Cuirim céad míle fáilte roimh na cuairteoirí atá anseo inniu.

Before I begin, I take this opportunity to wish the female garda taken to hospital last night a speedy recovery from her injuries.

Struggling households were dealt two body blows on Monday. The first blow was that food inflation has reached its highest level in nearly two years. People are being ripped off when they go to the supermarket and it is clear as day to them that they are being ripped off. The second blow was the big hike in electricity prices for hundreds of thousands of SSE Airtricity customers, adding hundreds of euro to their bills. The Taoiseach was asked yesterday how bad things actually have to get before the Government does something. The Government needs to stand up to these companies and protect people from this greedy profiteering. When the Taoiseach responded to Deputy Mary-Lou McDonald, he said that the Government is engaging with these companies. If he is referring to the meeting that Darragh O'Brien had with energy companies on 26 September, then the top brass must have left confident that it is business as usual for them and open season. Since the Minister's big meeting, Energia, Bord Gáis, Pinergy and SSE Airtricity all jacked up their energy prices. This is reminiscent of May 2023 when Fine Gael Minister of State, Deputy Neale Richmond, gave the big supermarket chains six weeks to get their prices down. Today, those prices are absolutely through the roof.

While prices rise and companies continue to gouge households, the budget has left working people worse off. The Government refused to deliver a cost-of-living package, cancelled energy credits, removed double child benefit payment and decided not to give ordinary workers a break in their income tax. All of its decisions are piling more pressure on people who are already hard pressed. Surely the Taoiseach meets ordinary working people who are struggling. He must hear their stories of worry and stress, so why does he not do something about it? At one of my clinics last weekend, I met two teachers. They have two children in college. They have to pay for their digs and their fees. Their third child is due to start college next September. They have had to ask him to take a year out when he finishes the leaving certificate because they simply cannot afford to send him to college. Imagine that. We now have a situation whereby two teachers are so hammered by a cost-of-living crisis that is completely out of control that they have had to ask their child to look towards their future and not go to college when he should be doing so. It is bill after bill, and they simply cannot take it any more.

This couple are not alone, and the Taoiseach knows that. Working people are drowning in a wave of sky-high bills. They see absolutely no end in sight. There will be real tension when people's electricity bills land. The Government pushed back against proposals to get energy costs down. It ignored a major report which shows that companies are not passing on the drop in wholesale prices to Irish households. It acts as if this is not even happening. It needs to get off the bench and needs to start fighting the corner for ordinary households, because they simply cannot take it anymore. The Government needs to stop protecting these big companies and give regulators the powers they need to end the price gouging and stop this rip-off.

Feiceann daoine nach bhfuil aon deireadh ag teacht ar an ngéarchéim sa chostas maireachtála. Tá Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael breá sásta seasamh siar agus ligean do na comhlachtaí móra seo leas a bhaint as daoine. Caithfidh an Rialtas a phost a dhéanamh agus céimeanna a thógáil chun cuidiú is cosaint a thabhairt do theaghlaigh.

The Government refused to include a cost-of-living package in the budget. Now it is refusing to include meaningful measures in the Finance Bill to help workers and families cope with runaway prices. My question is simple. Is this it? Is this all the Government has for families? Is it just going to leave these households on their own? Will the Government do anything to tackle runaway prices as people face a rip-off winter that will push them even further back?

Ní aontaím in aon chor leis an Teachta. Tá an-chuid déanta ag an Rialtas seo maidir leis an gcostas maireachtála. Tá i bhfad níos mó déanta againn ná aon rialtas riamh i stair na tíre. Tá an-chuid déanta againn maidir le teaghlaigh ar ioncam íseal sa tír seo go háirithe. Is é an rud agus an cinneadh a rinneamar ná níos mó a thabhairt do dhaoine atá ag fulaingt agus faoi bhrú.

I reject completely the Deputy's assertion that the Government has not responded to the cost-of-living issues. Without question, over the past three to four years there has been a significant increase in inflation, particularly in the immediate aftermath of Covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which had a damaging impact on energy prices. Inflation went as high as 10%. The inflation rate is now back down to about 2%. The IMF is saying that in Ireland's case, it will come down to about 1.7% over the next two years. I acknowledge that there is elevated pressure and that prices are at a higher level because of that inflationary period, but remember that we brought in free schoolbooks for every child in this country and free hot school meals for every school. We also reduced transport costs. We reduced drug payment costs significantly over the past number of years and extended eligibility for access to general practitioners, which eases the cost of living in a permanent way for many families.

