Are you saying they are just stupid and not managing their budgets? What are you saying?

They cannot afford their heat.

They cannot afford their heat.

You need to have a bit of cop-on.

You know that excise duty cannot be reduced in the North.

Do not be stupid. You know that. Do not let yourself down.

For God's sake, you know that the North does not have taxation powers.

I raised the crisis in people's homes in terms of their electricity bills with the Minister on numerous occasions. If we were to visualise this, it is 300,000 families. How many times would we fill Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium over and over again with the families who cannot pay their electricity bills? It is absolutely scandalous that people have been left in this situation. Time and again we have put forward the arguments that it was wrong to withdraw energy credits at a time of a cost-of-living crisis. It wa…

I thank the Minister for his response. When he rises again, will he clarify for the House whether he has written to the Commission and asked it for this to be part of its tool? Has he asked the Commission to consider and agree a zero percent rate of VAT on domestic electricity? As he knows, the Commission has published its draft. It said it wanted to engage with member states. I am sure it engaged with the Minister in relation to this. Did the Minister ask the Commission and formally put that proposal to it in rela…

Sometimes I am lost for words in here.

I know. I hear what the Minister is saying but, seriously, I do not know what more we need to do here. These are families. There are 300,000 plus of them who cannot pay their electricity bills. The Minister saying that if the Commission allows us to have a zero rate, we would be happy with that but the Government has not even asked.

It has not even bloody asked the Commission to put this on the table. Last week the Commission asked the Minister and his Department what else they think it should do in this toolbox. The Minister has not even asked. There are families today who cannot pay their electricity bill, and these are people who are working and two income households. The level of arrears they have has increased. We have record numbers in the history of the State who cannot pay electricity bills. The Minister has not even asked.

There is a serious problem here. I do not want to repeat it over and over again but the Government needs to get down from the ivory tower. It needs to understand where people are at. People expect more from a government. People expect the Government to have their back and fight their corner. The Government is not even asking.

The decision was made in 48 hours.

I agree.

The Government withdrew them.

I did not withdraw them.

I agree completely with the Deputy on this question. It is really welcome that this has come down. I acknowledge the Tánaiste's comments on this. We all acknowledge the shared island unit and the work it is doing but the question we need to ask ourselves is whether we believe we are enablers of bringing about constitutional change in a system that operates under the Good Friday Agreement and with consent, and most if not all of the people in this House believe we are. Therefore, we have to do the preparatory work. …

Sula dtosaím, tabharfaidh mé aitheantas do bhás an-bhrónach bean as Gaoth Dobhair i mo chontae féin, Dún na nGall, Moya Brennan. Ba bhean iontach í Moya a raibh croí mór aici. Bhí sí ar dhuine de na daoine ba dhílse agus b'fhírinní a bhí ann riamh. Cara a bhí inti fosta. Ba dhuine de chairdiúlacht agus de chineáltas do gach duine a raibh aithne acu uirthi. Ar ndóigh, bhí glór a tháinig ó na haingil aici. Chuir an glór sin Dún na nGall ar an léarscáil dhomhanda. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis. Cuirim mo chomhbhr…

I really do not understand why the Tánaiste is not listening to ordinary people. There has been an outpouring right across the country. The Tánaiste can wave his graphs all he wants, but he needs to really listen to ordinary people.