It would be very easy for me to come in here and say we are going to cut VAT. The reason I mentioned the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is he would rightly come back and ask how we are going to fund everything we need to do. That is the reality we face in Government that cannot be ignored. We have mounting things we have to pay for.

We will continue to take additional measures. We will have to, and we will do them with the EU. We are talking in the EU - that is what the discussions in Berlin and Paris last week were about-----

-----to see what we can change to help reduce our weakness, and they come back and say we will look at the market and all of the structures and not rule anything in or out. The fundamental thing everyone is agreed on, however, and the thing we need to accelerate is the reduction in the use of the fuels-----

-----because otherwise-----

------what we would be doing is giving funds back to Russia. He is spending roughly €500 million per day.

First of all, I will not-----

We will not do the October budget here now. We will look at further additional measures.

Those measures have to be focusing on actual practical ways of-----

We are going to have to do a whole variety of additional measures. What we have done so far is not going to be enough. We are going to need to do more. On the ESB, people must remember it is a public company. In the past year it was able to hold back on some of the increases it had in its cost of gas because it hedged much of it into the future. Those hedging positions are coming to an end, which is why some of those prices are coming through now as well as the historic further increases that have happened recently…

With the greatest respect to the Deputy, that is not true. It is targeted.

We will spend €85 million this year on retrofitting social housing. Of the €267 million within my own Department's budget, some €118 million is in the warmer homes scheme-----

-----which is 100% grant-supported for those in receipt of the fuel allowance.

In terms of targeting, the measures in last October's budget were deliberately designed to target those at risk. Not only did we increase the fuel allowance, we also increased the qualified child allowance, the living alone allowance and the working family payment.

It is that blend of different social welfare provisions that are needed. Lastly, in terms of the best way to manage this, we had a national dialogue on climate change last week, focused on the immediate energy crisis as well as on how we transition, with the trade unions, the social partners and the NGOs. This Government is working on a partnership basis and has to do so. To my mind, social partnership has to underpin everything, and that includes listening to the likes of the St. Vincent de Paul and others and wor…

The two issues are connected. The cost-of-living crisis is driven by the war.

Does Deputy Paul Murphy disagree?

If I can just make the point I want to make-----

No, but it is.

What has happened with energy prices is fundamental to the cost-of-living increases. There is a real connection. It is not just about energy; there is also the potential increase in the cost of food. There are other reasons, including supply chain issues coming out of Covid, but the war in Ukraine and what Russia is doing is central to the cost-of-living issue. I make that point because I believe that, in addressing the cost-of-living issue and the housing crisis, we need to use this moment of real emergency to eff…

Why did energy prices go up by 27% last year, before the war? Why?