Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Listening to the Taoiseach yesterday, his remarks were striking. He warned workers of a potential wage price spiral. After the horse has bolted and workers are experiencing a reduction in income in real terms, he was saying not to put in for wage rises because they might make inflation even worse. In reality, he attempted to blame workers for the inflation that we are seeing. The truth is that inflation is profit-led, not cost-pushed. Let us look at the real examples, such as energy bills. Everybody acknowledges the rapid inflation of bills. Energia announced today that its profits increased by an astounding 50% last year, making money hand over fist, and the Government is letting the company get away with it. It is price gouging, pure and simple. It is time to tackle the profiteers by imposing price caps on the unit cost of electricity and gas. The Minister has the power to implement these controls. He could do it today if he wished but chooses not to do so.

The privatisation and deregulation of electricity and gas companies in this country has been a disaster. Record profits are being made by energy companies while heating bills are going through the roof. Rather than leading to investment in renewable energy, it has led to more and more money being wasted on advertising, telemarketing, and coming up with a plethora of introductory offers with sneaky fine print, making people unsure of shopping around, which is combined ultimately with higher prices and worse conditions for workers. The energy sector should not be run for profit. It should be brought back into public ownership and run democratically as part of an ecosocialist green new deal.

If the Government will not take action to bring down the cost of living, then workers are left with no option but to fight for pay increases higher than the rate of inflation. Workers across the country would be absolutely right and would have the support of People Before Profit to follow the example of the Dunnes workers who won a 10% pay increase recently. There is no reason other workers cannot do the same. What is needed is workplace organising, building the courage, determination and unity needed. I would say the same to public sector workers who are being told that all they will get is the paltry 1% increase previously agreed. The rapid inflation and the Government's refusal to address it makes those agreements obsolete. A 1% raise is a significant pay cut and it should not be accepted.

Simultaneously, the minuscule increases in the minimum wage are not enough. They also amount to a pay reduction. Minimum wage in this country is a poverty wage. Even working a full 40-hour week on the minimum wage would leave someone below the poverty line, unable to pay rent. No worker should be living in poverty. We need to build a movement to fight for a €15 an hour minimum wage to raise the wage floor and raise wages for all workers in this country. That equates to €600 a week before tax, or just over €30,000 a year, a fraction of what Deputies pay themselves. Many of these minimum wage workers are those essential workers who kept shops opened and kept society functioning in the course of Covid. They got a clap but they deserve a raise.

See this speech in context