Speaking following Leaders Questions today, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald TD said: 

“The Taoiseach’s refusal to introduce an Emergency Budget to tackle the soaring cost of living will push many families beyond breaking point.

“We have a government that has closed its ears to the plight of workers and families being hammered by an avalanche of rip-off prices and costs right across the board. We are now at a stage where working people cannot afford the very basics. We are talking about clothes for their children, food on the table and a roof over their heads.

“The Taoiseach hiding behind an alibi of complexity is not helping anyone. This is about choices. If the government wants to protect ordinary people from the sharpest edge of this crisis, it will. If it doesn’t, it won’t.  It is as simple and as clear cut as that.

“The fact is that many households face the very real prospect of going under in the next few months if the Government doesn’t act now. This is a state of emergency for households the length and breadth of the country. The only sensible response is for the government to respond with an Emergency Budget before the Dáil rises for the Summer.”