Last night, Donald Trump took a hammering and the reason is that he failed to deal with the cost-of-living crisis. Ultimately, people punished the US Government when they could not pay their bills. I believe the same will happen here if the Government does not deal with the immense pressure people are under. Diesel, for example, is still over €2.10 per litre and almost 50% of that is taxation. The Government will still take in more this year than in any previous year in carbon tax and VAT. Electricity prices in this country are the highest in Europe, 40% above the EU average, yet the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has implemented further network charges in the last number of weeks. Will the Taoiseach address the major pressure so many families are under with housing, rent and energy? It is crippling so many families.

The cost of living is a major issue facing many families and that is why we took a lot of measures in the budget, including cutting taxes, bringing in a new cost-of-disability payment, reducing childcare costs at the commencement of the new childcare year next year and strong social protection increases. All of that, and specific measures for food production, haulage and farmers, were to try to ease and alleviate the undoubted costs of energy, which are caused outside the country by the wars in Ukraine and Iran. They have raised prices dramatically. We have had two crises in the last five years with the wars in Ukraine and Iran and the closure of, and restriction of traffic through, the Strait of Hormuz. Very few governments have been in the position we have been in, to try to alleviate the pressures on the public., but they are significant. The Government cannot deal with every cost increase across the economy. What we can do is try to protect as many people as we people as we possibly can.