It is shocking and shameful that in one of the richest countries in the world, one in seven households cannot afford to heat their homes or pay their energy bills. Some 400,000 households went without heating during the past 12 months. Many of those who are struggling with that - it is 64%, according to the ESRI - do not get any assistance at all because they are over the threshold for the fuel allowance. Will the Minister do anything about that to help people who are getting no assistance and who cannot pay their …

Any of the improvements made since 2024 have been wiped out by Trump's warmongering and the profiteering of energy companies. The situation is set to get worse. The proof of that is that more than 500,000 households are currently in arrears on either their gas or electricity bills and that a massive chunk of people, in the region of 60%, who are suffering and will struggle even more this winter than last are not eligible for the fuel allowance. Last night, the Government made the shameful decision to vote down our …

Yes, but 60% of people suffering energy poverty do not get it and that situation is going to be worse this winter because of Trump’s warmongering - the man for whom the Government rolled out the red carpet in the past week or so. While it seems the Government is not willing to extend the fuel allowance to those who need it, it wants to continue to give €1 billion a year to data centres so that they can get energy at half the price of the people who cannot turn on the heating this winter. It is unbelievable. It show…

I welcome the fact that the Deputies have given us an opportunity to discuss the cost of living crisis and the energy price hikes, but I will repeat what I said last night: shame on Deputies, some of whom have put forward this motion, for expressing support for Donald Trump and his rotten agenda, which is directly responsible for the energy and fuel price hikes inflicting misery on hundreds of thousands of people, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in arrears and unable to pay their gas and electricity bills o…

Bringing this Bill before us is an admission by the Government that it has failed, and is failing, tens of thousands of the most vulnerable children in our society. Introducing the Bill, the Minister indicated she was mindful of that failure by referring to the unacceptable waiting lists for assessment of need. She talked about the frustration felt by parents and families and the impact on children. However, the Bill she has put forward does absolutely nothing to address that. She did not even bother to explain wha…

Not agreed.

We need an urgent debate this week on the threat of an armed march going through the Garvaghy Road to Drumcree Church at the weekend. I met with the Garvaghy Road residents yesterday. That mostly Catholic area is gripped with fear and anxiety that after 28 years of not having to face these triumphalist sectarian marches that have incited loyalist killings and led to sectarian violence, what is due to happen at the weekend will drag their area and the North back into sectarian conflict. This matter needs to be debat…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Bill. People Before Profit is happy to support it. We would go further. We think price caps - and we have said this for some time - need to be imposed on home heating oil, petrol, diesel, electricity and gas. Our proposal is to bring the price of kerosene back to €1 per litre by imposing price controls that would eliminate the nearly 70% increase that 700,000 households in this country have had to endure as a result of Donald Trump's actions. Shame on people in this House…

There has been no change. We have always been against carbon tax.

With huge numbers of households struggling with the hikes in electricity and energy costs, how does the Government think it is okay for ordinary working people and householders to pay twice as much per unit of electricity as the billionaires who own the data centres in this country? Now that it is clear it is not going to do so, how can the Government honestly justify not supporting imposing a levy on those billionaire owners of the data centres so that we can give a serious break, €500, to every household to help …

Not for the data centres, it is not.

They are.

I move: That Dáil Éireann notes: — in 2025, data centres consumed 23 per cent of electricity and this is projected to increase to 30 per cent by 2030, far in excess of the three per cent of electricity consumed by data centres in Europe; — data centres account for 88 per cent of increased demand for electricity since 2015 and now consume almost as much electricity as every home in the state; — over 120 data centres are operating in the state, a concentration that is at least 10 times higher than the European per ca…

Donald Trump, not the Middle East.

I start by saying this to everybody who is impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, the cost of energy, childcare, the failure of wages to keep pace with the cost of living, inflation, the cost of groceries and by the inequity we see highlighted in this motion and to those who are suffering as a result of the cost-of-living crisis as opposed to those who are profiteering out of it, they should get out on the streets this weekend and demand a change in this Government's priorities in advance of the budget. Those who a…

People are struggling with the cost of living, including the cost of getting in and out of work and of transport generally, and we need to increase the number of people using public transport for climate reasons. The Government's response is to increase fares to make the cost-of-living situation worse for people and to reduce the number of people using public transport. The first point is self-evident: the 15% increase is a significant hit for people who use public transport, particularly working people who use it …

Of course we need to dramatically increase the investment in public transport. We are more than in favour of this. The absence or inadequacy of public transport in many parts of the country, and particularly in rural Ireland, is an absolute disgrace. The idea it should be paid for by hiking up fares for people struggling with a cost-of-living crisis in a way that the NTA itself says will deter people from using public transport is unbelievable. It has admitted that for every 10% increase, 3% fewer people will use p…

What do bravery and principle and honouring this country's traditions of opposition to colonialism look like? They look like the actions of Aaron Rowe and Beoga and other artists who at considerable costs to themselves have dropped out of Ed Sheeran's US tour in solidarity with the people of Palestine. Aaron Rowe, who is from Monkstown Farm in my area and whom I am proud to say I know, said: I need to be true to myself and my ancestors who resisted colonisation and fought for a freedom that I enjoy today in Ireland…

These artists are-----

I have asked the Taoiseach repeatedly about the social housing income thresholds. We have had promise after promise that something is going to be done about them. Every single week, pretty much, people are coming to me who find that they have been on a housing list for five, ten or 15 years, all that time waiting, and then because their pay marginally increases, they go over the threshold and all the time is gone. They are left in limbo but their income is not enough to be able to get cost-rental or affordable hous…