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attend these meetings, you see the enormous impact of climate on many African countries, resulting in migration, economic disruption and significant disruption of food production systems. The area of mitigation and adaptation is one we need to focus on more urgently, globally and in Ireland. I will talk … leaders' declaration acknowledges that debt vulnerabilities, along with other factors, can constrain countries' fiscal space and undermine their ability to deal with poverty and inequality and their capacity to invest in growth and development. Interest payments on public debt have more than doubled over the past decade

rotting in the ground because farmers do not have fuel to deliver it to the towns and cities. The urban people are suffering food deprivation. Hospitals cannot function due to lack of electricity either. The entire island is asphyxiated. There is no public transport. Sanitation is compromised, disease … everywhere and fresh water is hardly available. Their economy is completely compromised as most hotels are closed, causing even more unemployment and poverty. My heart breaks for the Cuban people when I see the reality of what is happening to them. I realise it is probably unique

spin it. This Government’s choice is clear. This has turned out to be a McBudget, a giveaway for fast food chains and developers that the public will find difficult to swallow. The Government's budget awards multinational companies like McDonald's and Starbucks millions in extra profits … while families choosing between eating and heating are denied targeted energy credits and more and more children sink further into poverty. lt really is outrageous. Last year, McDonald's Ireland made a profit of €42 million. This is not a business that is struggling but that does

parents are using food banks, that 40% of parents are borrowing money and that 19% of families cut back or go without food. Let that sink in for a minute. This is the reality of where we are in 2025. The Government’s response to this motion … reality. Stop sitting on your hands and get up and make the changes that are needed now. Childhood is the first thing poverty steals from any child, and this is rampant in our society. Unfortunately, it is under the Government’s watch

homelessness. We have the money and the resources. The Government has a choice in the coming budget to take children out of poverty and homelessness, or to continue to support corporate landlords, vulture funds and the golden circle of the rich and powerful in our society. Evictions lead … scheme has been completely vandalised by the Government. Households, especially those with children, are under huge pressure from the cost-of-living crisis. Food price inflation was up again by 5% in the month of August. In recent years, an additional €3,000 per year has been heaped

point in everybody coming into this Chamber during the winter months to talk about this at a time when parents cannot put food on the table or heat their homes. When that happens, everybody cries out and says, "Oh my god. Isn't that terrible". We told … this would happen. It is not only that we are telling him it is happening; statistics constantly show that people are falling into poverty because of the political choices being made. This is on the Government. Rents and the housing crisis are getting worse. That is a direct

line is that the elevated level of inflation, arising out of the post-Covid situation and the war on Ukraine, has meant that food prices are very high. That is acknowledged. We have provided substantial support over recent budgets, which were decried by the Opposition, with significant financial … cost-of-living supports such as the pandemic unemployment payment, energy credits and lump-sum welfare payments played a critical role in reducing poverty risk among vulnerable households and that without those interventions Ireland's at-risk-of-poverty rate would have increased

difficult for people to come to the gates of Leinster House to tell strangers that they are rationing fuel or struggling to put food on the table, and to feel that they have to say it. That is a great shame on one of the richest countries … very much ignores the lived reality. The amendment the Government has brought forward is extremely long. It does not once mention the words "poverty" or "deprivation". It ignores that lived reality. When the SILC data is published annually, I always look at enforced deprivation because they

enforced deprivation. Think about that. That is nearly four in ten people, yet the Government’s amendment does not even mention deprivation or poverty. By refusing to name these realities, it is enforcing what so many disabled people already feel, that is, that they are not listened … matter. They do matter, however, and the lived realities behind these statistics are stark. People with disabilities are reporting having to visit food banks. Families are forced into impossible choices between whether to run essential life-saving equipment, keep the heating on or eat. It is always about

fined properly. This is not happening enough because there is a gap between the amount by which wholesale gas, wholesale electricity and wholesale food costs are going up and what people are actually being forced to pay. The gas prices people are being charged have increased 100% since … about, and what was not mentioned enough at all last week, is inequality - the gap in respect of those children who are in poverty in this country. We have one in five children living in poverty. In some form, they are affected by poverty. We have, shamefully, almost

year and is not bothered but ordinary people are left with the highest inflation in two years, with over 4% in food price inflation and 3.3% energy price inflation. It will be a cold, hard Christmas for many people. Economists are saying this will last for six months … does not care. After housing costs, 57% of HAP tenants and 43% of local authority tenants are already living below the poverty line, as are a third of private renters. Tenants are already protesting the rent hikes and they will show the political establishment what they think

cost-of-living crisis, which is pushing more and more families into poverty. There are already 630,000 people living below the poverty line and 190,000 of those are children. We have almost 17,000 homeless, with almost 5,500 of these being children. Yesterday, figures showed … against 2.1% in the eurozone, so we are 50% higher than the eurozone. This inflation is driven by higher energy prices and higher food prices. Food prices are up by 6% and food prices for family over the year are now costing over €3,000 more than they

