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shrinkflation - the charging of the same prices but with less product. Households across Ireland are having to cope with this cost-of-living crisis - a spike in the cost of living that is affecting every household, individual, family and community. Almost one third of households comprising an adult … went into debt to meet ordinary living expenses last year and one fifth of households struggled to make ends meet. The costs of fuel, rent, housing, food, childcare and basic services are rising. Deputy Nash gave some examples. Another example is coffee. Coffee is now 200% more expensive

meeting future demand, even in the event of extreme supply disruption. Why do we need this commercial facility? Locking us into new fossil fuel infrastructure when our emissions are still so high will have a further effect. It will see Ireland further overshoot its climate targets so that … bill for the eye-watering fines associated with missing targets. That will be an issue for households in a cost-of-living crisis and there is no guarantee of energy security

impact of that change in policy. Now in the climate Department, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is implementing policies that clearly favour filthy fuels over clean energy infrastructure. When asked about it, Fianna Fáil talks up the energy security element but where is the wisdom or security … supposed to have finished the transition to renewable energy? Meanwhile, sea levels and household energy bills are rising as the cost-of-living crisis deepens, and the profits of big energy companies are also rising. We are watching the impacts of climate change in the world around

average Irish family farm income was just €31,000. For many small farms, it is far less. Input costs - fertiliser, feed and fuel - have all skyrocketed, and are up 40% since 2020 while CAP payments have barely budged. What about the young farmers, the next generation … young farmer payment. Is it any wonder that young farmers say they do not believe that EU rhetoric matches the reality of the crisis? Regarding nature restoration, Brussels has highlighted time and again that there are food security issues

symptomatic of an approach to both crises where the Government mandates without due consideration of other impacts, whether emissions, biodiversity, family-farm incomes, fuel poverty or poverty generally. That is one reason it is regrettable that during the last CAP negotiations the Government did not throw its weight … been hampered by a shrinking budget which has not been restored to the levels that were in place before the financial crisis. In Monaghan the annual allocation is only 10% higher than it was under the programme from 2014 to 2020. Inflation during that period has wiped

services, showing openness to public investment in the sector. Parents already have enough to manage, from getting to work every day with rising fuel costs, including the recent carbon tax, to paying mortgages. Sometimes, the cost of childcare is nearly as high as the mortgage itself. The everyday … that they did not want to be here. The parents followed them. They came here because the parents supported them and understood the crisis they were facing, but the Government ignored them for many years. I plead with the Minister of State to turn that around immediately