It is almost as if she is living in a parallel universe. We have a huge issue-----

-----as have the world and Europe because of that war which is following on earlier shocks, in terms of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis that happened then. We need a Government-----

-----and we need a political response that understands the seismic potential damage of this crisis. The Deputy is ignoring it and that is irresponsible and negligent. Anybody I meet, at European level or anywhere, is very concerned about not only the short-term impact but the medium- and long-term impacts to the world of this energy shock crisis. That is not overstating it - that is what people are saying. We have allocated around €750 million on top of a budget last year that was substantial in terms of public exp…

What happens in October if this crisis does not abate? What happens in January? What happens our housing investments or our investments across in education, health and childcare? The USC brings in €5 billion to €6 billion. The Deputy wants something for everyone in the audience. She wants universal energy credits. She wants to give credits to the wealthiest in society. She does not believe in targeting anymore. Her measures, if they were brought in, would bring about 2% or 2.5% to inflation. We know who suffers mos…

We have to think even short term to October. We should be looking at more permanent measures that help to alleviate the cost of living. Tá géarghá é sin a dhéanamh. Tá an-chuid déanta againn agus tá níos mó le déanamh againn dan dabht. It is not next year's budget but next October's budget, which is a number of months away.

No, not necessarily, and the Deputy knows that is not the truth either. We know that we have to help people over next winter, which will be a crucial period, but we are going to do it in a measured, sensible way, not Sinn Féin's way, which is the Liz Truss way,-----

-----which nearly blew the British economy apart. That is where Sinn Féin is going.

Hold on a second. The budget that we announced last year-----

We have introduced permanent measures that reduce the cost of living. In terms of healthcare, we eliminated all hospital charges. In terms of education, there are free primary schoolbooks.

In terms of primary schools, there are free hot school meals. These are measures that matter. We have expanded the back to school allowance and so on.

In terms of the fuel allowance, we expanded that.

The Deputies have to keep interrupting because they do not like the truth, but 450,000 working families benefit from the fuel allowance. We brought in the working family payment within that. We have done very effective, targeted measures, including free contraception, HRT, and going right through the health services.

These all reduce the cost of living for working families. Sinn Féin chooses to ignore that.

I welcome at long last that Sinn Féin has acknowledged that there is a war in the Middle East. That is progress from its perspective-----

-----but I do not accept Sinn Féin's approach to how to resolve the issues for people.

I fundamentally disagree with the Deputy's proposition. The State is investing the majority of funding in housing right now and has been for the last three to four years.

Deputy Bacik's presentation, saying that we are favouring the private market, does not add up. There are record levels of State investment, nearly up to €10 billion this year.

They are not tax breaks at all. Come on, the Deputy knows it. That is untrue. Let us have an honest debate about it. The only thing Labour has produced in its policy responses is a State housing development agency. That is all. Not one paragraph in it is fleshed out at all, as far as I can see.

I will make this point to the Deputy. Thirty-six thousand houses were built last year. Supply is the key here. Labour keeps opposing measures that will add supply. The Deputy talks about an eviction ban. She said it would slow down homelessness. It would slow down supply, and did slow down supply. Be in no doubt that supply is the key. We need to get to 50,000 houses a year.

That needs to be balanced with public sector investment and private sector investment. "Private sector contribution" should not be seen as a dirty term, as some on the left see it.