I am on my feet.

Dún do bhéal, le do thoil, and perhaps listen.

Perhaps you would open your ears.

Perhaps you would listen. If you listen, you can hear. I am speaking-----

-----on behalf of people who are getting crushed by a cost-of-living crisis. When they look to the Government, they see a Government that is out of touch and out of ideas. We have presented what we believe needs to be done. Others have done the same. The Government has chosen to turn a deaf ear to that. The message is being received loud and clear. This Government is telling people who are in dire straits today that they have to wait until next October, January or God knows when to get some help and support. They n…

The next slot is the Social Democrats. The Deputies have two minutes each.

I ask all Deputies to address their remarks through the Chair.

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Wednesday, 13 May 2026.

This matter relates to the telephone support allowance. It is one of those things that is an essential part of the income for a lot of people. The organisation ALONE has highlighted not just the value of this allowance but also the fact that it has not been keeping pace anywhere close to inflation. It was not increased in the most recent budget. I understand that the primary objective is to allow the most vulnerable people at risk of isolation, including the elderly and those with disabilities, access to personal a…

To increase it to €7.50.

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I do not mean this disrespectfully but when I have asked a question about the telephone allowance, it is probably not helpful for anyone listening in who might be conscious of the issue of the telephone allowance that the Minister of State listed other payments. We understand that there were modest increases in the budget. They did not keep pace with inflation. He will know, as I do, that inflation was running at 1.8% when the Government wrote its budget and it is now at…

I acknowledge the words of the Minister. She mentioned two counties in her contribution. She did not mention County Dublin. There are people living in my constituency who were living there when they were abused by Michael Shine because Our Lady of Lourdes is the local hospital for Balbriggan. I am sure that was an oversight on her part. What is at the heart of this is that these kids and their families were not listened to. When we talk to victims and survivors of that vile and disgusting man, they tell us that eve…

Hear, hear.

The Minister of State should direct his remarks to the people in the Gallery.

No, the Minister of State do not.

The absolute neck of the Minister of State reading out that diatribe. He should have addressed his remarks to the people in the Gallery but he would be ashamed. He could not even look them in the face. My God, this makes me so angry. He is dragging people back to tenements. My mam and dad were born in tenement housing in the city centre in Dublin and they left, they moved to the suburbs so that they could make a better life for themselves and the slums were cleared. That is not good enough for Fine Gael and Fianna …

The Minister will be delighted to know that my question is straightforward. It relates to the expansion of the digital ID, or the public services card as it is known. The Minister will be well aware that this card has been mired in controversy. A succession of Ministers have tried to defend how this card is mandatory but somehow not compulsory. There is an element to this that people have to have it but they also do not have to have it. For that reason, I and many others are concerned about its expansion.

The Minister will well understand why I and others, such as the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and other groups, are necessarily cautious about this. For example, when the public services card, PSC, was brought in, it was said that it would be mandatory but not compulsory, or vice versa . In the end, the requirement for those over 65 is that they must have one of these cards with a chip in it to access the free travel scheme. There is a creeping sense that people are being asked to hand over their identification…

The Minister stated that people can put their date of birth on it if they wish and that everything will be absolutely opt-in all the time but that is not true. The moment something like this is brought in, it becomes compulsory. Those aged over 65 have an entitlement to access the free travel scheme but they must have this card to do so. If people do not want to have the card, they are simply locked out of the scheme. When the Minister says that something will be voluntary, such as the public services card, it is n…

As the Government seems to be blissfully unaware, there is a cost-of-living crisis. We know this from the numbers of people in energy arrears. We also know this from the figures from Barnardos and other agencies. This is backed up by the survey on income and living conditions, SILC, data. My question is simple. In light of the announcement of a surplus last week, has the Minister given any consideration to a cost-of-living payment for those vulnerable households at risk of poverty?