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 chomhbhrón ó chroí in iúl do Tim, Aisling agus Paul, do chlanna Jarvis agus Uí Bhraonáin uilig, dá teaghlach, dá cairde agus do gach duine atá faoi chian ina diaidh. Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.
After weeks of turmoil, protest and public anger over soaring fuel prices, what is most striking is that the Tánaiste's Government is still not listening. Right across the State, over 750,000 households rely on home heating oil to keep their homes warm. For them, this crisis is not abstract. It is immediate and it is punishing. It is the difference between heating their home or going without. Despite everything that has happened over the past number of weeks, the protests, the pressure and the clear message from workers and families right across this State, the Government still has not reduced excise on home heating oil by a single cent. There is nothing. The Tánaiste now expects a pat on the back for not increasing the carbon tax on home heating oil in a fortnight's time. Instead, he will impose that increase in the very depths of winter. For families already stretched to the brink, that is no relief at all.
What does it say about the Government that, after weeks of anger and hardship, it still does not get it? The Government still simply does not understand the lives people are living. It does not understand the fear of a bill landing that cannot be paid, the quiet dread of a cold home or the constant calculations required just to get through to the end of the week. There is a complete lack of urgency, of empathy and of basic understanding from the Government.
What we have seen is not just inaction, but a pattern of behaviour that poured fuel on this crisis. Last week, members of the Government chose to insult, demean and even threaten those who took to the streets. These are people who were left with no choice but to rise up out of desperation because their livelihoods are being decimated. That is the reality. They are seeing cut after cut and price rise after price rise and they felt they had no other option but to take a stand. Now, to add insult to injury, many of those same workers are returning home to find parking fines landing through their letter boxes. This is the wrong response. It is a response that punishes people who are already pushed to the brink. These are people who did not have money last week and they are now being asked to fork over hundreds of euro for parking fines.
For goodness' sake, where is the common sense in all of this? Has the Government learned nothing over the last week? It is it not listening to where people are at? Is it any wonder that this Government is so detached from people's lived realities? It is staggering. The Government refuses to act on the issue of home heating oil. It dismisses and belittles those in hardship. It makes life even harder for many of those same people. I will ask the Tánaiste a direct question. How does he justify the decision not to decrease excise duty on home heating oil by a single cent? Given all that he knows about people being pushed to the pin of their collars and going without heat in their homes, why does the Tánaiste, as Minister for Finance, simply ignore those people, refuse to listen to them and refuse to act on their behalf on the issue of home heating oil?
