Ruth Coppinger: Dáil One-Hour Reconvening Is Farce
Ruth Coppinger challenges the Tánaiste over the decision to reconvene the Dáil for one hour, calling it farcical and out of touch. She warns this token session ignores urgent cost-of-living pressures facing families now: back-to-school bills, soaring electricity costs linked to data centres, third-level fees and student accommodation shortages.
Ruth Coppinger tells the Dáil that the government has underestimated the scale of the crisis and that a one-hour reconvening on a single issue is inadequate. She argues the move fails to address immediate household pressures that cannot wait for the budget next month.
Coppinger highlights back-to-school costs this week and says one in four parents are already borrowing to put their kids into school. She also points to pending back-to-college fees and a shortage of student accommodation affecting tens of thousands of students.
She draws attention to Ireland's high electricity costs, arguing they rose while data centres consumed resources during the summer heatwave. Coppinger cites civil service findings that data centres have added up to 400 euros to household electricity bills and accuses the government of choosing tech over homes.
Coppinger criticises the government's open-door policy for multinational data centres and high-profile visitors, warning that large security bills and decisions made without parliamentary oversight further sideline families. She concludes that one-off measures will not solve the wider cost-of-living crisis.
Dáil reconvening criticised
Ruth Coppinger tells the Dáil that the government has underestimated the scale of the crisis and that a one-hour reconvening on a single issue is inadequate. She argues the move fails to address immediate household pressures that cannot wait for the budget next month.
Back to school and third level
Coppinger highlights back-to-school costs this week and says one in four parents are already borrowing to put their kids into school. She also points to pending back-to-college fees and a shortage of student accommodation affecting tens of thousands of students.
Electricity costs and data centres
She draws attention to Ireland's high electricity costs, arguing they rose while data centres consumed resources during the summer heatwave. Coppinger cites civil service findings that data centres have added up to 400 euros to household electricity bills and accuses the government of choosing tech over homes.
Political priorities and consequences
Coppinger criticises the government's open-door policy for multinational data centres and high-profile visitors, warning that large security bills and decisions made without parliamentary oversight further sideline families. She concludes that one-off measures will not solve the wider cost-of-living crisis.
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 →
Holly Cairns
Holly Cairns: Government stuck in reaction mode on cost of living
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Slam on 60-Minute Limit amid Cost Crisis
Ivana Bacik
Ivana Bacik: Government Has Money but No Vision on Cost of Living
Michael Healy-Rae
Michael Healy-Rae: Cut Fuel Taxes to Support Rural Ireland
Paul Nicholas Gogarty
Paul Nicholas Gogarty: Wartime Energy Wake-up Call
Richard O'Donoghue
Richard O'Donoghue: Cap Fuel Tax to Protect Families
Transcript
Tánaiste, it's absolutely farcical to reconvene the Dáil for one hour over one aspect of one issue. The government mistakenly thought would be okay and has been proven wrong. You're not reconvening the Dáil to discuss back to school costs facing families this very week. They can't wait for the budget in a month's time. One in four parents are already borrowing to put their kids into school this week. You're not reconvening the Dáil to discuss the back to college fees that are pending next week. The highest in the EU. You're not reconvening the Dáil either for the 50,000 students who can't find accommodation and the many in homeless accommodation of course. And I want to talk about electricity costs. Still the highest in the EU, rising while the data centres guzzled resources during the summer heatwave. And wait till people find out that up to 400 euros of their electricity cost is because your government has thrown Ireland open to data centres to, as has been found by civil servants have told you this, added up to 400 euro onto electricity costs for householders. They've actually told you it's houses versus tech and you've chosen tech. Now the government has an open door policy for billion dollar companies like the data centres and the billionaires Mark Zuckerberg coming to buy a castle in Ireland. And Donald Trump of course, the architect of the cost of living crisis, will get the red carpet rolled out by this government with 20 million I believe being paid for security for that. And the Dáil will have no say over that either because it will happen before it's reconvened. You underestimated the scale of this crisis. You're completely out of touch. Highest electricity costs in the EU. Highest third level fees in the EU. Highest child care costs in the EU and very likely highest health care costs as well. Most GPs have put their costs up to 70 euro over the summer. You're doing nothing about the cost of living crisis. The one-off measures are not going to work.