Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Two weeks on from voting down the Labour Party's plans to address the cost of living crisis, the Government will announce some token measures today. The package that is emerging is around €450 million, which is a drop in the ocean compared with what ordinary families are having to grapple with. The official Government advice from Ministers is to shop around for better value but those suffering under record rent prices cannot shop around; they need a rent freeze. Those looking at soaring energy bills that are up by 30% cannot shop around for better deals; they need real intervention. Those in low paid work cannot shop around; they need a pay rise. Those forced to commute back to the office cannot shop around; they need the right to flexible work. Those wondering how they will feed their families know that shopping around will not help when bread, milk and butter are all rising in price, having gone up by between 10% and 15% over recent weeks.

What we know about the Government's cost of living package is that it will not go far enough, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform admitted as much this morning. The Government has already committed to a €100 rebate on electricity bills at a cost of €210 million. If that it is doubled, it will bring it to €420 million. By our calculations, an extra two week's of fuel allowance would cost €21 million, but the Government has not widened eligibility. Figures provided to my colleague, Deputy Sherlock, show that more than 20,000 people who applied for the fuel allowance last year were refused. Already this year, of more than 7,000 applications received, more than 3,000 were rejected. In the budget, we called for eligibility to be extended to an extra 100,000 households, but once again, the Government's response is too little and too late.

Bringing forward the working family payment increase by three months will cost around €6 million to €9 million and benefit over 50,000 families. However, for the hundreds of thousands of families struggling with the cost of childcare, education and healthcare, there is nothing of substance emerging. Instead of investing in public services, this Government is interested in tax cuts, in throwing €600 million at people who do not need it. The VAT windfall was €1 billion ahead of projections. In January alone, the VAT take was €400 million ahead of what was collected in January 2020. We have the opportunity and this is about choice. There has been no shortage of solutions put forward to ease the burden on workers and families.

It is time the Government shopped around for some new ideas. Will the Tánaiste commit to an immediate increase in the minimum wage? Will he admit the budget last October got it wrong? Will he now commit to a real mini-budget that will do more than tinker at the edges and provide real relief to workers and families?

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