'Nothing but bluster from government on cost of living', says Louth TD

There is ‘nothing but bluster from the government on cost of living’, Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú has told the Dáil.

The Dundalk deputy was speaking during a motion on the cost of living crisis and said that the fact that there was even a debate about it "in one of the richest states in the world says something".

Deputy Ó Murchú said the conversation everywhere is about the "cost of everything and how it has gone through the roof" and ‘"people are not impressed with the lack of action from the government".

He said he was thinking of workers in Euro Giant which is facing liquidation.

Deputy Ó Murchú highlighted how there are not enough "safety nets for all those who fall on worse times", contrasting this with those "in very good circumstances who are constantly looked after", including developers and those in power at semi-State companies.

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He said: “There is no cost-of-living crisis for them and there are no worries about increases for those people. That is the problem."

The Louth TD pointed to the "disaster the Government is going to impose on an absolutely dysfunctional housing market and housing crisis" through the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Bill.

And he spoke about the particular difficulties being faced by people with disabilities, reiterating his call for a cost of disability payment.

He said: “In providing one-off payments, the Government accepted there was a need for a cost-of-disability payment because it made it.

“The other reason I know the Government believes there is a need for a cost-of-disability payment is because there is a review process ongoing at the minute to provide one for next year. The problem with that is that it is no good for those who have to decide whether to eat or heat”.

Food and energy costs are, he said, "going through the roof" and there is "absolutely no solution from government".

He said: “At the very least the Government should do no harm; it should not increase the pain.

“What do we get? We get carbon taxes thrown on those who can least afford them. We have huge energy costs, huge rental costs and huge mortgage costs.

“We have no cost-of-disability payments. We have no solutions and no cost-of-living package from the Government.

“There was no difficulty with cost-of-disability payments and cost-of-living payments before an election, but there is a problem with them now. We need to see action and we have seen nothing but bluster”.