What I am going to say will probably get a lot of hate comments on social media. However, I will say it anyway. Today was a complete waste of time and energy by all political parties. It was a day that we could have used to work with communities. The Government needs to listen to people. It needs to change what it is doing right now. A decrease of 10 cent per litre in fuel is not good enough. The Government should not wait for roads to be blocked and tempers to be high. It should sit down now with anti-poverty groups, trade unions, disability organisations, Traveller organisations, organisations for migrants and for older people, as well as environmental campaigns to design an energy policy that works. One thing I will take from today is that all this political football carries on when we have people who are struggling on the margins of society. I know better than the majority of people in these Houses what it is like to live in run-down accommodation as a young child, not having lights and sometimes not having heat and hot water. I lived in bad Traveller accommodation for years. I know that impacts on a person's well-being. It impacts on health, affects the lungs and heart and impacts on a child's ability to complete education. We really need to stop the political football that is going on again today in a waste of everybody's time. We should look for meaningful action that will help people living in poverty including those who get up early in the morning, those who do night shifts, those who have no money to fill their cars to bring their children to school and the children who take buses. What I am calling for, as I said a few minutes ago, is for the Government to work with NGOs and communities on the margins of society. Instead of just hating one another and playing political football, it is time for action to stop what is going on in our streets.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity. I am sharing time with Senator Lynch; we are taking two minutes each.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

That is very collegial.

Absolutely and why should not it be on a day on which the Government is actually passing Financial Resolutions in relation to €500 million? If that is a Government that is not listening and acting, I do not know what it is.

I went to the protest last Tuesday morning in Portumna. There were tractors on the bridge in Portumna. I was able to walk over to every one of those farmers there and shake their hands. I knew them by name. I dispute what Senator Flynn said that they were infiltrated by the far right. These are hard-working farmers who get up to go out. They are hauliers and agri-contractors. They are the people who provide the food. They are our primary food producers. They did their day of protest and they left. The protest then rolled on into Galway. The local farmers felt compelled to support it. I agree with what Senator Byrne said earlier on. They felt compelled to support their colleagues. I still say again that the far right element that might have attended got their video clip.

They were horsed out, and rightly so. This was about fuel and the straw that broke the camel's back was the 3 cent. We have addressed that today and rectified it. We need to ensure that when we are having round-table solutions, we have more voices within that room. There is an element. It is not against any particular organisation but I genuinely believe that we need to have that diversification. We have seen that for the 100 years that Fianna Fáil has been a party. We have become smaller because there are more voices coming into all the Chambers. The same has to happen in farming and different sectors and we have to accept that but Galway was a peaceful protest.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I thank Senator Rabbitte for sharing time. I acknowledge the real hurt and anxiety that so many people across the country are feeling right now when it comes to fuel costs. It is not just affecting those in the haulage and agricultural sectors but people all over the country and, particularly, anyone who has a car. People are worried about how they will heat their homes, how they will get to work or how they will keep their businesses going, particularly smaller businesses, as they face increased costs. In rural Ireland, where people are more dependent on cars, the pressure is even more acute. When people take to the streets to protest, we cannot be dismissive. There is genuine frustration among the public and it has to be heard and respected by public representatives.

However, as many colleagues said earlier, not everyone turning up to these protests is there for the right reasons. There are those who are trying to exploit people's genuine hardship to push their own agendas and push division. That undermines the credibility of the protests and, more importantly, it takes away from the voices of those who are genuinely struggling and puts our democracy in danger. We need to separate the two and we need to support those who are acting in good faith.

As a Government, we have a responsibility to respond in a way that is practical and fair. We need to listen. There is no quick or easy fix here. Fuel prices are being driven by global factors that are far beyond our control. We must focus on targeted supports that make a difference. The most recent package will make a difference for drivers, hauliers and farmers and that has to be acknowledged but we also need to look at supports for home heating oil. For now, this is about people who are under real pressure and who deserve to be listened to. It is incumbent on us, as public representatives, to lead, serve and ensure the electorate is not disenfranchised.

I thank the Minister of State for being here and I genuinely welcome this debate. I spoke earlier on the Order of Business and I was quite straight, honest and direct in what I had to say. On reflection, the key message is probably that in government, as human beings, we all need to take stock at times, reflect, come back and try and do things better. In government, we have that, so that is the key message.

