At the end of March, the average price was €1.60 to €1.62.

This is not fair. It has gone up by 16 to 18 cent in the space of a few weeks.

The Minister mentioned one thing there, namely blaming the Middle East and all that. The facts are that a barrel of oil is cheaper now than it has been for a long time and ye are increasing this excise duty now again. Have ye any consideration for the people that are paying their money to fill their tanks? Have ye any consideration or any feeling in your hearts at all? On the one hand, the Minister is saying that the finances are good and that the country is awash with money. Is it these people the Government wants…

----fuel was way cheaper, so the Minister must take a lesser amount now in light of what people are paying now.

Many of your spokespersons have said so, and ye are squandering millions.

Two and a half billion euro has been spent on migration, €600 million has been allocated in respect of a road in the North of Ireland----

----and €860,000 to bring dogs and cats in. Those in government are----

----putting the petrol and the diesel up by between 4 and 8 cent a litre.

The Minister is in government; Sinn Féin is not. I am asking him to deal with the problem.

I am only bringing the messages of the people that contact me up here. I did not make up these stories.

The facts are there. People cannot afford to carry on.

Have ye no feeling in your hearts or bodies at all?

I have no luxury.

I am paying as much as anyone else.

I am bringing up the stories honestly that I am hearing from the people I am meeting every day.

This future investment fund being proposed will amount to €4.1 billion from this year until 2041, up to €100 billion. That is some kind of a rainy day fund. I tell the Minister it is raining and pouring now and many people, not only the farmers, are in trouble. On top of that, the Government is proposing a fund of €2 billion each year until 2030 fund for climate action and nature, €14 billion for the next seven years, on top of the €1 million per day - €365 million each year - for climate action projects, and much …

You will build houses.

It was 1 million.

I wish to propose an alternative in this Chamber today in the name of Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, who has represented County Kerry in this Chamber for many years and who sat on on Kerry County Council for many years before that. I believe he is well capable of carrying out the task because he has the understanding of the people. Like me, he knows what the people need and what they are concerned about. I believe we are the only alternative group here in the Dáil on many occasions. We have proven that. I agree with Dep…

Sinn Féin has been saying that Deputy Harris is not fit to be Taoiseach. Why did its members not oppose him? Was this not their chance here today to oppose him? If there is any scintilla of independence in the Independent Deputies here in this Chamber today, now is their time to come out and vote for an independent candidate for Taoiseach here today. This is their chance, but most of them who say they are Independents are Fine Gael at heart. There is no difference at all now for the people outside looking in here. …