I was contacted by a woman whose husband has multiple myeloma. It is a type of blood cancer, and it develops in the plasma cells. She stated that her husband is cold throughout the whole winter. He needs help with the either fuel allowance, which he does not get, or lower fuel prices. Another man contacted me and said that they need two cars to get to work. They have to commute huge distances in extreme traffic every day. His wife is considering staying at home to save the costs on the cars and childcare. They have had no holidays in the past two years. They have good salaries but they are paying everything out. Hardworking people in this country are saying that it is no longer worth it.

I want to invite the Tánaiste to the fuel protest meeting in Moate on Sunday at 5.30 p.m. That meeting is being organised by ordinary hardworking people whose backs are against the wall. In April, this Government made the catastrophic mistake of refusing to talk to these people. Will the Tánaiste learn from that mistake and join us on Sunday?

I thank the Deputy very much for the invitation but I will be working here on the budget in relation to fuel and energy, so I do not need to attend a protest meeting. What I need to do is make sure that people in this country do not feel the need the protest because they feel that we are making policy decisions that will help them.

By the way, I have also spoken to a number of the people who were involved in the fuel protests. I met many of them at the ploughing. I met many people at the ploughing and at the Longford show with Deputy Carrigy as well, including people who were involved in those protests. I met all the farmer representative organisations, the hauliers as recently as yesterday and the trade unions. Fuel and energy is a real issue but what I am saying to people, and I hope they are hearing it, is that we are going to provide clarity in relation to excise. We are looking at carbon tax on both home heating oil and gas. I have just given Deputy McGreehan a view in relation to the extension of the farm support scheme as well. The Government will bring forward a package in the round in relation to the energy situation in the budget in just 12 days' time.