I also welcome the widespread and common sense debate that has been had on our democracy and protecting our democracy. I could stand here and attack the Opposition and any other party but today is not the day for that. I respect the Opposition when there is dialogue and debate on policy, financials and whether we should be doing more as a Government. That is where we need to come to. I mentioned earlier the helicopter that was over the building today. That is where we have to be respectful and understanding as politicians. I know Sinn Féin and I watched many Sinn Féin Oireachtas Members go to debates and be treated wrongly in debates at some of those protests, so there is an opportunity for all of us here to stand up and ensure we have a respectful debate. I am glad we have that inside this House and at times, we should have it in the Dáil as well. This is an opportunity within our democracy to protect against the outside forces that we all know are acting and that we all have a duty to stand up against.

I am proud to represent west Cork. I am proud of the vast majority of people who live in west Cork, and the vast majority of people who went out to protest peacefully. They are people we all know, including contractors, farmers, electricians and plant hire people, many of whom all of us engage with. We all need to do better for those people. As a Government, we need to analyse policy. We need to go back to basics. The Government has not fallen today, which I welcome. I support the Government and Fine Gael but all of us must do better collectively. That is what we need to do and for my days, weeks and months in this building, I will continue to do that for the people of west Cork who want me here.

I know the Minister of State will take on board what I am saying quite genuinely. Yes, we have the freedom of this House to say it. At all times, politicians should speak from the heart and about what they truly believe in. Senator Clonan spoke earlier about being on O'Connell Street. I agree 100% with what he said and the concerns he had. I alluded to them in my speech. I thank the Minister of State for being here and for listening. I know he will take the concerns of all Senators back to Government but we all, collectively, need to do better to protect this democracy.

I also raised this issue earlier on the Order of Business. What have we learned from this whole debate that happened on the streets? What I take out of it is that we have farmers, businesspeople and hard-working individuals who have worked on the land. They have borrowed loads of money because we have invested in them to generate food. They have come across hard times. I will tell the Minister of State about a contractor. A contractor will bale silage this year and the farmer could owe him for last year's silage. That is how they operate. Where they are owed money from the year before, they will come and do this year's and get paid for last year's or maybe two years. Cash flow is one issue but farmers will always pay. Ninety nine out of 100 will always pay.

Farmers are cash-strapped. I want to be quite clear. This, on the streets, was a fuel protest, with farmers, hauliers, contractors and men on the buildings, the people who get up early in the morning. As Leo Varadkar said one time, we need to look after the man who gets up early in the morning. We need to go back to that concept. That is what we need to do because they came out on the streets. They would not come out on the streets of this country bar they were financially strapped. We need to listen, learn and move on. I am glad the Government held on today because we have €500 million of a package that these people need. We do not need any more upheaval and one thing or another. We need to move on. We are in a fuel crisis, which is what the protest was about. We need to deliver now for the people who are in hard times and I think we will as a Government.

I am really passionate about this. When the farmers on the streets were asked to move their tractors off O'Connell Street, it was three, four or five o'clock in the morning. In fairness, a lot of them got into their tractors and lorries and moved them off it. Anybody who did not move a tractor or lorry off it could not because they had alcohol taken at the time they were asked to move it. In fairness to them, they said to the gardaí that they had to leave the tractors there, they had alcohol taken and they would move them first thing in the morning. That is the decency we are dealing with on the streets - honest, decent, hard-working men who got up and moved them the next morning, and they did not want any trouble or anything else.

However, what I did not like about the whole thing is there was a coffin carried down there by people who never burned a gallon of diesel in their lives. That is the reality. There were people carrying a coffin down the streets to outside the gate here who did not know anything about contractors or farmers. They do not know anything about where food comes out of, fellas getting up in the morning, producing food, not going to bed at night or getting three hours' sleep and getting up to lamb ewes or calve cows. They moved in on top of it because they had a grievance with Government. That is the point. The protesters on the street created a monster that they did not think they could create. Learning and listening is needed, and the Government will learn and listen because Fine Gael was always known as a party for the farmers and I am glad our Minister, Deputy Heydon, has worked hard to deliver the package we need out there for them.

