Léiríonn an tuairisc a d'fhoilsigh Bonkers.ie inniu go mbeadh aon socair a chuirfear ar fáil sa bhuiséad slogtha suas ag arduithe praghsanna. Tá go leor daoine óga ag smaoineamh ar imeacht thar lear ar thóir saol agus todhchaí níos fearr. Is í an cheist mhór ná cad a dhéanfaidh an Rialtas sa bhuiséad chun an saol a dhéanamh níos inacmhainne?
We are now less than two weeks to budget day. The main thing on people's minds is the runaway cost of living, and the big question is what the Government will do to get costs under control and help households keep their heads above water. Prices keep going up, the bills keep coming in and people are really sick of being ripped off. This morning we hear that the pressure on workers and families is set to increase in the next few weeks. An analysis published by Bonkers.ie shows that households will have to pay out over €1,000 just to cover the list of price hikes that have already been announced. I refer to hikes in gas and electricity costs, health insurance, PRSI, mortgage repayments and streaming services. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, and Simon Harris therefore simply cannot come in here on 6 October and roll out yet another budget that fails to tackle the cost of living and leaves working people behind.
To be clear, the Government's failure to tackle the affordability crisis has real consequences. Yesterday, the National Youth Council of Ireland published a startling report. It revealed that seven in ten of our young people are considering leaving Ireland. The biggest factor driving this sentiment among our young people is their inability to live an affordable life here. That is a damning indictment of more than a decade of Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael partnership Governments - budget after budget, decision after decision, short-changing working people and short-changing our young people. Young people have had it with being left at the back of the queue because our young people are smart and they get it. They hear from the Government that the economy is strong and the surpluses are large, yet they cannot get their start. They know also that while they are losing out, people at the very top are benefiting. They need to know that things can be different, that this is where they belong, that this is their country, that this is their home and that things can be better. Life can be affordable in Ireland, and this has to start with the budget.
The Government is floating and leaking a lot, but last night, in real terms, it faced its first test. It had the chance to back a Sinn Féin proposal to cut the cost of home heating oil by removing carbon taxes but it blocked that proposal and it failed that first test. It chose instead to let 700,000 households keep taking the pain.
Does the Minister accept or even recognise that the Government's policies have left young people behind? Does he accept or even recognise that its decisions leave working people behind? Does he accept or even recognise that households simply cannot afford another Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael budget that delivers simply more of the same?
