Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-15
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Duncan Smith (LAB), Dublin Fingal East

Has the Minister dealt with anyone who has tried to apply for hardship funds for a utility company? It is an absolute nightmare. None of these measures, unfortunately, are working enough. Why are people stopping me in JC's Supermarket asking why I cannot reduce the price of groceries? Why are people turning up to my clinic, Deputy Wall's clinics and my colleagues' clinics with utility bills that they cannot pay? It is just not enough. That is the reality of it. The people who cannot pay their bills this month will not get any comfort from what the Taoiseach said yesterday about the Minister, Deputy O'Brien's affordability group that is being set up. No one is going to get any comfort when they cannot pay their bills this week and are going to have to go to St. Vincent de Paul or their community welfare officer and beg, plead and borrow. These are working people who are doing everything they can to try to keep a roof over their head.
This Government does not do legislation. That is clear from last year. It does task forces and working groups. It does not even do them well. What it does is procrastination and inaction, or, when it can, it does deflection. It is very hard to do deflection on the cost of groceries. The Government can do it on housing when it tries to blame immigrants, but it cannot do it on groceries or utility bills. When is the Government going to take on the big utility companies? When is it going to take on the big conglomerates? When is it going to provide targeted payments to those who need it, those workers who are doing everything right and are being let down by the Government?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-15