Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-15
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Holly Cairns (SD), Cork South-West

This Government was totally unprepared for the protests that swept the country last week, but how? After all, this did not erupt spontaneously overnight. The signs were there. They were not even subtle. There is a lack of empathy at play. I know the Taoiseach will take great exception to the fact that I am saying this. He will claim we do not have a monopoly on empathy or compassion but I ask him to reflect on what happened last week and his Government's reaction to it. There was, unquestionably, a deficit of empathy and a lack of foresight. What transpired what foreseeable, predictable and avoidable. The fact that the Taoiseach did not foresee, predict or avoid it calls into question his competence.
The Government talks about the cost-of-living crisis as if it suddenly emerged six weeks ago when Trump invaded Iran. There seems to be no understanding of the level of stress and worry people have endured for years. Week after week, we come in here and highlight the need for an emergency payment for disabled people, for investment in renewable energy and for targeted supports to the people struggling the most because the cost of simply existing in this country is growing and growing and it is crushing people. There is no let up, no relief and little to no help from Government. That is why people were on the streets last week.
Everybody understands that the Government does not control international oil prices but these fuel price shocks were a tipping point for so many people. The package of measures the Government brought forward will be of very little comfort to many of them. Incredibly, it does nothing to bring down the cost of home heating oil. Some 700,000 households are reliant on home heating oil. The cost has soared by 70% in just a month and nothing has been done to bring that cost down. The Taoiseach constantly says we have no solutions but the Social Democrats has been consistently asking him to introduce targeted supports to those who need them the most. Today, we gave the Government another opportunity on our proposals. The Dáil debated a Social Democrats motion this morning which proposed a targeted €400 energy credit for low and middle income earners, the creation of a supplementary mileage scheme for essential workers and a doubling of solar grants to help people reduce their energy costs by hundreds of euro per year. The Government is voting against those proposals, refusing to listen and refusing to act.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-15