There was one thing that really annoyed everybody on that streets and I have to be clear and say it. When a protest takes place and there is a mention of bringing the Army on top of protesters, it really revs up the Irish people. That has to be recognised. We did not need that at that time.

I call Senator Tully.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach.

Are you sharing?

No. A protest was held in Cavan over the weekend. It started on Friday and went on until lunchtime yesterday. I attended on Saturday and Sunday for a number of hours and I went there because I wanted to talk to the people who were there.

There were farmers, farming contractors and hauliers present, as well as lots of other people who were just there to support them. I did not witness any infiltration by far-right groups. In fact, I heard of instances where some people from the far right turned up and were told to go away, that their kind were not wanted there. What I found among the protesters was that while there was very good-natured camaraderie, they were very angry. They were angry at the Government because they felt really let down. They felt really let down because the Government did not meet them on that first day and did not listen to them in Dublin. If some effort had been made to meet them on that first day it would not have escalated into what it did for the rest of the week. They just wanted to be listened to and for people to understand.

I spoke to one haulier who has a number of trucks on the road. He said it has cost him an extra €18,000 in fuel over the past month. He has entered into contracts with his customers so he cannot add on that cost. He would not want to do that anyway because it would just end up going onto the products that he is delivering and the ordinary person will have to pay but he cannot sustain that. An agricultural contractor told me that he is spending, on average, €500 a day on diesel and that is not sustainable. Bus drivers are affected. Around 95% of the school bus fleet, for example, is private contractors who have entered into contracts with the Department of education. They have a set amount for the year but the additional cost of fuel has not been factored in. What are they supposed to do? Are they to just suck it up and go on about their business? They cannot do that. This is going to put them out of business. They were really at the pin of their collar. This is happening on top of everything else that has been happening in the country in the last few years. The cost of fuel has been going up, as have energy, rent and construction costs. Everything going up has just led to people being at the pin of their collar and they cannot cope any more.

There was immense goodwill towards the protesters. I saw several different businesses, at different intervals, delivering food and drinks to the protesters. There were ordinary people, who were not business people there too. One woman came up while I was there and said that she so appreciated what the protesters were doing. She had a tray of home-made scones and buns for the protesters. She said that she had a daughter with a disability and was driving her to appointments on a regular basis. She had seen for herself the increases in the cost of diesel and it was crippling her. We had carers there too. They cannot cope. They are trying to do their calls but the extra that they are spending every week on fuel means that it is costing them money to work. They are not very well paid in that sector, as we know, but they do very important work.

There was huge anger at the threat of the use of the Army against the people. The Defence Forces are there to protect the country and its people. They are not there to be used on the citizens of this country. There was huge anger about that and it propelled more people to go out and protest than were initially intending to do so. They went out to state their opposition to that. We know this started with the illegal war on Iran waged by the warmongers Trump and Netanyahu, but the Government needs to be prepared. These crises arise. They are outside of the control of the Government and everybody acknowledges that but we knew from the Ukrainian war that this would drive up fuel prices. We need to be prepared to ensure the people of the country do not end up suffering. If farmers, farm contractors and hauliers have to absorb the extra costs, it will just end up affecting the food being produced. It is either not going to be produced, not brought from the ports or to the ports for export, or the price is going to go way up, which will affect every single person in the country. Everyone is trying to survive and to deal with all of the other costs that are arising.

One issue that was raised with me on a regular basis was the lack of supports for self-employed people. It is a real bone of contention that there are no real supports for self-employed people if they end up losing their business. This is an issue that really needs to be addressed.

Obviously, it has been a hugely difficult weekend for us all but I want to say at the outset how proud I was of the farmers. In the history of farmers, we are unique. Indeed, the National Farmers Union, NFU, predates both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in terms of political parties. Only Sinn Féin predates the NFU. We have seen down through the years how strong a force the farmers are. They are willing to go to jail and have gone to jail in the past. They are a powerful force and a force for good. On a personal level, I am sorry and I apologise to them wholeheartedly that they had to do what they felt they had to do. As a Government, we did not react conclusively or effectively in real time to the situation. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the dial on this issue went back as far as the budget we brought in last year. It was compounded then when we brought out half-hearted measures a number of weeks ago, when we reduced the cost of green diesel by 3 cent. Virtually every rural TD contacted the Government and said that this was absolutely crazy and would inflame farmers, and it did exactly that. There was no reason to do that. We should have held back on it and introduced the all-encompassing suite of measures that we introduced this week which addressed the issues facing hauliers and farmers. We could have been a lot more successful and we could have taken a lot of the heat out of the market.

I must say, and I have said it several times to my party leader, whether he likes it or not, that we delivered a flawed budget in 2026. It was a budget that very simply forgot the people of middle Ireland. It forgot the people who, as my former boss Eugene McGee once said, get up early and eat their dinner in the middle of the day. They are the people who are the benchmark of this country. Our mandarins overlooked the suffering of the people who are most marginalised in this country because they are immune to it and they do not hear about it in Dublin 4. They ignored the suffering and isolation of the elderly because they thought it was a myth. Ultimately, we cobbled together a budget for 2026 that failed our most vulnerable. I say that as a Government representative and I apologise for that budget.

Having single-handedly championed the cost of living in the previous Government, Fianna Fáil as a party shamelessly forgot the pain and suffering in the delivery of that budget. I spoke at length with An Taoiseach yesterday on this issue and I have left him under no illusion as to where my future loyalties will lie in the absence of a cast-iron and soon-to-be-announced commitment to a raft of cost-of-living supports and indeed, if needs be, a mini-budget. We need to be contrite at this point in our history and we need to show empathy. In many ways, we need to be able to show that we can move forward again as a society and as a country, as we did in 1930 and again in 1950. I have no doubt that we will do it again, shoulder to shoulder with farmers. Unfortunately, the reality is that in the last year to 16 months, we forgot the real people of this country, the people who were making the sacrifices. We forgot about the people like the woman my colleague mentioned who is bringing her child with special needs to appointments. We forgot the elderly woman who lives alone. Her husband died two years ago and she is yearning for a call to the door. The same woman wonders now how she is going to pay for her heating. We forgot those people. I have told the Taoiseach in the past 24 hours that we need a suite of cost-of-living supports. We need to double down on the tokenism and glib measures announced a few weeks ago. They did not go far enough. They might have sounded nice or looked well in graphics on social media but they did nothing. They did not address the real problems that we are facing in rural Ireland. Without delay, as I told the Taoiseach yesterday and as I am sure the Opposition will agree, we need three energy credits. We also need a cast-iron guarantee from the energy providers that they are not going to increase their prices for the next two years. We need double social welfare payments for the disabled, for the elderly, for lone parents and for those in receipt of the working family payment. We need a double children's allowance payment, allowing families a discretionary spend, whether that is on a meal out or help towards a holiday.

I ask the Cathaoirleach to give me some leeway with the time because it is very rare for me to go against my own party. It is very important that I am given the opportunity to say this. As I have said to the Taoiseach, this is a red line for me and it will also be a red line, I hope, for many of my colleagues. We are at a turning point here in Ireland. We need to recognise, foremost, the people of middle Ireland, the people who go to work on a daily basis and who have never gotten anything in the lifetime of this so-called recovery, the people who struggle to make ends meet. I have asked the Taoiseach to consider a one-off €1,700 tax refund for every worker earning up to €40,000, reducing to €1,000 for those earning up to €70,000. In the case of a couple, it would be €3,400 or €2,000. It would be a much-needed dividend for those people. It might help them with some bills or help them to go on a holiday that they have not had in the last number of years. It is something that we need to do. Everybody in this room agrees that we crossed the Rubicon at the weekend.

The people of Ireland stood up and told us we were wrong, and we have to be man and woman enough, whether we are in government or in opposition, to stand up and say, "We have done you wrong and done you a disservice." I am doing that here. We lost the people we claim to serve and to defend, and that was reprehensible on our part as public representatives. I hope that in the fullness of time my party leader, Micheál Martin, will have the forthrightness and the self-belief - I am sure he will - to come forward and apologise for the past seven days. I want it to be known that my apology is heartfelt and earnest. My party and my Government forgot the very best that Ireland has to offer. They forgot the people who get up and do the work. We need to seek their forgiveness and to show some remorse, and I do so here very humbly. Thank you for giving me the extra time, Chair.

Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom mo fhíorbhuíochas a ghabháil do gach Ball agus gach Seanadóir a ghlac páirt sa díospóireacht seo. Gan amhras, tá sé soiléir do gach duine go bhfuil daoine faoi bhrú. Tá an Rialtas ag éisteacht. Tá muid ag caint, go mór mór leis an ngnáthdhuine, agus ag obair ar son gach duine. The debate tonight has ended with Senator Flaherty's contribution and began with the Minister of State, Deputy Collins. The important point is that we need to reflect on where we have come from, taking on board the contributions of many Members in this very important debate. I do not have a prepared script because it would not do justice to the contributions, nor do I seek to be in any way adversarial here. It is important we all listen. As Members of the Oireachtas, what we say and how we say it are very important. That carries currency, and I ask all Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas to reflect on their articulation and their speeches because that is critical.

Second, the Government is accused of many things. One of the things we have been accused of is not listening and not engaging. I make the point to Members in the House tonight that 13 organisations were involved in talks last weekend with the Government in a concept around social contract and social partnership. I would love to have another debate, a Chathaoirligh - I am wearing my social justice hat here as well - about that social contract and how we can re-establish it and that partnership with people. Without doubt, gan amhras, people are suffering and hurting and feeling under pressure. That is why it is important to renew that social contract.

May I make one point to Members of the House, who come in here and articulate and advocate, as we all do? Some €50 billion of the Government's and people's money is being spent on social protection and health on behalf of people. That is services and that is putting in place supports, help and assistance for people. Senator Cosgrove referred to fossil fuels and our overdependence on them. She is right, but you cannot be on both sides of that argument. I am a Minister of State, a Member of the Oireachtas for 19 years, with 22 years in public life, and a citizen. We understand, we live, we work, we walk, we talk, we socialise, we are involved in our GAA clubs and our parish councils and we meet people. The pain and the stress that was articulated by Senators Flaherty, Brady, Tully and others tonight is about the person, an gnáthdhuine, who is feeling that pressure and making choices. We know that and we hear them. In a way, Senator Flynn is right because today was a charade in the Dáil. If Sinn Féin wanted to have the Government held to account, it would have held Leaders' Questions and would not have put down a motion that it knew the Government was going to win anyway. It is a set-piece occasion. The Government is protecting and working for people. A package of €750 million, not once but twice, is significant. It is important we differentiate between those who are protesting. There were very genuine people on the protest last week but there were some who were not. As a Minister of State of our Government, I pay tribute to the men and women of An Garda Síochána for their work in protecting and upholding our State last weekend. I said in the Dáil earlier today that when you take away the reality of the TikTok or the Instagram video and watch and see what happened to some members of An Garda Síochána and the provocation, you will really admire our members of An Garda Síochána.

Tonight we have had a very good debate in this House. It was a very honest debate. Our geopolitical world is on fire. The world we knew is no longer, and politics has changed. We saw it in Hungary at the weekend, we have seen it in other elections and we see it in the pronouncements of the President of the United States. I never thought in my lifetime - and you are a champion of America, a Chathaoirligh - that we would have the leader of the free world behaving the way he does. That leads and has led to where we are today on one level, but that does not mean we are immune from criticism. As to what we do have, Senator Flaherty is right, and Senator Duffy said it earlier. It is about that empathy, that support and that understanding of people. People are hurting, people are suffering, and we do listen and we must listen more.

I thank the Members of the House. We have crossed many Rubicons in the past couple of months. What we must do, as Members of the Oireachtas, democratically elected, here to serve as messengers of the people, is engage and continue to serve, as was said, with humility. I am conscious that we should all recognise that we are here to serve and we are all passing through. Our Constitution, in Article 40.6.1°, gives us the right to protest, but it is not an unconditional right. There are conditions attached, and those who trample on those conditions also must reflect. That is not me being arrogant; it is me being a former member of the ASTI who was on strike and on protests. I thank all Members of the House for their contributions. Taking what they have all said, we must as a Government continue to act. I look forward to coming back maybe to have a further debate on that social partnership, that social contract relationship that we must renew, as was rightly said, with the people of Ireland.

Thank you, Minister. Thanks to everybody for your contributions.