Micheál Martin

That is not a soundbite or rhetoric. That is unprecedented investment in housing and that is reflected this year as well.

It is quite interesting that a representative of a far-left party like Deputy Murphy is an advocate for universal credits, which benefit the wealthiest in society as well as everybody else. That is quite an extraordinary contradiction of the viewpoints he often articulates. The Minister has established a national energy affordability task force because there is an issue with energy affordability. …

That is not true.

We will not be introducing price controls. They failed in the past and would fail again. In terms of child poverty, consistent poverty is the key metric, not relative poverty. The Deputy did not qualify which he was talking about.

Consistent poverty is what we have to deal with. Our child poverty programme in the budget was very significant, the highest in a very long time. The once-off payments were just that, for two years in a row and before that. During the Covid pandemic and the energy crisis, we had to intervene. They not sustainable over the decade and they cannot just keep going on. We would not have sustainable pub…

We do tax them. We have a very progressive tax system-----

-----which basically means income inequality has reduced despite very significant, strong economic growth. We believe in enterprise; the Deputy does not. He has a broader view of how markets and economies should run-----

-----and that is fundamental to every specific proposal he introduces on a given issue in here.

It has to be seen in the round in terms of what kind of society we want.

I respectfully suggest that the people do not quite want the society the Deputy advocates.

We just had Leaders’ Questions and no one asked that.

The bus driver is very important.

We have committed to ending the waiver over the lifetime of this Government, which is five years and five budgets. We made a significant start on this occasion which will enable us to do it in five years. We have significantly increased the income disregard. It is the highest ever. If you look at some of the income levels now entitled to the carer's allowance when compared with some years ago, it …

I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue. I accept fully her bona fides in moving this measure. As she said, we tabled a timed amendment to the legislation last year. I will talk to the relevant Ministers and the Government about the implications of adopting such a measure. We have made significant improvements in this wider area of the past number of years. We will look at it in the cont…

We are using that money. We have used substantial resources in terms of the retrofitting programme-----

-----fuel poverty, the increase in the fuel allowance payment-----

-----and extending it into the working family payment will which will bring in a significant cohort of working people who are on relatively low incomes. We are spending an unprecedented amount on funding, targeting the measures. The quote the Deputy used is a bit distorted because I said it in the context of Deputy Murphy wanting universal credits for everybody, irrespective of income or wealth. T…

The Minister is engaging with them. We need to do everything we can to get prices down.

I met the group last Friday week. I asked them in to Government Buildings and we met in the Taoiseach's offices and had a lengthy discussion. Deputy Murphy knows the history. I established the inquiry into the industrial schools. That was followed by a comprehensive redress scheme and other measures that were taken. We are willing to engage and I have asked my officials to look at all the various …

No, it is not.

We have the eighth-highest cost - and it is too high - of energy across the EU 27 when taken in the context of purchasing power parity. That is the situation. We have a very dispersed energy system. We have to invest very significantly in the grid over the coming years. We will have to triple the investment in our energy grid over the next number of years-----

-----and we have grown exponentially.

There is a European framework. Gas is the price-setter.

We are, unfortunately, importing too many fossil fuels and the sooner we can get to more and more renewables, the cheaper our energy will eventually become. In the meantime, we will keep the pressure on the companies. We will talk-----

We will talk to the CRU. There is a regulator there. The Deputies know that.