Eoghan Kenny: Fianna Fáil lecturing on fiscal responsibility?
Eoghan Kenny addresses a Dáil motion on cost-of-living pressures, accusing Fianna Fáil of hypocrisy and demanding urgent support for working families. He highlights rising school transport costs, cuts to energy supports, and proposes targeted measures to ease everyday household burdens.
School transport and parents
Eoghan Kenny confronts new increases in school transport fees and challenges the Minister's focus on support for bus operators rather than the families who now must pay. He stresses the impact on rural parents who struggle to get children to school when education is supposed to be free.
Targeted measures proposed
Kenny outlines concrete proposals: a one-off €100 grocery supplement to child benefit, restoring the €100 cut to the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, and removing state exam fees. He argues these are practical, immediate steps that would help ordinary working people.
Political critique and context
Kenny criticises Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for cutting post-election energy supports while tax cuts favouring profitable industries were implemented. He cites the scale of child deprivation-264,000 children living in households experiencing deprivation-to underline the urgency of intervention.
Consequences for households
Kenny gives examples of everyday pressures, from rising grocery prices to increased waste collection fees, to show how small monthly hikes add up for families already struggling to heat their homes and feed their children. He calls for policy that targets those most in need rather than broad measures that miss many households.
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Go raibh maith agat, Cathaoirleach. Minister, I must say, the irony for a Fianna Fáil Minister to come in here and try and lecture the Labour Party on fiscal responsibility. Unbelievable. You crippled the country and you allowed the Labour Party to try and bring the country back from the brink. And you come in here and try and lecture us on fiscal responsibility. This is a vitally important motion and one that is very timely and it is clear to so many of us in this house that we urgently need intervention to support ordinary working people in this country. I was genuinely shocked when the news came through that there was going to be increases in school transport costs. And you've come in here and told us about a transport support scheme for school bus operators. What about the parents who have to pay for these school bus costs? What about those parents who are struggling to get their children to school, predominantly children in rural areas, who you profess to represent Minister? The issue with education in Ireland Minister, it is supposed to be free and it is quite clear to parents now across the country that it is only free in name. Prior to their general election in 2024, the previous Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael government implemented supports to households to cope with soaring energy bills. Since the election, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have cut those supports from right under families while energy costs rise. These rises affect the lowest income households the hardest, at a time when one in seven children live in households that were below the poverty line, with over 264,000 children living in households experiencing deprivation. I'll repeat that, 264,000 children in this country living experiencing deprivation. Post-election tax cuts for industries that are raking in the money, tax cuts that absolutely nobody in this country voted for. The Labour Party understands many small businesses, farmers and contractors are under pressure and need support. We backed the package, you will see for the fact we voted for it, to support them. But the lack of targeted measures is galling. The example of the Panda Waste Collection Company increasing monthly fees due to the fuel crisis and being outside of the scope of the support package. An increase of €12 a month. This is not nominal. How are you supposed to absorb additional household fees if you are already struggling to heat your home or put food on your table for your children? The cost of groceries in this country has skyrocketed in the last five years. The price of chicken breast has increased from €5 to €12 or more. That increase is a snowball continuing to build. We have proposed to government to provide a one-off €100 grocery supplement to child benefit, restore the €100 previously cut from the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance and remove state exam fees because these are not optional lectures. These are everyday necessities for people. On the face of these, Minister, they are normal. They would help ordinary working people. But Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael have never represented the ordinary working people in this country. You can throw your eyes to heaven all you want, but I know that from a fact. You have never represented ordinary working people in this country. But we profess and we do represent ordinary working people in this country. And by putting forward a mini-budget like this, Minister, with practical, real-life solutions that will help in the here and now and not just throw your eyes to heaven to the people across this country and the families who are struggling to put food on the table for their children.
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