Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has indicated the Government will move to help with the cost of living crisis by scrapping some hospital charges for adults, cut the cost of childcare and give public sector workers a pay rise.
The Fine Gael leader was slammed by Sinn Fein TD Matt Carthy who said the State’s response so far did not go far enough.
He said the cost of diesel at the petrol pumps were back at prices, even higher, before the Government stepped in to cut excise duty on fuel in March.
Read More: More than half of Irish renters relying on some form of housing support
Mr Carthy said it was “Groundhog Day” and that workers were deciding against buying lunch so they could afford to put fuel in their car to get them home.
Mr Varadkar said: “We are of course exploring other measures.
“You’ll be aware there's legislation to eliminate hospital charges for children and we'd like to go further again and eliminate hospital charges for adults as well.
“And we're examining what else we can do, for example, the pay negotiations and I started with the government and public sector unions and what we can do around the new pay agreement.
“And while we're a while away from an agreement, I think it's fair to say that we will come to an agreement at some point, and that will mean increases in wages and salaries for public servants to help them with the cost of living and that's happening in the private sector as well.
“Certainly employers that can afford pay increases are doing so.
“And we're also examining what we can do in the area of childcare.
“Childcare is very expensive in Ireland relative to European countries.
“Often, families facing high child care costs are the same families that are trying to pay the rent trying to save for whole young families in particular, working on solutions over the next couple of months that might help them with the cost of child care, that’s something the Government can do as well.”
Mr Varadkar said Further and Higher Education Minister Simon Harris is also working on reducing the cost of education.
He added: “The cost of education is very expensive for middle income families to put one or two kids through college and looking at solutions in those areas as well.”
Mr Carthy said he wanted to know what the Government would do right now to help people and not wait to bring in such measures in October’s Budget.
Mr Varadkar said that no Government is in a position to fully compensate people for the fact that the cost of living has risen by so much.
But the Government has already provided €2.4 billion to help households across the country.
People Before Profit TD, Mick Barry criticised the Tanáiste for travelling to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum in light of the cost of living and housing crisis.
Mr Varadkar responded and said he flew commercial and stayed at a four-star hotel.
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter
