The cost-of-living crisis has not gone away; far from it. Workers and families are still finding it very difficult to make ends meet. People face extortionate bills and prices right across the board and for many, it is never-ending. It is runaway rents, childcare fees that equate to the cost of a second mortgage, the cost of the weekly shop and insurance costs, but perhaps where households have come under the most pressure is when it comes to rip-off electricity and gas prices. In recent years families have been hammered by a barrage of sharp increases in energy costs. They have just gone up and up, to the point where households in this State pay the second-highest electricity prices in the EU.

This morning, unfortunately, there is more bad news for those households. An internal briefing document to the Government from the Department of energy and climate shows that the energy rip-off is going to continue for five more years. Workers and families will continue to face increased electricity and gas prices every single year for the next five years. As usual, big energy companies will enjoy more bumper profits while ordinary workers and families who are already under enormous pressure get squeezed even further. The report goes on to advise that households will need support from the Government to meet these hikes because they cannot take any more. As the briefing to the Government notes, gas bills are already 90% higher today than they were at the start of the crisis and electricity bills are 61% higher. What does that mean for people's pockets? It means that, on average, people are paying a whopping €1,779 per year for electricity and €1,503 per year for gas. Is it any wonder that families in Ireland are being forced into energy poverty? We have hundreds of thousands of families in arrears. Let that sink in. What does that tell the Minister and the Government? It tells me and many people watching that people are finding it harder and harder to pay these extortionate prices. How on earth are people supposed to afford the increases that are coming down the tracks? The Minister needs to answer that question. The Government needs to answer that question because there are struggling families the length and breadth of this country in despair this morning. They do not have the answer and they certainly do not have the means to pay for more increases.

Incredibly, this briefing flagging further rip-off hikes in energy bills and calling for Government supports for households was provided to the Government in January. Yet, the Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Chambers, came out last month and announced to those same struggling families that there would be no more energy credits, despite being briefed that energy bills would continue to increase over the next five years. That is deeply cynical. I talk to people every day in my constituency, as I am sure many Members do, who tell me that they cannot keep up with their bills, their lives are getting tougher, and they are struggling to get by every single day and every single month. They are doing their best but they need support. I am sure everybody in this House meets people with similar experiences. Their concerns matter. Their lives and their worries matter.

The Government cannot keep talking about what it has done in the past, which is what it reaches for when we raise these very serious issues. People are being hit by these bills now, today, and it is hurting them, big time. If they are facing long-term energy price hikes then they need long-term support. Does the Minister now accept that the Government has to step up to the plate? Will it continue to provide support for people to meet their energy bills? Will the Minister assure householders today that the Government will come forward with measures that will provide relief to all of those families who are in desperate situations?

The Government and all of my colleagues on this side of the House absolutely understand the consequences of the uncertainty of the world that we are now in and what that means for households and businesses. We see a world that has become more dangerous, more volatile and full of uncertainty. We on this side of the House are absolutely aware of the concern and anxiety that is causing for many in our country, whether that be small businesses trying to keep jobs or householders worried about whether they will be able to pay their bills and keep their homes in the future. I see that in the eyes of my constituents. All of us see that in the engagements that we have with those we serve across the length and breadth of our country.

This, of course, is most manifest in the cost of living and the impact that increased bills is having on very many at the moment. In terms of what the Government is currently doing in relation to this, we have to look at what we can do to prevent the impact of the cost of living on households and businesses and at the support we can make available in the future. What we are already doing, for example, includes the measures that we have put in place in relation to the retrofitting of homes. A sum of €230 million was invested in this scheme last year, helping over 7,000 homes. In the past two years we have seen 129,000 energy upgrades to homes across our country. This year's budget alone has €280 million set aside for the warmer homes scheme, which is an eleven-fold increase in funding in comparison with where we were a number of years ago.

In addition to what we can do to prevent and mitigate these kinds of cost increases, which will be difficult, we also want to look at the regulatory model that we have here in Ireland. That is why the Government has laid out its commitment to assessing the role of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, within our country in terms of the role of affordability and competitiveness within its mandate.

As we face into these kinds of challenges, they will be made no easier and no less difficult for so many by adding an air of dishonesty or cynicism regarding what any Government or politician can do. It is precisely because we are in difficult and volatile times that the Government needs to do two things. First, we must recognise what that means for those we are privileged to serve, and we do. Second, the Government must look at what it can do in a way that can help, which is why the Minister, Deputy Chambers was right. The Minister and I, and the Government, are very clear on what we can do and what we want to do in this regard. I cannot stand here in front of the House today and say that the level of payments that we have made available over the last number of years can become the norm. Those payments were made available at a time in which inflation was at 5%, 10% and 15%. They were made available across a world that is very different from today. That level of payment is something that, if we begin to normalise it and say it will be available year after year, of itself runs the risk of creating difficulties for our country and economy in the years ahead. However, as the Minister, Deputy Chambers said only today, as we approach the budget and respond to the challenges that are there, we will look at what measures we can put in place that will be targeted and can offer support to those who need it the most. We want to be clear in recognising the great challenge and worry that exists within our country at the moment but, equally, we want to be honest and say that we cannot and will not do anything that adds to the risks that we may face but at the same time, we want to identify how we can and will help.

Undoubtedly there is volatility and uncertainly around the world. There is also volatility and uncertainty faced by so many families who are struck by, and who are dealing with, all of these increases, particularly in rising energy costs. The Minister has said he cannot take to his feet and say to people with all credibility that he will continue with the supports that were previously put in place. The Minister says this knowing that price increases are on the way. What he has not said is that during the course of the election campaign his party leader was well able to stand up and commit during the course of the campaign to cut electricity prices. During the election campaign we had one story for those struggling householders that we would cut energy costs and now he is coming in, knowing and being told by the experts that energy prices will increase, and saying that the supports for those families will be cut and rolled back. It is simply not good enough. What are people faced with? They are faced with five more years of increases.

Thank you, Deputy.

They see bankers' bonuses increase, bumper profits for these companies, and a Government that will throw all of these families under a bus.

Thank you Deputy Cullinane, your time is up.

Broken promises and strokes.

It is interesting Deputy Cullinane should bring up the election because he is representing the most unsuccessful opposition party in Europe at present. It is the only opposition party that managed to go into an election at a time prices were high and lose votes.

We have more TDs than you. You lost the election.

It lost votes. The reason it lost votes is because the people of Ireland knew the economic policies it was bringing forward were not credible.

Speak to the people.

You made promises.

If you promise everything, you are for nothing. You were seen through at that time.

You are the third-largest party.

I have noticed the trend that Sinn Féin has now, whereby it grows unhappy when I interrupt its heckling. This will not deter me-----

You have not answered any of the questions.

-----and it will not deter the Government from doing two things-----

Bluff and bluster.

-----first, from calling out the fact that Sinn Féin's economic policies and solutions were seen through.

What are you going to do about it?

Where would we be now if we had followed its policies and been entering into a scenario with a Government borrowing while jobs were at risk.

Thank you, Minister.

You are throwing families under the bus.

That is what Sinn Féin offered. It was seen through.

Thank you.

As I said, despite the best efforts of the Sinn Féin Opposition-----

The time is up, Minister.

-----the Government will be honest in how we can help.

Minister, your time is up. Thank you.

What we will not do is do so-----

Thank you Minister. The time is up.

Pure guff is what we are listening to.

-----at the expense of the honesty that is needed at a time when the country and Europe are facing new challenges and new risks.

I ask the Minister to respect the Chair. I call Deputy Sherlock.

We have bluff and bluster by a Minister. That is what we have.