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discouraging people from using public transport and prolonging our reliance on expensive and volatile fossil fuels in the middle of a cost-of-living and climate crisis. The active travel budget of €360 million has not changed since 2020, meaning this amounts to a 22% decrease in real

disregard for carers but the means test has to go. The fact that the Minister has done something on the cost of living is tentatively welcome but we need action on a permanent cost-of-disability payment next year. To go back to my point on capital gains

Budget 2027 contains a wide range of cost-of-living measures, including increases in the fuel allowance, the living alone allowance and social welfare payments, with the old-age pension going to €309.30 per week. There is an increase in children's allowance and improvements to the carer

million of them – get a tax break of just about €200? It is an absolute insult. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, the Government has chosen to leave them short-changed. Last year, it told them to wait. This year, it is giving them

What should have been delivered is a real, meaningful cost-of-living package. Some of the Government TDs do not like to hear this truth. They like to believe the spin they live under in their little bubble. One in five children in this State is currently living … disability comes with a permanent additional cost, including for heating, transport, equipment, care and medical costs. People with disabilities face additional costs to live an equal life whether they are in or outside employment and the Government has limited support to those dependent on social welfare

that, many apprentices are expected to survive the first two years on low wages while trying to cope with the rising cost of living, rent, transport, fuel and everyday expenses. The reality is that many apprentices face challenges that people outside of the system never

condemning our nurses, teachers, gardaí and all other public sector workers to becoming poorer. Their wages are being entirely eroded by the cost of living. The Minister can shake his head but it is the truth. This year alone, public sector wages will have decreased when compared

face and what the solutions are. It is bread and circuses to distract from the lack of action to permanently cut the cost of living and address the crisis in energy prices, incomes and child property across too many homes in this rich country. The Tánaiste that told

Budget 2027 is being delivered during a global cost-of-living crisis which, at its heart, is a cost-of-energy crisis. At a time of energy insecurity, climate instability and rising household costs, every major budget decision should be taken to help people reduce their dependence

future. On disabled people, to stand opposite and say that €10 per week is enough to get people through the cost-of-living crisis is an insult. On the idea that workers' wages have kept up with inflation, prices have risen by 25% in the past five years

increase in the pension is welcome but it only amounts to dhá chupán caife nó dhá chupán tae. It is gone. The cost of living is eating up all of these things and that is the problem. For anybody who wants to listen, I have great concerns about

will publish its alternative budget. We will set out our plans for a future we can all afford. To take on the cost-of-living crisis, our plan is unapologetically and relentlessly focused on three key issues: energy, incomes and child poverty. By taxing wealth sensibly and putting

party in this House, Government and Opposition will be endeavouring to explore ways in which we can all assist people with the cost-of-living challenges. I share the view that one of the largest challenges families, businesses, farmers, households and the country in general face

cities and regions, give people in rural Ireland, in particular, a much-needed alternative to the private car, and help with the cost of living along the way. We all get that. It is in that context that we find it bewildering that Government has been so slow

immediately introducing a €400 energy credit, targeted at households earning up to €70,000. For years, we have been told that the cost-of-living crisis, high energy bills and spiralling households costs are events beyond our control. First, it was the invasion of Ukraine

costs. We are now heading into winter, and those pressures have not disappeared. The Government needs to get a grip on the cost of living. It cannot continue to stand back while household bills rise. The energy companies simultaneously record enormous profits. It should not fall

next week's budget but I predict it will be nowhere near enough to help struggling families meet the demands of a cost-of-living crisis that has now become a permacrisis for far too many across this country. We are, as I say repeatedly, a rich country

thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this motion. It is very important. We are now dealing with a cost-of-living crisis that has gone on for years. While it has been going on, we have had electricity companies profiteering and the country has been awash with

seeing families cutting back on food, heat and electricity. In a wealthy country like Ireland, that is simply unacceptable. Barnardos' own 2026 cost-of-living research found that one in five parents said that they or their children had to cut back on or had gone without food

there always is before budgets, and speculation and so on but the bottom line is that we are conscious of the cost of living. We are conscious of the impact on a whole range of people. If you look at the social protection budget over the last number

thank the Deputy for raising the issue. As I said earlier, we are in the midst of a very significant cost-of-living issue because of two major wars, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war in Iran, which have caused very significant increases in oil prices

lapse. The unions, as the Taoiseach knows, will negotiate but they want to negotiate on pay. The best method to tackle a cost-of-living crisis is more pay for hard-pressed workers. This Government is not engaging on this. It can gaslight and say all it wants

travel in the opposite direction as the only hope for a home. We are for giving people a break from the cost-of-living crisis. We are for the Irish Republic, and we will not allow any west Brit self-declared patriots to misrepresent us ever again

were all engaged in the election, it has receded somewhat given the geopolitical tensions that are abounding and the energy and cost-of-living crises. I just do not think we are simply talking about it enough, particularly in light of the actions of this Government since

housing crisis. Greed, landlordism and the failures of successive governments caused it. Immigrants did not cause a stagnation in wages while the cost of living soared. The free market and government neglect caused that. Immigrants did not cause young Irish people to emigrate. That was brought about