The credit union consumer sentiment index for April has been published and it lays bare the severity of the cost-of-living pressure on people, especially when it comes to soaring energy costs. It reveals that a third of consumers expect to cut energy use just to get by, while nine out of ten consumers fear that high energy costs will force them to cut back on household spending. The reality is that working people and families are struggling to stay afloat. A record number of households cannot pay their electricity bills, one in four cannot pay their gas bills and now they brace themselves for further electricity price hikes in the coming weeks. Workers and families are really, really worried about the time ahead, yet they see the Government refusing to listen and seemingly incapable of understanding the pressure they are under.

Last October, the Government wanted people to believe that this was all over, and it could not have been more wrong. Since then, the Government's response has been all over the place. It has scrambled around taking a scattered approach, doing a bit here and a bit there but never showing the leadership required to truly grasp this crisis. What was needed from the Government was quick, decisive action to provide people with real relief and to give working households certainty for the time ahead. However, it is only when public anger grows that the Government moves. Twice, the Government has come to the table and twice the Government has got it badly wrong, with half measures each time and never being prepared to go far enough. It has left people to struggle on and to make do. Even when anger boiled into protest, it still failed to understand people's lives.

Workers and families cannot take this any more. They cannot wait for any longer. We need an emergency budget. We have set out clearly what needs to be done, solutions that cut to the heart of the pressure people are under. We need energy credits for households, a €500 payment for people with disabilities and a suite of measures to protect the most vulnerable, and there must be relief for workers. Remember, the budget last October left them worse off. The Taoiseach will remember introducing the USC. It was brought in by Fianna Fáil when it crashed the Irish economy. It is a constant drag on people's wages and even more so during this cost-of-living crisis, so we propose a permanent USC cut that will put €500 back into workers' pockets. These are practical steps that can be taken right now to make a real difference and to lift some of the pressure people are under to make ends meet.

Caithfidh Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael dúiseacht agus, i ndáiríre, géarchéim an costas maireachtála a thuiscint. Ní leor leath-iarracht.

Tá cáinaisnéis éigeandála ag teastáil láithreach chun faoiseamh ceart a thabhairt d'oibrithe agus do theaghlaigh. Expecting households to cling on until next year's budget is not only unfair it is downright insulting. This cost-of-living crisis is happening now. The stress is at kitchen tables now and at this time. The Taoiseach needs to do his job and he needs to act to make life more affordable. The Government has a surplus of billions. A fraction of that would make a real difference. Bring forward an emergency budget and finally listen. Give workers and families the proper relief they deserve.

I acknowledge that the war in the Middle East, which the Deputy somehow managed not to mention, is a war that has created shocking constraints in oil supply and has led to an increase in fuel prices across the world. Globally people are very concerned about what they see as the biggest shock to the energy sector in many a time. They are saying it is bigger than 1973 and 1979 combined, and even 1973, 1979 and 2022 combined. It is a very serious shock to the energy system that has been brought about, which has dramatically increased prices and will result in a global contraction of fossil fuel supplies with consequential impacts on other products like fertiliser, helium and so on, which in turn could have impacts on jobs and on food production across the world. These are very serious issues we are all facing.

We acknowledge fully that this is creating pressures on families and on households. There is no question about that. There is an uncertainty about it as well because we do not quite know when this is going to end and when the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is going to end, which is key to getting prices down and getting supply reactivated again to a significant degree. The Deputy has not referenced any of that. It is as if it does not exist in the Deputy's world but those are the realities facing every government across the world right now.

Yes, from our perspective, in the budget we majored very heavily on housing, on infrastructure, on disability, with a 20% increase, and on child poverty, with the support payments for children going up substantially by record levels. For children over the age of 12, it is by €16 and for children under the age of 12, it is less than that but still by record levels both ways. We also extended the fuel allowance to bring in those on the working family payment, which brought in an extra 50,000 people. About 26% of people are on the fuel allowance. That measure does help people deal with this, not comprehensively but at least it is a contribution to people to take pressure off them in respect of rising fuel prices.

We announced a package of over €750 million that has brought down the excise duty by about 32 cent on diesel and by about 27 cent on petrol. Those measures affect and help everybody. Today the Government approved two very specific packages for the transport haulier sector, which is much more expanded than was the case during the Ukrainian energy crisis. These very substantial schemes will also help farmers, fishers and contractors. We must remember that about 240,000 workers are involved in the haulage and logistics industry. I know the Deputy described them last week as a sectional thing and that we were only looking after particular sectors but it is key to everybody and all workers that we can get goods to port and get them exported at an affordable price, and that we can get goods on our supermarket shelves at an affordable price. When we alleviate the pressure on hauliers, logistics and supply, we are alleviating pressures on everybody, and likewise in terms of food production. We are not scattered all over the place, this was strategic to deal with food production. This is a critical period in terms of food. We are a big food-producing country and it is right that we should alleviate the pressures on farmers in particular around food production areas and alleviate the pressures on contractors given the role they play in food production.

There was a cost-of-living crisis before the war in Iran. More than 300,000 households were already in energy arrears. This crisis has very deep roots. The Taoiseach failed to acknowledge that. The budget last October left workers worse off and left people with disabilities worse off. The Taoiseach failed to acknowledge that. Families and workers are really struggling and the Taoiseach has no response for them except to talk down to them and dismiss them. I have asked the Taoiseach to introduce an emergency budget. I have told him the very specific measures that we in Sinn Féin believe need to be taken, namely, energy credits, supports, including a disability payment, and, critically, a permanent cut in the USC. These are the things that need to happen if the Government is to be serious about assisting people in a time of crisis. Is it serious? Is it listening?

Tá an Rialtas dáiríre faoin gceist seo agus tá an-chuid déanta againn ó thaobh costas maireachtála. Níl aon amhras faoi sin sa mhéid atá déanta againn sa gheilleagar agus leis an gcáinaisnéis a bhí againn an bhliain seo caite agus an bhliain roimhe sin. What Deputy McDonald has outlined is something for everybody. It could be €4 billion or €5 billion in terms of what she announced. Sinn Féin did not cost it.

It is €3 billion.

I think it is approximately €3.5 billion-----

It is costed.

The Deputy says that but what is the cost? I would say it is around €5 billion.

It is not.

No interruptions.

The bottom line is that we have allocated €750 million already-----

The Taoiseach cannot count, a Cheann Comhairle. It is very-----

-----and there is a budget in October. We need to also bear in mind how best we target the resources we have. We do not have money in the bottom of a drawer like Deputy McDonald is suggesting. Much of that surplus is in the Future Ireland Fund and the infrastructure and nature-----

It is not.

Unless Deputy McDonald is advocating we take it out of the funds, she needs to clarify this.

It is additional money.

The money has been put aside-----

The Taoiseach does not have a clue.

-----and a lot of it is being invested in the economy, in jobs and in housing right now.

He did not even think the Government had it last week.