Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil begins with Mary Lou McDonald reading some of the 1,000+ replies received to an online call for stories about the cost of living. “The house is on fire, Taoiseach, and people can’t wait seven months for a fire brigade that might not come.”
The Taoiseach in reply says the Government has brought forward concrete and substantial measures to address the cost of living, but SF's proposals are without substance. Also says the problems are global in source
Then the word "batshit" makes its debut into the Dáil lexicon thanks to Labour's Alan Kelly, raising last Sunday's Business Post scoop, and explicitly asks if the Government will meet its official targets for recruitment
Taoiseach takes issue with covert recordings of civil service meetings, saying people are 'entitled to brainstorm'. Speaks at some length about natural challenges in health reform but not directly to the substance of the taped meeting
On second attempt Taoiseach gets into the substance, and says the original proposal to recruit 10,000 new people into health service this year - as opposed to apparent 'real' target of 5,500 - actually came from within the HSE itself
Richard Boyd-Barrett - by way of raiding issue with the cost of living - ends up in a partisan sparring match with the Taoiseach over the USC and how the country could pay for all the stuff PBP want while opposing the taxes to fund them
RBB: "It's ok for their pockets to be rifled to pay unaffordable bills, unaffordable rents, unaffordable food prices… it's always possible to loot their pockets but never affordable to put extra tax on people who can afford it"
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
