Rose Conway-Walsh: Government Abandoned Families in Fuel Crisis
Rose Conway-Walsh addresses the Minister, accusing the government of abandoning households during the fuel crisis and calling out inadequate relief measures for home heating oil. She outlines Sinn Féin's demand to remove carbon tax and excise on home heating oil and highlights the impact on carers, people with disabilities, and rural communities.
Rose Conway-Walsh details how 750,000 households that rely on home heating oil are being left exposed by what she calls half measures. She emphasises the strain on families, small businesses, farmers, hauliers and workers who face soaring fuel costs.
Conway-Walsh criticises the government's limited cut to the NORA level and condemns the absence of ministerial engagement at fuel protests in Mayo. She highlights a worrying escalation when the Minister for Justice reportedly threatened to deploy the Defence Forces against peaceful protesters.
The speech centres on the impact for carers, home helps, community health workers and people with disabilities, who have been left worse off in the last budget and now cannot afford fuel to reach patients and communities.
Conway-Walsh reiterates Sinn Féin's proposal to remove the carbon tax and excise on home heating oil, framing it as the necessary step to protect rural households and essential services. She urges the government to stop propping up inadequate measures and to respond to the pleas of ordinary people who are struggling to get by.
Who is affected
Rose Conway-Walsh details how 750,000 households that rely on home heating oil are being left exposed by what she calls half measures. She emphasises the strain on families, small businesses, farmers, hauliers and workers who face soaring fuel costs.
Government response criticised
Conway-Walsh criticises the government's limited cut to the NORA level and condemns the absence of ministerial engagement at fuel protests in Mayo. She highlights a worrying escalation when the Minister for Justice reportedly threatened to deploy the Defence Forces against peaceful protesters.
Vulnerable groups and services
The speech centres on the impact for carers, home helps, community health workers and people with disabilities, who have been left worse off in the last budget and now cannot afford fuel to reach patients and communities.
Sinn Féin's position and consequences
Conway-Walsh reiterates Sinn Féin's proposal to remove the carbon tax and excise on home heating oil, framing it as the necessary step to protect rural households and essential services. She urges the government to stop propping up inadequate measures and to respond to the pleas of ordinary people who are struggling to get by.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Other speeches
Tego samego dnia All speeches from this day →
Michael Fitzmaurice
Michael Fitzmaurice: Rural Ireland and contractors left behind
Brian Stanley
Brian Stanley: Minister Turned His Back on Ordinary Workers
Richard Boyd Barrett
Richard Boyd Barrett: Profits Over People on Jet Fuel Tax
Charles Ward
Charles Ward: 'Absolute disgrace' - Govt ignored Donegal
Timmy Dooley
Timmy Dooley defends farmers, criticises opposition motion
Hildegarde Naughton
Hildegarde Naughton: Rejects No-Confidence, Defends Education Record
Transcript
Go raibh maith agat. Minister, as I speak here this evening, I'm conscious of how deeply disappointed many people from across this country are that this do-nothing government is still in place. People who are struggling to get by, people who cannot afford to heat their homes, families, people with disabilities, children pushed into poverty, people who cannot afford to put fuel in their cars, the carers, the home helps and other workers, small businesses that are struggling to survive. And I want to assure them that Sinn Féin has their backs and will continue to fight on their behalf. So the message I want to send them this evening is don't lose hope. Don't lose hope. I come from a rural constituency where I know all too well that homes are reliant on home heating oil. Once again, you have abandoned these people which are half measures. That's 750,000 households across this country. Over a month ago Sinn Féin proposed the complete removal of carbon tax and excise on home heating oil. Instead you reduced the NORA level by two cents per litre. You said you can have two cents per litre. And that is even before you consider the hardship of people with defective concrete blocks who are watching their homes crumbling, who are looking at the cracks in the wall and the wind coming through it. I went to the fuel protests in Mayo and I didn't see any government TDs there. Instead the Minister for Justice threatened to send the defence forces against our own people. These were ordinary, decent working people and their families. The farmers, the hauliers, the bus drivers, the contractors, the people with disabilities, carers, home helps, participating in peaceful protests and forced into taking drastic action to save their businesses. They didn't want to be there, Minister. They don't want to be on these protests. What were they supposed to do to get the attention of government and have their pleas heard? And they are deeply, deeply disappointed and deeply disappointed about people who are supposed to be independent voices in here who continue to prop up this government. The groups you decide were worthy enough of a meeting with government last week are not the only people who suffered during the fuel crisis. The Meals on Wheels people, the workers, the carers, as I spoke about, these workers covered huge geographical areas in Mayo. One of the workers said to me it feels as though community health workers have been largely overlooked and abandoned by this government. People with disabilities were left high and dry in the last budget. They were left €1,400 worse off. Sinn Féin have been calling for a cost of disability payment to help the most vulnerable in society through the prolonged cost of living crisis. Now these people are faced with soaring fuel costs and no support from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. These carers cannot afford the fuel to put in their cars to go and see the patients that rely so deeply on them.