Calls for 'real action' from the Government to address cost-of-living crisis
Dundalk TD Ruairí Ó Murchú told the Dáil there is 'real' anger with the Government
Dundalk TD Ruairí Ó Murchú has told the Dáil that anger felt by people struggling with the cost of living crisis is ‘real’ called for ‘real action’ from the government.
The Sinn Féin representative was speaking during a Labour Party motion calling on the government to deliver a mini budget.
Deputy Ó Murchú said the government had made ‘already unaffordable rents even more unaffordable’ with the introduction of recent legislation that has also lead to record numbers of eviction notices.
He said the State has the most expensive electricity in Europe, with 320,000 households unable to pay their electric bills, and one in four unable to pay their gas bills.
He said: “These are the realities that everyone else bar the Government realises are happening”.
Deputy Ó Murchú pointed to the support that was garnered by the fuel protests and said people were genuinely annoyed, with inflation rising to 3.6%, while the Government had projected 1.8%.
He said energy credits were needed, ‘not because they are a solution but because they can be done here and now’.
Deputy Ó Murchú said: “I have to ask not about what the Government has done but about what it was forced to do by the fuel protesters. That is the reality.
“They had support on the street because every man, woman and child is fed up with the pressure they are under and they need support now, not into the future.
“That is why we are saying we need to put €500 back in workers' pockets, that is, abolish the USC on the first €32,500. That is straightforward. That is just putting money into people's pockets. We know we need to get €400 or thereabouts in electricity energy credits”.
And he made a special plea for those with disabilities. He said the government had accepted there is a need for a cost-of-disability payment.
He said: “This is not made-up anger; it is the reality of the world we are in. It is an emergency budget now that is necessary. We need to see the Government listen, watch what is happening out there and take real action”.