Cost-of-Living Crisis: Motion
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-05
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Seamus Healy (IND), Tipperary South

I am shocked by the Government's amendment. In effect, it is saying that everything in the garden is rosy. However, low- and middle-income families know very well that everything in the garden is not rosy. The Government's amendment does not even acknowledge the cost-of-living crisis that exists. It does not acknowledge the huge financial pressures on families. There is no acknowledgement that budget 2026 created higher levels of poverty and took up to €1,400 out of the pockets of the less well off and the disabled. There is no acknowledgement that the Government increased the income tax take from PAYE workers.
I should not have been shocked by the amendment because the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments of the past ten years have pursued policies that support the rich and powerful in our society to the detriment of low- and middle-income families.
The political choices they have made support corporate landlords, the burger barons and the big developers. That is exactly what has happened. It is noticeable that we do not see, and have not seen, a single Fianna Fáil Deputy in the Chamber. This is a party that claimed at one stage to represent working-class people. Of course, that is long since gone. Fianna Fáil has now become more Fine Gael than Fine Gael itself. There is no more confirmation of that than the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 of the Fianna Fáil Minister, James Browne, which he introduced in the House yesterday. That Bill is written by, for and on behalf of corporate landlords and institutional investors. That Bill will line the pockets of these organisations and will introduce extortionate rents, lock people out of the rental markets and increase homelessness. The Government's policy is very clear. The Minister has said that employment is the way out poverty. There are 140,000 workers living in poverty. They are not my figures; they are Government figures and from the CSO. Contrast that to the huge increases of higher executives announced last week and the huge bonuses to Irish Water executives announced the week before. There is an alternative but, of course, it is one the Government refuses to take. This is a very wealthy country. Budget 2026 projects a surplus of €5.1 billion and over the past three years there has been a surplus of €42.2 billion. The Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund have €20 billion. This Government can well afford to reinstate energy credits and to introduce an emergency winter payment. If that is not enough, there are huge financial moneys available. Twelve Irish billionaires own €46 billion. That exceeds the combined wealth of 66% of the population of this country, some 3.4 million people. Oxfam recommends a wealth tax, and rightly so. That is something the Government should introduce immediately. A wealth tax, even at a very nominal rate, would raise billions of euro to support low and middle-income families. The Minister's amendment is absolutely shameful and should be withdrawn. At least, the Government should introduce immediately a €500 winter payment for people who are seriously under pressure from energy bills right across the board. I ask the Dáil to support this reasonable and common-sense motion and I ask the Minister of State to withdraw his amendment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-05