The Deputy's party continues to vote against all of the measures that we took, which made significant interventions that helped people when it came to the reductions of excise. Hers is the party of guff, day in, day out.

It is full of waffle, full of no solutions and its economic policies are a road to ruination. That is Sinn Féin, day in, day out.

The reason I say that is economic management and protecting the economy can never be described as "guff". Of course there are trade-offs and choices for the Government about how we want to prioritise resources and how we want to moderate day-to-day spending to protect Ireland's long-term future. Sinn Féin just produces double-digit levels of growth and expenditure and ramps up taxes on work and enterprise, on the very backbone of the Irish economy and prosperity, on the wealth creators who are giving us the opportu…

It just shows that Sinn Féin cannot be trusted with the economy and with protecting Ireland when it comes to our future.

I reiterate that Government is cognisant of the serious pressure that many families and households face into the winter. That is taking centre stage in our Estimates discussions and how we examine different and further interventions on how we tax energy in the economy. To give workers a break, there will be an income tax package, which will give some workers some respite through the winter period. In the social protection system, we want to target the fuel allowance allocation and other changes that will be under c…

On the Deputy's first point, he has clearly not read the facts about electricity generation from renewables. It has increased five-fold since 2005. Regularly throughout the first half of 2026, almost half of Ireland's electricity came from renewable sources. Ireland has now reached a record of over 8 GW of renewable generation capacity, up from 4.8 GW in 2020.

Significant progress is being made on renewable energy. The Deputy needs to correct the record on that. He is dismissing progress. We have been clear that the broadened eligibility for fuel allowance last year has brought over 400,000 households into the social protection system. That is under consideration as a direct payment that is targeted at people in the lowest four income deciles in budget 2027. We want to use fuel allowance and other measures in our social protection system to help those most in need. That …

I am really surprised to see the Deputy label something like the fuel allowance as a fossil fuel subsidy. What would low-income workers and-----

----- the most vulnerable in our society say about that? It was an important measure taken by this Government.

I heard the Deputy on "Morning Ireland" in the past couple of weeks. She was asked a direct question. She was very much a leader on a hedge. She was not sure what way to go when it came to questions on the carbon tax and other matters. The Deputy should make up her own mind about what her policy direction is.

We are very clear, as a Government, when it comes to supporting people and families around the cost of living. We will have targeted measures using our social protection system, as I have said. Second, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, will bring forward changes to grants to incentivise and help families build sustainability in their own homes and ensure that there are more accessible grants for people who currently cannot afford them. There might be different views on how we should do that but that is something he wan…

It is deeply unfair on the public that there will be significant disruption to their daily lives because unions are unwilling to sit down-----

-----and engage constructively on a new agreement, which we want to have. This Government wants to have a fair, equitable deal for public sector workers. Our record on that is clear. If you take the lowest paid in the public service, their wage increases have far exceeded inflation over the past number of years. A clerical officer, teacher or nurse will have received in excess of 30%, when inflation is about 23%. We have targeted and supported the lowest income cohorts in terms of public sector workers. We are clea…

Again, the Deputy just makes this generic point about funding public services. We have funded significant increases in public services over the last number of years. There has been nearly €10 billion more in our health system over a series of years. There have been significant increases in investment in our education system, particularly in special education, and rightly so, but no area of the public service or, indeed, public expenditure should be immune from greater reform, efficiencies and improved productivity.…

That is to make sure we get greater value for taxpayers and improved public services rather than it just being a binary discussion. which is what we get from the Opposition benches, about allocating more.

That is not sustainable.

The Deputy needs to study the facts. If you take the last five to six years, public pay has increased by in excess of €12 billion per year.

That has resulted in a massive expansion of public services, more than 70,000 more people working across public services - in our education system and our health system and with the number of front-line gardaí increasing year on year, and rightly so. We want to invest in better public services and ensure public sector workers are given a fair, equitable pay agreement.

That is why in the last pay deal we allowed for increases of 9.5% when inflation over the same period was about 6.5%, again, supporting a fair and equitable deal. That remains the case. We are a Government that will make provision for a public sector pay deal so people are paid fairly.

We are open an willing to engage with unions. Instead they are balloting their members.