More spin and more deflection from the Minister. What he says is nonsense. Everybody knows what happened. We have led on this issue. We put forward an amendment that would have seen the maximum reduction in the price of diesel for people and the same reduction for petrol and would have seen excise duty completely removed from home heating oil, the cost of which has nearly doubled in four weeks. What did the Tánaiste do? What did his colleagues in Fine Gael do? What did Fianna Fáil and the Independent lackeys who support the Government do? They voted it down. They left 750,000 families in the lurch. That is what they did. They abandoned them. I put it to the Tánaiste directly, what does he say to people, the majority of whom do not get fuel allowance? What does he say to that woman who was talking to me, who is sitting in her home and cannot put on the heating? What does he say to her? What does he say to the woman I spoke about last night in the Dáil, who was wrapped in a blanket with a disabled son and is afraid to turn on the heating? The Tánaiste abandoned those people and I am telling him we can do the right thing now. He can recognise he has made a mistake and bring a financial resolution forward, as Sinn Féin have proposed, to cut excise duty to the maximum amount on home heating oil and give people real support at this time of crisis. That is what the Tánaiste should be doing.

Tánaiste.

That is leadership and that is what we will continue to fight for on behalf of hundreds of thousands of people right across this State.

Thank you, Deputy Doherty.

I hope that when the Deputy meets somebody at risk of fuel poverty and brings their case into the Dáil, as well as just reading them out in here, he helps them get the financial assistance our system provides in terms of the fuel allowance. I would like to see the data, and please send it to me, showing that the majority of people in the country at risk of fuel poverty do not receive any assistance from the State with fuel costs. The fuel allowance-----

He did not say that.

He does not need your help.

I did not say that.

The fuel allowance is paid to almost 500,000 households. There are people-----

What do you say to that woman who does not get it?

-----who do not qualify for the fuel allowance-----

What do you say to that woman who does not get it?

-----and I say to people who do not qualify for fuel allowance that this Government is making a number of interventions to help, not just with the NORA levy but also through petrol and diesel measures. I also say to those people that we stand ready to intervene further but we must remain nimble and agile. Did the Deputy hear the Central Bank this morning? Has he read the Central Bank's report? If this conflict goes on for a prolonged period, we may need to intervene further.

The Deputy talked about mistakes. He has made three this week. First, he said the State was taking in €38 million a week extra in taxes-----

Business Post authors said that.

-----but we are not.

The Business Post -----

Deputy Doherty.

After 16 years of being Opposition spokesperson on finance-----

Are you calling out the three journalists in the Business Post?

-----presumably you do not just take------

Is that what you are doing?

Presumably-----

Is that what you are doing?

-----you actually know the facts. We have not taken in €38 million. That is your first mistake.

It is not.

Second, you have called on us to remove excise on home heating oil but there is no excise on home heating oil.

There is. Do not be stupid.

There is not. Third, you said your proposals-----

Will I show you the manual?

-----would cost €100 million a month but they would not. One week, three mistakes. We need to actually engage constructively.

Do you not know that mineral oil tax is excise?

Thank you, Tánaiste.

Many people across here are trying to operate constructively-----

Are you serious?

-----but what has happened this week is Sinn Féin has been left isolated not just by the Government parties-----

You should conclude, please.

-----but also by the Opposition parties because it is engaging in populist, performative politics-----

Deputy Sheehan.

-----at a time of serious national challenge. Please grow up.