 people have claimed that credit and many more can do so. It is worth €1,000 to a couple, or €2,000 if claimed over two years, and that is helping people with the cost of living. There is also, of course, a reduction in income tax, worth about €800 a year to somebody on the average income, or €1,600 to a couple. The Deputy's party, as she knows, opposed that.

We are helping as well with reducing the cost of living. For example, there was a significant reduction in the cost of childcare at the start of this year and there have been reductions in the cost of public transport, school transport and buying medicines. All those things have been done in the past couple of months and are pure examples of what the Government is doing to help people with the cost of living.

It has not stopped there. The Deputy mentioned welfare, for example, which is in her party's motion that will be before the House later. There was a €200 welfare payment to pensioners and people in receipt of weekly payments. That was paid only last week and will help people with their bills and arrears. It does not stop there. In June, for example, there will be an extra €100 for every child in the country and that is not means tested, because we acknowledge middle-income families are struggling with the cost of living too. For those who need it the most, there is an increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, paid at the same rate as last year, and every child will benefit from free schoolbooks in September. Again, that is for all families, including middle-income families, because we know they are struggling too. And then comes the budget, when we can do more. There is not a month that passes when we are not doing something to help people with the cost of living because we understand families are suffering and people are struggling with those bills.

In the context of the price of groceries, which the Deputy mentioned, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, will meet the retail forum tomorrow and is going to meet producers such as farmers the day after that. He will pass on a very clear message from the Government. When input prices such as energy costs went up, retailers increased their prices. That is understandable. If your input costs go up, you have to pass on some of that increase to your customers, but when input costs go down, we expect you to pass on those reductions to your customers, and we are making that very clear to the retailers, such as the big supermarkets and the shops, and to the energy and gas companies. They put prices up when their costs went up; now that their costs are coming down, we expect them to bring down prices. We are starting to see a bit of that, but not enough.

Tá an costas maireachtála an-ard. Tá a lán daoine agus teaghlach faoi bhrú. Tuigimid é sin, ach tá tacaíocht ar fáil ag an Rialtas agus beidh níos mó tacaíochta ag teacht.

What is the additional support that will be coming? Unite the Union research published last week reflects that wages have in real terms fallen by approximately €76 per week.

Leaving that aside, as already stated, 160,399 households are in arrears on their gas bills and almost 200,000 are in arrears on electricity bills. When I put the question to the Taoiseach and asked him what he will do in the here and now, he answered as though matters had been resolved. I am sure the Taoiseach is aware that this is a very expensive place to live in - he can ask anybody. That was the case before the cost-of-living spike hit households. I ask him again. This evening we will bring forward a package of measures in respect of groceries and food costs. Will the Government support that? If it does not support that, bar the Minister sending encouraging messages, what will it do to ensure compliance on the part of the retail sector and the energy sector? What is the Government saying to all the households in arrears on gas and electricity bills? What does it propose to do now?

As I said earlier - perhaps I did not say it - we are not going to oppose the motion that Sinn Féin has tabled. We do not agree with all of it, but we think there are some things in it that we are doing already and that can be done. There are other suggestions that are worthy of consideration. While we will not be agreeing to everything Sinn Féin has put forward, we will not be opposing the motion in the round because much it is being done already and much of it can be done in future. I mentioned that, just last week, €200 was paid to pensioners and people in receipt of weekly social welfare payments to help them with bills like electricity and gas, with a further payment to help families coming in only a few weeks' time.

The Deputy is correct to say, as is Unite the Union, that real incomes fell last year. In other words, prices rose faster than incomes did. That was the first year that was the case in a very long time. It will not be the case this year. We are confident that this year we will see a real increase in incomes again. We expect inflation to be around 5% this year. The national minimum wage will go up by 7% this year and a public sector pay deal to be negotiated. We expect to see real incomes rise again this year as they have increased in previous years, which means that most people will be better off. The Deputy is right to say that the cost of living in Ireland is high. It has been high for a very long time; maybe 30% or 40% higher than the EU average. However, incomes here are also 30% to 40% higher on average and that also needs to be borne in mind.

As Minister of Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding of public transport. Parking adjacent to railway stations is a matter for Iarnród Éireann in the first instance.

