This time last year, households were already labouring under the pressure of grocery price inflation, the housing crisis and Trump's threatened tariffs. Since the outset of Trump's illegal war on Iran and in the Middle East, and with no end in sight to Russia's bombardment of Ukraine, things have got worse. The Taoiseach has rightly just described the situation we are in as a massive global energy shock, but in this shock, struggling households are left wondering when they will get some real reprieve from the Government. PAYE workers are not seeing the benefit of a multimillion euro sectoral support package.

In response to a question from my Labour colleague, Deputy Ged Nash, last week, the Tánaiste ruled out a mini-budget for our communities. Today, we are told that officials are scrambling to design one-off supports, such as retrofit grants and energy tweaks, with all signs pointing to a sort-of mini-budget. As the saying goes, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it might just be a duck. In this case, it is a very lame duck because what we are seeing is not a coherent plan. The Taoiseach talks about a strategic response but where is the strategy in the series of ad hoc measures he is formulating? They appear to be cobbled together in response to political pressure. To borrow another animal metaphor, the Government is playing whack-a-mole. It has no clear vision for how to support working families through this deepening cost-of-living and energy crisis. Would it not be more honest to call the response what it is, which is a mini-budget but released in segments? Call it what it is and let people then judge it on its merits.

Families are already stretched to breaking point. The Taoiseach knows that more than 320,000 households are in electricity arrears and 180,000 are behind on gas bills. These are the highest levels on record. Homeless figures are the highest on record. Grocery prices are rising week on week. Insurance, housing and education costs are all up. What has the Government done? It has withdrawn energy credits without putting any cushion in place for households, it has failed to index tax bands, as Labour had sought, and it has left PAYE workers footing the bill for sectoral pay-offs. With regard to VAT cuts, there is no evidence that they will achieve anything other than costing the Exchequer. Now, as inflation threatens to surge again, the Minister for Finance is kite flying.

People see through this. They see a Government that can find €750 million for sectoral supports while telling households to tighten their belts. They hear the Government's talk of tax breaks on wealth while they struggle to find the money to cover food and heating costs at the end of the month. That is why the Government's approach is so frustrating. If it is doing a mini-budget in all but name, why not bring forward a coherent package?

Why not take the options that we have proposed, such as a windfall tax on excess energy profits of big companies; a renewables revolution to end reliance on fossil fuels; targeted energy credits for working households; and indexation of tax bands? This would be systemic change, not just token measures. Why will the Taoiseach not just introduce a mini-budget and a coherent package that gives supports to struggling households?

First of all, we will not be introducing a mini-budget. I will say at the outset that we have taken a strategic approach to this. The most fundamental approach we should take is an understanding of the impacts of this - not just the immediate impacts of this, but the medium-term impacts on our overall economic life in terms of the impact on jobs potentially, the impact on prices and so on. We have announced €750 million. There is general relief in terms of the reductions in excise duty on diesel and petrol, which benefits PAYE workers, all other workers and all workers and everybody who uses their car and so forth. There is a targeted approach in terms of families on low incomes and the extension, as we provided, of the fuel allowance, in terms of everything to do with food production, and also in terms of the broader haulage logistics supply industry, which is critical for all of us. That is being strategic. We are a small exporting island. We export 90% of what we produce, so it is essential that logistics regarding the supply chain and haulage are enabled and assisted for it to do its business in terms of the measures we are bringing in and that were approved by Government today but were announced, as the Deputy knows, as part of the €750 million package. They will mean a lot for hauliers. They will mean a lot for people who transport goods and services. It will also mean a lot for fishers, for example, who need support and help, farmers, contractors and the general public through the reduction in excise duties.

The Deputy must realise that, before the war, way back in February, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, announced a significant overhaul of the retrofitting schemes and an expansion of them, increased grants for attic and cavity wall insulation, an additional attic insulation top-up grant for first-time buyers, attic and cavity wall insulation, a second wall measure, a new grant for energy-efficient windows and doors, an expanded heat pump systems grant now totalling €12,500, and so on. The results of all that is that about 29,000 people have applied in the first quarter alone, which is a substantial increase on last year. There is very good feedback from the Minister's strategic approach to energy saving, insulation and so on, which has been quite significant over the last number of years in terms of the impact it has had on thousands of households across the country. I agree with the Deputy that this is one of the more effective ways to cushion people and help them to bear the brunt of what are very serious increases in energy costs arising out of the war and other events.

I absolutely acknowledge that the energy shock and the particular energy crisis we are now in are, of course, caused by international events, in particular Trump and Netanyahu's illegal war on Iran. We are all conscious of that. The question is how we respond. There are two things. First, the Taoiseach acknowledges that systemic change is needed; I think he did in his response to me. Absolutely, I agree. We need to change the way we work. We need to change the way we do business. We need to change our reliance on fossil fuels. Therefore, we need that renewables revolution. The Taoiseach did not respond on that. Yes, it is welcome to see measures on retrofitting, but the upfront costs of fitting solar panels, for example, or installing heat pumps are massive for households, and there is far too little available. The roll-out of renewables and our capacity to generate energy through onshore and offshore wind is far too slow. We in opposition have supported efforts by the Government to speed up the pace, but we are seeing so little being done on what should be a huge thing for us, that is, the roll-out of offshore and onshore wind generating capacity.

The second thing to say is that there are consequences-----

Time is up, Deputy.

-----to rolling out a continuous series of support measures.

I thank the Deputy. The Taoiseach will respond.

People are not sure what is going on. They lack certainty,-----

I thank Deputy Bacik. Her time is up. The Taoiseach will respond.

-----they lack clarity and they are really concerned about how to pay for basics-----

Deputy, your time is up.

-----in this cost-of-living crisis.

Hear, hear.

I would not agree with the Deputy that it is too slow. Look at the response to the measures that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, announced in February.

There have been over 1,730 applications for attic insulation, up 81% year on year; over 1,000 applications for cavity wall insulation, up 62%; 350 applications for heat-pump installations, up 95%; 7,000 applications for window and door upgrades - that is a new grant; over 10,000 applications for solar PV, up 65% year on year; and over 1,500 homes at risk of energy poverty upgraded under the warmer homes scheme to the end of March at an average cost per home of €31,000, up 18%; 900 heat pumps installed to the end of March; a new grant for first-time buyers, 225 active applications; and new energy-poor grants for attic and cavity wall, also significant numbers. Essentially, the revamp or overhaul of the scheme has resulted in a very significant increase in the numbers applying, which means it is responding to the needs out there.