Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is much discussion across society about targeted measures. I was quite hostile to the idea of the energy credit and I thought it was not a very smart use of finite public resources when it was introduced. The rationale provided by the Government was that it needed to get money into people's pockets very quickly. That being said, we all know and acknowledge that we have a sophisticated tax and social welfare system to perform a redistribution role. If the media reportage is to be believed - or the spinning - it seems we can expect another universal energy credit. It will, of course, by definition disproportionately benefit those who are better off. People who are better off will tend to live in larger properties and consume more energy. By definition, it would be a poorly targeted intervention. It seems the Government is preparing the ground for that kind of energy credit initiative again.

So severe is the matter that I may need to suspend my own reticence about this. The ESRI would initially have been quite hostile to the idea, from what I can recall of what happened in the spring. That was taking the principle of equity into consideration.

The organisation seems to have softened its cough in this regard now though, based on the introductory remarks. IFAC has also been clear that measures need to be targeted. What advice do the representatives of the two organisations have for the Government in this regard? Would they say to avoid this completely?