Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28 ============================================================ Mary Lou McDonald (SF), Dublin Central There was a cost-of-living crisis before the war in Iran. More than 300,000 households were already in energy arrears. This crisis has very deep roots. The Taoiseach failed to acknowledge that. The budget last October left workers worse off and left people with disabilities worse off. The Taoiseach failed to acknowledge that. Families and workers are really struggling and the Taoiseach has no response for them except to talk down to them and dismiss them. I have asked the Taoiseach to introduce an emergency budget. I have told him the very specific measures that we in Sinn Féin believe need to be taken, namely, energy credits, supports, including a disability payment, and, critically, a permanent cut in the USC. These are the things that need to happen if the Government is to be serious about assisting people in a time of crisis. Is it serious? Is it listening? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-28