Seventy thousand more households are behind on their electricity bills now than at this time last year. The overall number in electricity arrears now stands at a staggering and record 303,465 households. We have not seen the worst of it yet because the figures for December and January are still to be reported. This is a shocking situation and yet there is not a word from the Taoiseach, only silence. One would never think that households were under such enormous pressure, given the deafening silence from the Taoiseach's Government. People are working every hour they can and still cannot keep up. It is one big, never-ending and exhausting rip-off.

Working households find themselves in this desperate situation because of the Taoiseach's terrible decisions. He was told that withdrawing the energy credits would cause big problems. The regulator told him that even more households would struggle to pay their bills due to rising prices and that arrears would hit record levels, but, incredibly, the Government went ahead and withdrew those credits anyway. I have lost count of the times that I have raised this with the Taoiseach, the pressure that households are under, and the stress that they face to pay rip-off energy bills. What was the Government's big idea, by response? A talking shop, a so-called task force to tackle big energy bills, cobbled together by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, last June. How many times has this crack team met since then? Three. Yes, that is it - three times in eight months. That really takes the biscuit. There is no urgency, no determination and no real care for what people are going through. Families are hammered by incredible, unbearable daily pressure, and the Government's so-called task force, its big solution, is as láthair, sleeping on the job.

While the Government and its task force twiddle their thumbs, households have been hit with price hike after price hike. The big energy companies hiked up their prices one after the other and the Government allowed this to happen. It refused to take on the price-gouging energy companies. It repeatedly ignored calls to give the regulator more power to get energy costs under control.

The Government then took away energy credits - the one lifeline households had in the face of these rip-off bills. As people struggle to get by, we have a do-nothing, say-nothing Government - doing nothing to tackle the problem and saying nothing about the impact on people's lives. Tá líon níos mó teaghlaigh ná riamh ag streachailt chun billí ródhaora leictreachais a íoc. Tá sé in am don Rialtas seo a jab a dhéanamh agus gníomh a ghlacadh chun deireadh a chur leis an saill fuinnimh. This silence and inaction simply cannot continue.

Only yesterday, we heard how the sky-high prices of groceries have gone up again - the fastest increase in two years. The Government has done nothing to tackle that problem either. People cannot take any more. They are especially sick of working every hour but still not being able to pay their electricity bills. They want the Government to do its job to protect them from price gouging, to tackle relentless price hikes and to end this rip off. Will the Government do its job? Will it reinstate energy credits, which households so desperately need? Will it haul in the energy companies and tell them to stop ripping people off? Will it finally act to give the energy regulator the powers it needs to get energy costs down and to bring this rip off to a stop?

Ní aontaím leis an Teachta in aon chor. Tá an-chuid déanta ag an Rialtas ó thaobh na gcostas maireachtála de. Bhí an-chuid laistigh den bhuiséad a bhí againn i mí Dheireadh Fómhair, go háirithe dóibh siúd ar ioncam íseal agus an-chuid cabhair tugtha againn tríd leas sóisialach chun daoine a chosaint agus cóir agus tacaíocht a thabhairt do dhaoine.

I do not accept the Deputy's overall presentation of the Government's response to what are significant pressures on the people in respect of the cost of living. Of course, that began a number of years ago, particularly coming out of Covid and the war in Ukraine in terms of energy prices. We have now moved from a situation where inflation was 10% to a point where it is significantly below that at 2.6%. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we were looking at 10%. That came down to 5% in 2023, 2.7% in December 2025 and 2.6% in January. That is the overall inflation rate.

In terms of energy, I still disagree with the Deputy that we should retain universal energy credits. I find it difficult to comprehend that a party that comes from where it claims it comes from would argue that millionaires and people on very sizeable incomes should get energy credits and particularly when, in terms of the totality of the cost-of-living payments we had been making in the worst of times during and post-Covid and in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Deputy is saying we keep that €2 billion or €3 billion going on top of the expenditure we have already increased by about 8%. If we took the Deputy's budget proposals, they would add 2.5% to the cost of living at a time when she is complaining about the cost of living. She has form on this. Her last episode in terms of energy policy was a Liz Truss moment and I can recall that. Now she is saying we should keep energy credits.

Employment is very strong. The best protection people have in terms of meeting inflation and cost-of-living pressures are high-quality and good-quality jobs, and making the fuel allowance available to those on lower incomes or those on the working family payment which is what we did in the budget. We increased social protection payments by about €10 per week and made a very big increase in child support payments. Children aged 12 years and over get an extra €16, bringing it to about €78 per week for families in that situation while those with children aged under 12 get an extra €8, bringing it to €58 per week. These were substantial targeted measures for those on the lowest incomes. I would have thought the Deputy would have favoured that approach yet she wants millionaires and the very well-off to get the benefits from the budget allocation.

The fuel allowance now covers 26% of households - up from 23%. This is a targeted and intelligent way of allocating resources to those who need them most.

We have extended the reduced 9% VAT rate on gas and electricity until the end of 2030. That is a five-to-six-year measure. Home energy upgrades have been hugely invested in, with approximately €558 million allocated. Microgeneration income tax exemption is well provided for. These are embedded measures which will have a medium to longer term impact. It is better to put money into measures that are there for the long haul, as opposed to the Deputy’s never-ending short-term knee-jerk reactions to every issue that arises.

The Taoiseach’s view is simply wrong. It is neither intelligent nor targeted. As a matter of fact, it strikes me as most unintelligent because 70,000 more households than last year are now in difficulties. They cannot pay their bills. I told the Taoiseach we have hit a record of 303,465 such households. They are not millionaires. They are working households who now cannot pay their bills. I want a long-term solution. The long-term solution is to end the price gouging, end the rip-off by the big energy companies and to give the regulator the powers it needs, but the Taoiseach knows that because I have told him that repeatedly. I will tell him this much: in the here and now I want those households to be able to make their bills. The only way in the short term, in the immediacy of now, that they can do that is by the Taoiseach reinstating the energy credit. That is the reality.

I thank the Deputy.

That is the intelligent, targeted reality that people are living.

The Taoiseach to respond.

Let me ask again: will the Taoiseach do the right thing, reinstate these credits and then, of course, take the longer-term measures that so far he has ignored?

Hear, hear.

Actually, the energy credit would help the vast, vast majority of those who are not in arrears. The Deputy should think about it for a moment. She identified how many people are in arrears. The vast majority of people are not in arrears. People are under pressure; do not get me wrong. The energy credit applies to everybody; it is universal.

I understand the meaning of universal, thank you.

That is what she is arguing should be extended to everybody. Surely it would be far better to help those who are in genuine difficulty.

The Government is not doing that.

You are not leader yet, Pearse, for God's sake.

Are you talking to yourself?

You have been making attempts lately but just let me respond to the leader.

The Taoiseach must be feeling the pressure.

I just want to make the point that we have targeted our measures-----

The Taoiseach has a half-eye on Deputy Jim O'Callaghan.

-----to meet those who are in difficulty, and that is the key. Once-off cost-of-living measures are not fiscally sustainable for the next number of years. The €3 billion and €4 billion we allocated for two years, we just cannot keep doing that. We have a strong economy. We have probably one of the best employment positions of any European Union state. We want to preserve that and we also want to support those who need support, and we will, in terms of energy affordability and security.