Níl dabht ar bith ach go bhfuil an ghéarchéim sa chostas maireachtála ag tiomáint níos mó agus níos mó teaghlaigh go dtí pointe na bochtaineachta, agus nár oibrigh an méid atá déanta ag an Rialtas go dtí seo. Tá rudaí ag dul ó olc go holc agus tá daoine ag streachailt chun íoc as earraí riachtanacha. Tá sé in am do cháinaisnéis éigeandála, a chuirfidh airgead ar ais i bpócaí gnáthdhaoine na tíre seo. The soaring cost of living now has many workers and families at breaking point. On radio this morning we heard testimonies from people who face heartbreaking choices to make it to the end of the week. We heard about families having to go without breakfast, children going without cereal. We heard of a mother talk of her child, saying he has a hole in his shoe and having to tell him he will have to wait for another pair. Parents spoke of the pressure they feel when their children come home and tell them they are going on a school tour. A child going on a school tour should not be a household crisis, but it is for too many. But this is now the hard experience of so many people.
The cost-of-living crisis is pushing more and more people to the edge of poverty. Food poverty is now a feature of life for an ever-growing number of children. The growing need for foodbanks is a stark testament to this reality right across the State. A foodbank in the midlands is now feeding up to 5,000 people and it expects that figure to rise to 15,000 over the next period. Those who never thought they would need such help are now standing in queues waiting to be fed by charities. People are working long hours, and the soaring costs mean that they simply cannot get by. It is soul-destroying.
As families keep an eye to every euro they spend, yesterday the Taoiseach told them to prepare for a rocky road ahead, to be ready for a new era of high fuel and energy costs. This is astonishing because workers and families have been walking the rocky road of extortionate fuel and energy costs for the best part of a year now. To tell people, as he did, who are already struggling to pay their bills that they will have to tighten their belts even further is painfully out of touch, while at the same time ruling out from him as Taoiseach further Government action until October at the very earliest. Does this Government understand the pressure that real families and workers are under right across the State? We are talking about households who have to deal with rip-off rents, food prices that are increasing sharply, big energy bills and childcare fees that cost a second mortgage for many. People cannot catch their breath. They cannot catch a break. Many are having to choose between having lunch or filling the car to go to work, and now prices at the pumps are shooting up once again.
The Government's approach to this crisis has failed. It has been piecemeal, slow and sluggish and its measures have not made a dent in the costs people face. So now is the time for a real and comprehensive plan of action. We need a mini budget right now aimed at getting costs down right across the board. There is room within the public finances for the Government to act, and it is not just me and Sinn Féin saying that. That is also the view of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and also the view of the Central Bank, so you need to listen. You need to listen to what families have been saying on "Morning Ireland" this morning, families who are coming to all our constituency offices. They are telling you loud and clear, they cannot hang on for another five months. The Taoiseach and his Government need to understand where people are at. They need to do what is necessary and to bring forward a mini budget to deal with this crisis.
