Pearse Doherty

Of course I did not. When you go on the phone and start telling them this, that and the other, you get it reduced. Not everybody is doing that, however, and it should not be-----

The Minister of State had his speak. It should not be the policy of the Government that you should shop around. The job of government is to defend consumers. What has happened here-----

-----is as we and the Alliance for Insurance Reform told the Government, that unless it got a commitment from the industry, the industry would pocket the reforms. That is exactly what has happened. What we have got from this industry - and the Minister of State is absolutely blind to this, as is his Government - are bumper profits. These were reforms I championed, legislation I drafted and got pas…

In motor insurance, it is 8%. The Minister of State talks about Britain. Does he know what has happened there? Does he know what the ABI says about the 28,000 motor insurance policies it looks at every year? It has told us just in recent weeks that insurance has fallen 10%. What has happened under the Government's watch here? An 11.5% increase. People are getting ripped off left, right and centre…

Agreed.

Tá.

Why?

Vótáil. Why? You want to keep the rip-off going, is that it? What bit did you not agree with?

Can I make a point of order? My party leader has written to the Ceann Comhairle and the leaders of the Government parties. We tried to introduce an urgent motion to condemn the attack on the flotilla. As the Minister knows, there are 20 Irish citizens on board the flotilla trying to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. They are in international waters. It includes one of our colleagues, Senator Chris A…

I appreciate that. What I would welcome in the Government’s response is an indication that it would be happy for such a resolution to come before us. We will work on the wording of the resolution with the Government. This should not go unpassed. We should not go into recess this evening when there are citizens in international waters being attacked by Israel through drones, including one of our ow…

The Minister will be well aware that in our alternative budget last year we argued that energy credits of €450 should be brought forward. The Government brought forward energy credits of €250. The Minister listed off various measures. As I said earlier, I am not taking away from those measures but what I am telling him is that things have got worse. The reality is that regardless of whether he bel…

The new special needs assistant, SNA, review guidelines have been met with outrage. The guidelines are about one thing and one thing only: restricting the number of SNAs and rationing SNAs. Children will suffer if this goes ahead. A five-year-old girl in Donegal, Allissa, has had to leave school because no SNA has been provided and she is one of many children across the State failed by the Governm…

She did.

There are record levels of electricity arrears. That is the response.

That is the response.

There are record levels of electricity arrears.

It has been spent.

Tá oibrithe agus teaghlaigh á lomadh ag praghsanna leictreachais atá ródhaor. Tá na praghsanna is airde againn san Aontas Eorpach. Níl a dhath feicthe againn ón Rialtas. Níl sé ag gníomhú ar chor ar bith le dul i ngleic leis na rudaí is cúis leis seo. Anois agus an méid is mó tithe riamh ar chúl lena gcuid billí fuinnimh, tá an Rialtas ag baint tacaíochtaí uathu. Impím ar an Rialtas an rud ceart a…

Tá praghsanna leictreachais le hardú arís agus tá sé seo chun níos mó ná 500,000 teaghlach a bhuaileadh. Is cinneadh uafásach é an cinneadh atá déanta ag Fine Gael agus ag Fianna Fáil na creidmheasa fuinnimh a tharraingt siar sa cháinaisnéis. Tá breis agus 300,000 teaghlach nach bhfuil ábalta a gcuid billí leictreachais a íoc ag an phointe seo agus caithfidh an tacaíocht seo a bheith ar fáil sa ch…

The Tánaiste has made it very clear, and this is why we do criticise his decision, that he is withdrawing energy supports in this year’s budget. People have been depending or relying on these for the past three years. Even with these and the other measures, including the fuel allowance, which has been in place for years and whose expansion I welcome, 300,000 households today still cannot pay thei…

To add to the sentiments expressed earlier, there is no doubt serious sadness, shock and disbelief at the discovery of the remains in Donabate yesterday of the young boy, Daniel Aruebose. I think we all send our deepest condolences to everybody who loved Daniel. The community is grieving and everybody right across the island is horrified at what happened, and heartbroken. It is a very sensitive ma…

Déarfaidh mé cúpla focal san am atá agam. There is no doubt that the Government has mishandled migration, particularly international protection. In doing so, it has ignored and indeed antagonised communities and driven a wedge between people. Real damage has been done on the ground and it is going to take a long time to repair. It will not be the Government picking up the pieces; it will be commun…

Hear, hear.

We did. We said-----

Níl dabht ar bith go bhfuil níos mó agus níos mó teaghlaigh ar fud an Stáit ag streachailt agus iad ag iarraidh íoc as billí leictreachais agus billí gáis. Ag an am céanna, tá an Rialtas ag caitheamh leis seo mar is go síleann sé go bhfuil géarchéim na gcostas maireachtála thart cheana féin. Tá sé ag diúltú pacáiste costas maireachtála a chur ar fáil i mbuiséad mhí Dheireadh Fómhair. Tá sé ag ullm…