No, I have not.

Today, front-line emergency workers are on strike. Paramedics, advanced paramedics, specialist paramedics, emergency medical technicians, EMTs, and supervisors are all on strike. People who save lives are on the picket line. They stand there as a result of the Government's refusal to resolve long-standing issues relating to pay and conditions and staffing. Ambulance workers do not want to be on strike; they want to be at work helping people and saving lives. The Government, however, forces them to fight for respect…

There is the problem in a nutshell. The Government is blind to the expertise and skill of those who save lives every day. It asks ambulance workers to upskill and then refuses to pay for the upskilling properly. Is iad Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael atá freagrach do staid na seirbhíse otharchairr inniu. Is teip ghlan é nár chuir siad pá cóir ar fáil d'oibrithe. D'fhág siad iad gan aon rogha. Ní féidir leanúint mar sin. Caithfidh an Rialtas idirghabháil a dhéanamh chun teacht ar réiteach láithreach. The Government's ina…

Because you have.

I am sorry a Cheann Comhairle but the question was put to me.

If everything is so hunky-dory, why are they on strike? Is the Taoiseach trying to suggest that the ambulance workers are wrong? Is he trying to suggest they are imagining the circumstances they are in? Here is the core dishonesty in the Taoiseach's reply. This situation has dragged on for six years and the Government has demonstrated an absence of good faith and respect. It asked the paramedics to step up. It asked them to upskill, to retrain and to take on greater responsibilities. They have done all of that. The…

The Government has on three occasions taken a confrontational approach to workers-----

-----namely with the SNAs, the agricultural contractors and farmers.

It is now taking the same approach with the ambulance workers. When will it act in good faith with these people?

And what?

Never mind me, what about the workers?

The Taoiseach did not just live through it. He-----

The urgent need for an emergency budget grows by the day. In the past week, we have had report after report all saying the same thing: this crisis is getting worse. This morning, we heard that rising prices hit the average household by close to €2,000 a year. Families are under huge pressure to keep up with the cost of groceries, fuel, insurance and energy bills, and €2,000 is a lot of money for those working families. For many, it is the difference between staying afloat or going under. The big question everyone i…

The Taoiseach acknowledges on the one hand go bhfuil daoine is teaghlaigh faoi bhrú, that people are under pressure. He acknowledges the stress that people are living with daily. I am sure the Taoiseach accepts the figures and facts presented to him of over 300,000 households in arrears, of energy prices, including gas and electricity, rising again and of people here already spending more than anyone else across Europe on their electricity costs. He acknowledges all of that but then when the obvious question is ask…

When will the Taoiseach intervene? He really is a do-nothing Taoiseach-----

-----or else he is just so incredibly indifferent-----

-----to the reality of people's lives.

Does he listen to people?

Does he hear what people are living with?

Pardon me?