State is generating hundreds of millions of euro through a ridiculous carbon tax that I opposed and is damning people to energy poverty only to then redirect the tax revenue back to them through the welfare system. That is like some Alice-in-Wonderland version of the circular … which is rocketing, that this is having an impact on; it is also one of the core contributors to the rising cost of food. Just recently, the CSO released figures from Eurostat that put Ireland’s food price inflation at three times the headline rate, with food prices

private sector because their low wages are deemed to be too high. These people are plunged not only into despair but into poverty as a result of the policies that have been foisted on them by this Government and the previous Government when it comes to the provision … hope of ever accessing either a social house or purchasing a house themselves despite working hard day in, day out to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. I will give a real-life example of the damage the Government's policies are doing

communities, who are struggling and whose children are struggling. Thirty per cent of people said they did not have enough food to feed their children at some point over the last year. It is absolutely shocking. It also shows that more than one third of families went into … last 12 months. Ireland is one of the richest countries in Europe and we are seeing record levels of homelessness and child poverty, all under the Taoiseach's watch. It is absolutely shameful. This is an emergency and it requires an emergency response. We need a targeted energy

difference. A means test that is phased out over the next four years is four more years of carers having to justify their poverty, with some having to stand beside and be based on the income of a partner and others simply having to miss out because their … Family Carers Ireland, two thirds of carers experience financial distress. Almost half say they have to cut back on essentials like heating and food to make ends meet. Many are caring around the clock, with no pension, no security and often in total isolation. On top of that

society. Two out of five people with a disability are at risk of poverty. One in five lives in absolute and consistent poverty. That is a shocking figure in itself. It is well documented that the cost of living is higher for people with disabilities. The costs have … crisis. We are not living in normal times. The rate of inflation is accelerating, in particular the cost of essentials such as heating, food, transport and everything else. A Government report in 2021 confirmed the additional cost of disability was between €9,480 and €11,734. That

adult life working with adults with disabilities, I witnessed the pressures they face. It is not just about heating a home or buying food. It is about the endless hidden costs that the vast majority of people never see. It is about those extra expenses able-bodied people … restricted they are, even with transport options. It all adds up to constant, grinding reality. There is a heightened risk of poverty for those living with a disability in this country. Tonight we stand here again speaking on the hidden cost of disability, just

living in poverty. If the Minister is not prepared to give the measures that will ensure that these people do not live in poverty then he should have just said, "No". I regret that the Minister does not have a better answer for me, to be brutally frank … incomes, as we know, means they are very heavily exposed to any price increase, including any increase in the price of food, but the Government has refused to negotiate or rein in the large-scale supermarkets. Any increase in energy again is the same story

decide that it can take the money from them at a time of a cost-of-living crisis is outrageous. In-work poverty remains a serious problem in this State and the Government’s policy significantly contributes to this. There is an unacceptable risk that this auto-enrolment … disadvantage, including in my constituency of County Clare. People are working hard but are still struggling to pay their bills. Rents and mortgages, food and fuel prices and the cost of everything else are increasing constantly. In late summer, there are extra expenses relating to back-to-school

supporting their communities. Yesterday we saw no increase in child benefit for that couple with two children, yet they will face increased fuel, food, childcare and medical costs. Many of the families I deal with use child benefit for rainy days when they must cover an increased bill … Government yesterday. Those with disabilities who are seeking employment were also ignored. People with disabilities have the highest unemployment rates and poverty rates among other demographics in Ireland. I am truly appalled that no specific measures were announced on budget day to tackle the high unemployment and poverty

raising the issue of increased food costs. However, some households are worse off to the tune of €3,000 per year on food costs alone. If we look at beef, there was a 23% increase in beef prices in four months earlier this year. We are not talking … lasagna, spaghetti bolognese and shepherd's pie, meals and staples that should last a couple of days. Ordinary families are being priced into poverty. Workers are being priced into poverty by this Government's inaction. Rents remain too high. Not too long ago this Government asked

poor is that nearly half the British Army was recruited from Ireland at that stage. That was the scale of the poverty. People had no choice as there was no money. While everybody who went to school here, and many around the world, will know of the Famine … that period but before and after that famine. The only recourse people had in many cases was to attack the stores of food the landlords and their agents held. That was a way to try to get food and distribute it among people. People were also being driven

barrel by talking about definitions of poverty when we know so many children are suffering. If this Government is serious about tackling child poverty and supporting low-income households, then budget 2027 should be a children's budget. We need fundamental reforms that support households with the rising … lower incomes. That cannot be done alone because many working families are also struggling. They are struggling to pay bills and to put food on the table. These are the people who are keeping this country going and they are the people that we and the Government need

cafés and restaurants. If any Member of Dáil Éireann wants to stand in any of these cafés, restaurants or pubs that serve food and tell the owners that they are flaithiúlach and that things are going great, good luck to them. They would be out of touch with … what is needed. They want to see more investment in schools, communities and sports facilities. They want to see children lifted out of poverty. We are fair-minded people, and there are many who understand that when we have to balance resources, targeted measures such as that relating