Government doing ‘diddly squat’ for struggling families, Mary Lou McDonald says

By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association

The Government is doing “diddly squat” to support working families with energy costs, Sinn Féin has said.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told Taoiseach Micheál Martin he had done “sweet feck all” for those struggling in the cost-of-living crisis.

However, the Taoiseach said she appeared to be living in a “parallel universe” by “pretending” the war in the Middle East was not happening.

During Leaders’ Questions on Wednesday, McDonald accused the Government of “indifference” as she said the number of households behind on their electricity bills has “shot up”.

The Sinn Féin leader told the Dail that “316,838 households were behind on their electricity bill in February – that is frightening”.

She added: “More than half of these households are in debt for over 90 days, and the number is growing.”

McDonald said 197 households have already been disconnected this year with others “forced to switch to pay-as-you-go meters”.

She told Martin: “Your Government – Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael – simply shrug your shoulders.

“The crisis didn’t fall out of the sky, Taoiseach – you know, it’s been getting worse.

“So how can you not accept the need for an emergency budget? How can you not see the need for energy credits?”

Martin said McDonald had ignored the fact that the war in the Middle East had resulted in a “major dislocation of oil supply”.

He said: “What is your problem in acknowledging the war in the Middle East? Every day, every week since the war broke out, you keep pretending it hasn’t happened.

“It’s almost as if you’re living in a parallel universe.”

The Taoiseach said the world has a “huge issue” with supply due to the war, on top of earlier shocks from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Martin said the Government had introduced €750 million in measures on top of last year’s “substantial” Budget.

“We’re not ignoring anybody. We’re not holding back. We’ve allocated one of the largest packages across the European Union to alleviate pressures that undoubtedly are on families.”

Martin said universal energy credits would also apply “to the wealthiest in society” as she accused Sinn Féin of not believing in targeted measures.

“You have a by-election coming. You want to win as many votes as you can so you want to say ‘let’s spend four billion euro and give it out to everybody'”.

McDonald said the figure she provided on households in arrears on energy bills pre-dated “Trump and Netanyahu’s attacks on Iran”, which she said she acknowledged “made matters worse”.

She added: “You have allocated diddly squat, sweet feck all for working families. That’s the truth, and families know it.”

The Taoiseach said the Government introduced permanent measures to introduce the cost of living in last year’s Budget, including free primary school books and school meals, as well as expanding the fuel allowance and elimination of hospital charges.