Spoof, bluster and Don Quixote: Insults fly in Dáil over energy crisis

By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association

The Taoiseach has been compared to Don Quixote and accused of being “frightened by windmills”, as Leaders’ Questions saw insults fly over the energy crisis.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who said “the urgent need for an emergency budget grows by the day”, told Micheál Martin that families are “under huge pressure” due to the cost of groceries, fuel, insurance and energy bills.

She said: “People are sick of the Government standing back as they take hit after hit.

“It will not take on the energy companies to get the prices down. It will not provide energy credits to help households with bills and it pushes back against the immediate need for an emergency budget.

“We have a do-nothing Government led by a do-nothing Taoiseach.”

McDonald told Martin he could deliver an emergency budget, provide energy credits to households and give people “the lifeline they desperately need”.

He told McDonald: “The Government from the Budget onwards has focused on investment and services and alleviating pressures on families, and will continue to do so.

“We acknowledge that there are significant pressures on people because of a range of issues, not least the impact on fuel prices arising from the Middle Eastern war, which follows the tariff issue, which follows the situation with the invasion in Ukraine and the post-Covid inflationary cycle that occurred then.”

Martin said there was a need “to be careful” as continued Government spending would have an “inflationary impact”.

He said the “other mechanisms” would be available in the Budget to help people over the winter period, including tax measures.

McDonald said Martin had not provided an answer about assistance coming before October’s Budget, stating: “All you offer is spoof and distraction.

“Well, nobody’s going to buy that, Taoiseach, because people have to live with the realities of the here and now.”

Martin replied: “No disrespect, deputy, to you and your party, but you are the personification of spoof and bluster.”

Labour leader Ivana Bacik told the Taoiseach his words of sympathy for struggling families were “meaningless” because he was “failing to take action to cut energy costs”.

She added: “You’re hunting with the hounds and running with the hare – and the hare’s got your brains too, it seems, because we see a harebrained notion from Deputy James O’Connor that nuclear somehow represents a solution to the crushing cost of energy here.”

Bacik said nuclear energy takes 15 years to come on stream “in countries with a planning system that actually works”, as she called for focus on “rapid delivery of renewables”.

She described Martin’s Fianna Fáil party as the “Don Quixote of Irish politics”, stating: “You’re frightened of windmills.”

Bacik added: “What else can explain the delay? There’s so much more we could do. It’s not just wind energy – plug-in solar, enhanced battery capacity. Renewables can drastically reduce household bills, and we need them to cut emissions and to meet climate goals too.”

Martin accused her of misleading the House in her characterisation of the Government’s approach to renewables, replying: “We’ve been driving renewables for quite some time, over many successive governments.”

He questioned: “Why do you exaggerate and make silly statements about Don Quixote and all that kind of nonsense?”