The Deputy ignores all of that and condemns us for not giving energy credits to the wealthiest in society. That is Sinn Féin's argument here this morning. I know what Sinn Féin said during the energy crisis. It took the Liz Truss approach to dealing with it and wanted to bail out the companies.

The Government gave them tax breaks

Sinn Féin wanted to give a blank cheque to the energy companies when we had that real energy crisis in the after-----

The Government gave tax breaks.

We did not give them-----

Yes, you did. You put forward the very same proposal that Liz Truss brought forward in the UK-----

You did not read it. If you read it, you would understand it.

-----which had catastrophic impacts on the UK at the time, and on the Prime Minister of the day too.

You would not let Bertie run but you are robbing his ideas.

In the recent budget, we increased the child support payment by over €16 for those over 12 and by an extra €8 for those under 12. That is a significant permanent package to enhance the approach to addressing child poverty issues in this country. The working family payment threshold has increased by €60 a week, which will allow more families to qualify or to get support. We have extended the fuel allowance, and between 24% and 26% of households will benefit from the fuel allowance. We have brought in pension auto-enrolment, with significant State investment, which will benefit about 750,000 workers into the future.

We have focused on protection of jobs in this budget, particularly in the context of the research and development tax relief. Jobs and the protection of jobs are the most effective way to enable people to deal with high costs of living. The fuel allowance has been increased. In addition, the reduced 9% VAT rate on gas and electricity bills has been extended to 2030, which is a significant measure by any yardstick in terms of costs in this regard. The renter's tax credit has been extended until the end of 2028, which will help and is helping renters. Mortgage interest relief is extended for two more years for certain homeowners. That supports middle class families who are carrying mortgage costs.

Significant changes have been made to third level education eligibility. The income thresholds are significantly high now, well over €100,000 for eligibility for grants and for fees. The evidence for that lies in the exponential growth in third level education in this country.

Let us look at what is actually happening under the Government's watch. A total of 300,000 households are in debt with their electricity bills. One in five children is in poverty under its watch.

Now today, I have told the Taoiseach two teachers who want to send their child to college - who wants to go to college - cannot afford to send them because of the policies he has implemented because the Government has failed to grasp the nettle here when it comes to the cost-of-living crisis.

To be honest, I have listened to what the Taoiseach has had to say here today which is people are imagining this cost-of-living crisis. Clearly from what he is telling us is, the Government has done all these things that are alleviating it. Well, they are not working. As Taoiseach, you need to take leadership and a bit ownership on this. The Taoiseach needs to grasp this nettle to say yes, there is a serious cost-of-living crisis and this is what I am going to do. The Government needs to accept the reality that what it has been doing to this point has pushed more people into poverty, into debt and has pushed more children into homelessness and poverty.

What people want to hear from the Taoiseach today is what is he going to do now to help them.

Hear, hear.

I go by the metric of consistent poverty------

Poverty.

-----and real deprivation, not relative. The Deputy has been using relative all along. That is her figures.

You should include housing in it if you are interested in doing something.

Second, the numbers going to college are increasing significantly year-on-year.

It does not matter.

There is no evidence base to support what the Deputy is saying in respect of that. In terms of the energy question------

So they are liars.

There is no doubt there is a fundamental issue in terms of the regulatory framework that governs our energy markets, not just in Ireland but across the European Union, particularly its linkage to gas prices.

What are you going to do about it?

That is the more fundamental issue that has to be dealt with and addressed. I make the point there is a balance here. What Sinn Féin wanted to do was spend an extra €4 billion on top of what the Government spent. We have increased public expenditure by 7.5% which is quite high. Sinn Féin wanted to add another €4 billion to that-----

To deliver the hospital beds.

-----which would have increased inflation by 2%. That is what you proposed. That would add to the cost of living and would add to prices. Those are not my figures, that is by the rule of thumb that is deployed by the Central Bank.