In view of the Iarnród Éireann's responsibility in this matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to it for direct reply. Please contact my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.

Finding solutions of course should be the priority but the Taoiseach's Government has patently failed to find necessary solutions. Time after time we hear the Taoiseach say that family homelessness and child homelessness is a stain on our society as if he was an observer. The Taoiseach is in government and has been in government for several terms. The Taoiseach needs to ensure that action is taken. If it takes a Bill to ensure that local authorities will make the best interests of the child paramount, then that Bill and legislation should be adopted. I have the scrutiny report here.

The joint committee proposed that the Bill should proceed to the next Stage and that it should be amended in consultation with the drafters. We are very willing to work with the Government to ensure this constructive means of addressing child homelessness is taken up. We certainly express huge solidarity with Micheline Walsh, her family and all those experiencing homelessness.

The reality is, however, that the Government has done too little and is doing it too late to really address the needs of families, older people and children in homelessness. Extending the temporary no-fault eviction ban for a further period would and could have given the Government the breathing space to put in place proper effective measures to address the needs of Micheline and others like her. Instead, nothing concrete was put in place when the ban was lifted and so many people, unfortunately, like Micheline and her family, are in this void or abyss where they simply have nowhere to go.

The Government could have done something.

-----and that is our view. I reject the Deputy's contention that we have not been acting. We have been acting. More social housing was built last year than any year since the 1970s. Nearly 8,000 new units were built and 10,000 new social homes were provided. We are going to do more than that this year. That is our objective and we will achieve it. We are also telling local authorities to take up the option of buying a property where a landlord is selling up if that prevents the tenant going into homelessness. We have provided resources to for them to do exactly that.

We will consider legislation. Good ideas have been put forward by the Simon Community and Focus Ireland in respect of children and those facing homelessness. In many other jurisdictions, legislation has not been the solution, unfortunately. Legislation does not build any more houses or create any more tenancies, and that has to be the solution.

I again ask the Taoiseach about Wexford General Hospital. He will be aware that the restoration process is ongoing. He visited the hospital when the fire occurred and assured the management and people at that time that all stops would be pulled out to ensure not only restoration but that the new 97-bed block extension would be built as soon as possible. All the politicians in County Wexford bought into what the Taoiseach said. Deputy Howlin of the Labour Party believes that he was sincere. However, when I last brought the matter to the Taoiseach's attention, I did not get to respond to his answer as I did so during Questions on Policy or Legislation. At that time, the Taoiseach said:

If it is possible to ... [provide] a modular unit or to do something to provide additional capacity, [I think] we should do it. I gave that indication to the management when I was there. The emergency ... [legislation no longer exists but we have asked for the] advice of the Attorney General [which] is not favourable.

At a meeting of the management and staff of Wexford General Hospital and the elected representatives of County Wexford last week, the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy James Browne, told management that the Government was waiting for the advice of the Attorney General. To tell the truth, however, the people of County Wexford are not a bit interested in what the Attorney General has to say. The promise was made. It is believed to be honourable. The only question the people of Wexford are asking is if and when the 97-bed block will be delivered in tandem with the restoration works that are ongoing. We cannot delay the reopening of the emergency department. We should not delay further the additional 44 beds that will come about as a result of the provision of the new 97-bed block.

I do not believe the people of County Wexford want a Jesuitical delivery. I will ask a straight question that warrants a straight answer, with no dancing on the top of a pinhead: when will the 97-bed block be delivered to the 167,000 people of County Wexford?

I thank the Deputy. The new 97-bed block will be delivered as soon as is possible. I wish I could give the Deputy a date of a week or a month hence. I cannot do that at present, but it will be delivered as soon as possible.

It would still be needed even if there had not been a fire given the increasing population in Wexford and the increasing need for healthcare to be available. I am told it is at detailed design phase and the business case is being prepared under the revised public service code which is quicker than it was in the past. It has not yet been determined whether it will be done in the context of the overall works that are ongoing to re-open the emergency department or as a separate project, but the Government wants to do it and we are committed to making it happen. It does not necessarily hang on the Attorney General's advice, which relates to planning permission. It is much needed infrastructure. I want to see it go ahead, as does the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly. I do not want to put a date on it or give the Deputy a month I cannot necessarily stand over. Building a new block has to go through certain procedures, but we will go through those procedures and get it up and running or at least under construction as soon as we can.

