Holly Cairns

I'm extremely worried and I think that's an understatement.

You know, we've been in a situation where, in many respects, our economy has been thriving for some time now and there's been record surpluses.

So that was a time to invest in public services, to ensure that there's a ground beneath which people can't fall below to protect from shocks like this.

And unfortunately, we have a government, have had government after government that has squandered that opportunity.

And at a time when we have these record surpluses and a growing economy, we've last year alone, David, 70% of there was a 70% increase in pensioners living in poverty.

The year before that, there was a doubling of children living in consistent poverty.

So all of those opportunities to invest in our services, to protect people from shocks like this, all of those opportunities have been squandered and wasted.

And now we're in a very vulnerable and precarious position.

They can dispute elements of it but they can't dispute the facts and the facts are that the most vulnerable in our society their situation is deteriorating not improving during a time of huge prosperity for this country and that is shameful and it's failed to invest in infrastructure in services that genuinely bring down the cost of living for everybody

And at a time when we're seeing such insecurity and such vulnerability, we're still seeing the government dangling tax cuts months out from the budget at a time when we shouldn't be destabilising our tax base.

So I think we need to see a step change in this government's approach.

And what we would do is, because what we see from a lot of parties in this country and for a long time now, is a promise of tax cuts and a promise to invest in public services.

And of course, we all know that it's not possible to do both in a meaningful way.

So we've always said we would invest in those services.

that would genuinely bring down the cost of living for everybody.

Imagine not having to pay 60 or 70 euro to see a GP.

Imagine having genuinely free education without so-called voluntary contributions.

Imagine having access to affordable childcare.

All of these things would bring down costs for everybody.

And we've always been completely straight with the public that that is what we would do in government.