Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I welcome this timely debate. We all listened to the Taoiseach in recent days setting out his new approach that would be fair and inclusive. He has been put to the test and, frankly, listening to the speeches from the Government side, I will not hold my breath for a change of approach.

When one looks at the unemployment figures, there is a serious problem. Nationally, there are approximately 1,600 being added to the live register every week. In my constituency, which is not a particularly remarkable one for job losses, 25% have been added to the live register in a year. That has a significant impact on people's ability to look after their families and to keep going. I am already hearing of people emigrating and that indicates we are in a very different place than we were a year ago.

I welcome the fact that in this motion there is reference to the cost of living and food prices. There is a particular problem with the rise of fuel prices, which are affecting people significantly. Petrol rose by 28% since 2005. The price of diesel has for the first time risen higher than that of petrol even though the time of year would dictate that it would be reduced. I have written to the National Consumer Agency requesting it investigate why this is happening. I listened to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, being fairly wimpish about the issue of petrol and fuel prices and stating what can we do. Perhaps we cannot do anything, but I note that in Australia they have just appointed a petrol commissioner who is to sort out the oil companies and their different approach is interesting.

Today we heard that Bord Gáis Éireann is looking for a 17% to 19% price increase. Electricity prices will follow suit. While that is hitting the householder, and particularly the low income householder severely, the coffers of the Government are bulging with VAT returns. In only four years the amount of money coming from fuel alone in VAT returns has increased by 50% to €970 million, which is phenomenal growth. That money is coming into the Exchequer and meanwhile it is not being returned, particularly to tackle the issue of fuel poverty or to assist people who are trying to reduce their fuel costs in ensuring better energy efficiency. In fact, one statistic I came across today which comes from the Money Advice and Budgeting Service is that two years ago the amount of money owing to utility companies by their clients was €864,000 whereas last year the amount almost doubled to €1.5 million. That is the hidden experience of people on low incomes.

My last point relates to skills development. There is a shortage of qualified people to install energy efficiency changes in houses or commercial buildings. People who have worked in the building sector are ideally suited to carrying out this work. If there was a really good effective scheme to ensure energy efficiency in our buildings and if we retrained these people as installers, we would ensure the Government would meet its climate change targets. Clearly, the Government will not do so and the ESRI has confirmed that today. It also would ensure that people develop new skills that give them the chance of work. It is important that there is less talk about energy and more action. This is an example of an area where the Government can development new skills where they are needed, but what we actually see from the Government in terms of the price of fuel is a fuel poverty strategy. We have nothing at present to protect people on low incomes and it is time that we did.

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