Motorists in Kildare 'paying more than €100 per week for petrol', Dáil hears

Motorists in Kildare are now paying “more than €100 per week” for fuel, a Sinn Féin TD for Kildare South has claimed.

Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh was speaking in the Dáil this week when 'Fuel Prices: Motion' came before the House.

Opening her address, Deputy Ní Raghallaigh declared that both she and the Irish people had lost confidence in the government.

The people of the country, she said, have been “struggling and suffering” with the cost of living for a long time, and the government had not done enough to “reduce the pressure.”

The government, stated Deputy Ní Raghallaigh, is “cut off from the lives of ordinary people”, and must go.

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“My office has been inundated with messages from hundreds of people in Kildare to express their lack of confidence in this Government to handle the current crisis and deliver a decent quality of life for people”, Deputy Ní Raghallaigh said.

“The bottom line is that working people are crippled by rising costs and have been for a long time. The Government has consistently decided to sit back and do nothing. Prices at the pumps have skyrocketed since America's illegal war on Iran began. That is on top of soaring grocery prices, electricity, housing, childcare and insurance costs. None of this was inevitable.

“The Government has failed to act to reduce what are the highest electricity bills in Europe, leaving more than 300,000 in arrears. The Government has failed to do anything about price gouging in big supermarkets. It has failed to cap childcare costs, as promised, in its first year. It has made it policy that renters will face thousands of euro in rent hikes in the next couple of years.”

'Half measures'

Now, said the Sinn Féin TD, it has “short-changed” households across the State with a set of “half measures” on fuel costs and a small cut in excise duty.

The measures, she added, will “not make a dent” in making fuel affordable for Kildare commuters “who are already paying more than €100 per week for petrol.”

The government, she continued, has done “nothing” on home heating oil, leaving carers, elderly people and people with disabilities to choose between heating or eating.

“A woman in Athy told me she was rationing oil and using extra blankets to keep her two-year-old grandson warm at night. This is wrong”, she said.

School transport costs have been raised by the government, which also brought back State exam fees, she pointed out.

“People are struggling and living pay cheque to pay cheque while the Government sits idly by. One man in Kildare town told me that this was affecting not just his quality of life, but his sense of security and stability.

“Not only are our leaders out of touch but they regard ordinary people with arrogance and disdain, as we saw on full display when the Taoiseach refused to meet with protesters to hear their concerns. Tá athrú de dhíth. This Government was only saved today because of a bunch of self-serving, spineless Independents.”