Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Sinn Féin motion and the opportunity to discuss in the House again the cost of living and the impact it is having on people.

Tomorrow, Social Justice Ireland will give a presentation in the audiovisual room. It would be well worth going to as Social Justice Ireland always has sharp analysis of what is happening to people at the bottom of our society. It is a measurement that often gets ignored when we look at the figures churned out by the Government. We are still in a cost-of-living crisis. According to the ESRI, average household expenditure has more than tripled since the start of 2021, in four years. Has anyone seen a tripling of their wages or income, including social protection finances in three years? They have not. In order to keep the wolf from the door and their heads above water, those at the bottom cannot continue to carry this burden of increases in their cost of living. According to Amárach research, almost 40% of adults believe their financial situation has worsened even more since the beginning of 2023. This is reflected in many of the cutbacks families face. Amárach also found that 60% of parents say their wages just about cover monthly expenses, such as rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries and childcare, with little or no money left for social activities, savings or emergencies. Those social activities include sports, leisure and external education for children. We need appropriate Government intervention and implementation of price controls, especially when it comes to the necessities of life. This is one of the necessities of life.

The Government has the legal power to impose an order but refuses to use it because, it appears, controlling prices would mean the profits of large energy companies and private institutions that control the necessities in society will have to take a hit and we cannot tolerate that, can we? It is clear that this Government is a slave to the belief that it cannot interfere in the market. The result has been a governing approach that takes little account of the social issues and suffering as more and more families find the further price increases unmanageable. Given that we, in this country, give multinational corporations all kinds of tax breaks and monetary incentives to operate and stay here, we should at least make sure that cost-of-living crises do not get worse for the majority of the population.

We have seen significant increases in energy prices over the years. The Government claims that increases in gas and electricity prices are due to market forces. However, instead of properly regulating the energy sector or even taking key energy companies into public ownership to be run under a not-for-profit mandate, the Government has bailed them out in the past two years by giving households energy credits. Remember the day when we ran the ESB under a not-for-profit mandate. Remember the revenue it returned to the Exchequer, while we also had the lowest energy costs for households in Europe. It appears the Government has enough money to subsidise large private energy suppliers but not to help its citizens.

The Government already increased petrol and diesel prices in April and has planned increases for August and October. It will be entirely due to the Government imposing unnecessary taxes on working people that families who are already struggling cannot make ends meet. The planned restoration of the fuel excise duty is a cruel and unnecessary practice, especially when the Government is already making a lot of money from corporation tax and has run budget surpluses in the past two years and will potentially again this year. In the current economic environment, I wonder if it absolutely necessary to reinstate the excise duty on fuel and what are the benefits of implementing it this year. Have any risk assessments been done to estimate the societal impact of reinstating this tax, particularly on the poorer sections of society? I suspect this tax on fuel will increase other cost-of-living overheads and make workers and families more at risk of poverty.

Instead of imposing additional taxes on people, there should be legislative measures to cap petrol and diesel prices and implement a maximum price per litre. My party, People Before Profit, introduced a Bill on energy price controls in 2022, to amend the Consumer Protection Act 2007 to help people with rising costs. It was rejected by the Government. Instead of imposing fuel taxation, we should legislate to facilitate maximum price control.

I also want to see further tax measures on the fossil fuel industry. We have been informed the Government is willing to look at additional taxes on the fossil fuel industry. When will see that implemented? The fossil fuel industry is not only responsible for significant environmental damage and the deteriorating climate, it is also heavily taxed. With this multibillion euro industry, we see no reason a carbon tax needs to be imposed on ordinary people. I was a member of the committee that looked at the climate Bill and we vehemently opposed the introduction of a carbon tax on ordinary people, supposedly to change their behaviour. It has not worked. The behaviour of people who do not have any choice but to get into their cars or heat their homes cannot be changed if they do not have access to public services or cannot afford retrofitting. A motion was overwhelmingly passed by the committee that the Minister for Finance, who was Deputy Donohoe at the time, would examine the possibility of an additional tax on the profits of the fossil fuel industry to facilitate the retrofitting of homes. Do I believe that ever happened? No, I do not. However, it is still on paper in that climate report and it is still one of the motions that was passed by the majority of elected representatives of the Seanad and Dáil.

The other issue I continue to pursue is free, frequent public transport. If we were to implement it, we would take many people out of their cars. It has to be more frequent and reliable, but with the determination to do it and make it free, we could utterly change the nature of transport, the cost of living and the atmosphere, climate and air quality. This measure has been proven in 100 cities and locations on the planet, but the Minister responsible rejects it as nonsense and says that people would make too many unnecessary journeys. In other words, they would have nothing better to do than stay on the bus or train all day. It is a terrible response to a sensible, modern measure that is increasingly popular throughout the world.

I welcome and support the motion that the tax on fuel should at least be postponed, if not abolished. Too many people, including families and small businesses, are struggling to cope with rising energy prices. This reinstatement of the fuel tax will make life much more difficult for many people. I urge the Minister to reconsider reinstating the fuel tax and to properly evaluate the cost-benefit analysis of his plan and how it will affect society. I also urge the Government to investigate and take on board the motion and the idea of taxing the profits of the fossil fuel industry in order to scrap the imposition of carbon tax on ordinary people and put it back on the culprit of the damage that is being done to the planet.

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