The Deputy may also be interested in the MRI scanner project which I had a chance to visit when I visited the hospital a few months ago. I am told that work on the design, construction and equipping of the new MRI on the site close to the main hospital concourse will commence later this year. It is approximately a 12-month programme. We are keen to get the hospital back functioning as soon as possible. It is currently working at approximately 60% capacity. That is having a huge impact on Waterford and Kilkenny so we must ensure it is up and running fully as soon as possible.

I am the Taoiseach and the buck does stop with me when it comes to matters such as this. However, it has to go through a certain process. It has to be designed. Planning permission will be required. It has to go to tender, be built, installed and commissioned. I do not want to make a commitment to the Deputy in good faith that I cannot necessarily honour. I cannot give her an exact timeline on it now, but I will be clear to the Deputy and to the people of Wexford that I and the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, are committed to this project and that we will get it done as soon as we can. Provided the cost comes in at a similar amount to what we have seen for other places such as St. Luke's - there is no reason why it should not - money will not be an issue. However, it is not only about money. It must be designed, planned, go to tender, be built and commissioned. We will get it done as soon as we can.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 355 and 357 together.

As this refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

I also point out that I am not the only one raising these concerns. Senior Fine Gael sources who spoke to the Irish Mail on Sunday, which is not The Ditch, also expressed their alarm. One is reported as saying:

It's creating real unease in rural Ireland - rural Ireland is ready to explode. We are being turned into economic ghettos where tourism is forced out of rural Ireland. Dublin's hotels may be booming, but ours are full of refugees wandering around main streets without a penny to spend.

Unless the Taoiseach wants to characterise these senior Fine Gael sources as part of some far-right conspiracy, he will have to deal with the seriousness of this situation. I want to know exactly what is being done to rescue our rural tourism from the effects of the Government's over-reliance on hotels. I want to know what the Government is doing to take this matter seriously and I do not want to hear the Taoiseach dismissing it because that is not fair to the small businesses in rural Ireland that are suffering because of the action or inaction of the Government. I want to hear a credible pathway outlined in terms of the mitigation measures that Government Departments can take to reduce the potential loss of €1 billion in revenue from the rural economy. I welcome the Taoiseach's thoughts and proposals on this matter.

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. I understand and we all know there is a war, but the fact of the matter is that Ireland is an outlier in Europe in terms of the reliance on hotel, bed and breakfast and guesthouse beds. We are different. Why are we so different? Why have other countries adopted a more sensible approach and protected their local economies more than we have? That is the fact of the matter. I am by no means setting out this as a division in terms of being a rural-urban issue, but I am a rural Deputy and I see my constituency suffering day in, day out. I see Bord na Móna jobs being lost. Like every other place in Ireland, Offaly and Laois are trying to build up their tourism, and then we see beds not available. When you get down to the facts, every euro spent on accommodation by every tourist or visitor means another €2.50 into that local economy. The paper approved by Fáilte Ireland argued that mitigation measures need to be put in place for businesses that depend on tourism, such as bike hire, boating and cafés. We will see a loss of €1.1 billion in our local economy. That is serious, and that is not being divisive. I am laying out the facts in black and white.

We are an outlier in some ways; we are not in others. Lots of countries, particularly in eastern Europe, have taken in many more people from Ukraine than we have, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of their populations. While we have taken in many more people from Ukraine than France has, for example, France would point out how many it has taken in from Syria, Algeria and other parts of the world. We are more reliant on the use of hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation than other countries are, largely because such accommodation was available at the time. Other countries have used barges. We see the camps in France and Belgium and see what is happening alongside the canals in Brussels. Thankfully, we have not had to do what has happened in other countries. We see the containers being used in Greece. I know this is having an impact on local economies, but is it not better that we were able to use hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation than to have people living in containers, like they do in Greece, in camps, like they do in France and Belgium, or on barges, or being sent on planes back to Africa, which is what they propose to do in Britain. I would not like to be in that position.

To come back to my initial response, we accept that a number of tourism towns in particular around the country have been adversely affected. The accommodation providers are getting income, but the bars, restaurants and attractions are losing out. We are developing plans and schemes to help out with that.