Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Last year, the Government took more in VAT on fuel and energy than in any previous year. That is an incredible fact. Statistics we in Aontú have through parliamentary questions have shown the Government is quids in and making massive amounts in VAT on energy. VAT on electricity last year reached a record level of €381 million, up 40% on 2021. VAT on petrol, diesel, solid fuels and liquified petroleum gas has increased nearly 30% in a year in which families were hit and hurting the most. The Government is taking more in increased taxes than it is giving back in energy credits. That is incredible. The Government is lauding itself for giving energy credits to hard-hit families but is taking more out of their pockets to give them that money.

At the same time, energy companies are making supernormal profits. Shell made a record profit of $40 billion last year. BP reported a record profit of $28 million last year. The ESB made nearly €400 million profit in the first six months of last year. It is an incredible thing to have the State quids in during an energy crisis and these private and semi-State companies quids in while people are suffering so much.

People woke up this morning to the news that wholesale electricity prices fell 41% in the final quarter of last year. Those prices are now 17% lower than in the last quarter before the war in Ukraine. We have the lowest wholesale electricity prices at a time people are being gouged on the electricity prices they are being charged in their homes and when large companies are achieving far lower prices for electricity than the normal family living at home.

This is one of the most unequal and unfair electricity and energy markets to have existed for decades and is happening at a time people are suffering most. The market the Minister of State is standing over, has organised and that exists under his Government is allowing for supernormal profits to be created and massive taxes to be gathered when people are finding it hard to heat their homes, older people are spending half the day in bed to stay warm and people are going to food banks to be able to feed their children. How can the Minister of State stand over that?

I have been trying to work this out. The Government has been so slow and is saying it is difficult to create a fair and equitable windfall tax, yet the Italian Government has created a windfall tax that collected €3 billion last year. The British Tory Government managed to create a windfall tax that collected billions of pounds sterling last year. On the decoupling of the price of electricity from that of gas, the Government has said it cannot do it because it is a European competency but Spain and Portugal have decoupled those prices to make it cheaper for their people. I understand Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have previous in allowing this terrible division to exist but why is the Green Party doing it? Is it in that party’s interest to keep the price of fuel high? Is it that party’s objective to keep high energy costs in the State to reduce the consumption of energy? Is the Green Party putting its objective of reducing fuel consumption ahead of a family’s ability to heat their home?

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