Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete section 1(a) and substitute the following: “(a) by the substitution in paragraph (a) of “at any of the rates specified in paragraphs (b), (c), (ca), (caa), (caaa), (cb) and (d)” for “at any of the rates specified in paragraphs (b), (c), (ca) and (d),”.

The Minister of State never lets us down; he is talking through his hat again. It is embarrassing when he goes off script. Sinn Féin's pre-budget submission did not include the tax increase the Government plans for Sunday for one third of households right across the State that use home heating oil. Also, our pre-budget submission did not include the additional taxes on petrol and diesel the Government plans for October, which will push up costs again for motorists. That is the reality. That is what the Government plans to do. That is what these votes are about. There are options for people in this House to stop speaking out of both sides of their mouths, pretending they are concerned about people out there who are suffering because of the cost-of-living crisis while at the same coming in here and doing further damage to people in my community, two thirds of whom use home heating oil to heat their homes. The Government's plan is to increase that cost further. That is the reality and those are the facts. I invite the Minister of State, if he wishes to dispute that, to say differently.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on these financial resolutions. The resolutions come on foot of measures announced by the Government with respect to rising energy costs on 13 April. The resolutions, this evening's debate and the votes that will come later concern the rising cost of living and the fall in household incomes that is causing huge anxiety right across this State, in every single community.

I acknowledge that the illegal war in Ukraine has contributed to the high levels of inflation we are experiencing. Furthermore, I acknowledge that not every person can be insulated from every price increase. I and my colleagues in Sinn Féin are well aware of the realities, but we must also acknowledge that households have been dealing with high inflation as far back as last year and the beginning of this year, before the war in Ukraine. We must also acknowledge that where the Government can do more to protect workers and families, it has a duty to do so.

Sinn Féin has been consistent about a comprehensive package of measures that are needed through an emergency budget to support households, to support workers and to support families. We have been consistent in the measures we have called on the Government to implement. It should be noted that the Government announced the measures provided for in these resolutions after the Minister for Finance ruled out any further measures until October. That climbdown is welcome, but what really matters is the measures themselves.

The fact that the Government has not got to grips with the cost-of-living crisis is a fact. It has lost control. Workers and families know it. They feel it in their pockets and see it in their monthly bills. The measures provided for in these financial resolutions come with a stated purpose of offsetting carbon tax increases. It is worth reflecting on how absurd that policy is and just what it means. We have the highest levels of inflation, the highest price rises, in decades, and instead of introducing measures to respond to inflation and the price rises, what the Government is doing tonight and what it is asking us to vote on is a series of measures that respond to its own tax increases. You could not get more out of touch than what the Government is talking about tonight.

Sinn Féin has a solution that is quite straightforward. What about this?

Instead of offsetting the carbon tax hikes that the Government is planning next week, do not increase carbon tax. Instead, it should introduce a suite of measures that actually responds to inflation. That is what families and workers need.

I want to turn my attention to what is absent from these resolutions, to which Sinn Féin has tabled amendments. The first financial resolution pertains to VAT as it applies to gas and electricity for domestic use. This resolution secures a VAT reduction of 4.5% from 13.5% to 9% until the end of October. While I welcome that some action has been taken, belatedly, on VAT, which will provide relief to households, it would be remiss of me not to remind the Minister of State, Government and this House that Sinn Féin has been calling for the Government to engage with the Commission to secure a VAT reduction in domestic energy bills as far back as November of last year. That was six months ago. Those calls were met with derision. Those calls were met with opposition from the Taoiseach and other members of the Government including the Minister of State who is sitting across the floor here. Predictably, the Government changed tack and adopted my party's position, but it did so far too slowly.

I was disappointed to learn that the Government only began formal communications with the Commission to reduce VAT on domestic energy bills in March of this year. That was four months after my party called for action to be taken. I would note that VAT reductions provided for in this financial resolution do not arise from those engagements that happened in March, but from the changes to the VAT directive right across Europe, which took place in December of last year. The Minister of State mentioned that in his opening contribution. It is disappointing and it is unacceptable that in their communications with the Commission, the Government did not seek flexibility for a VAT reduction on home heating oil, at a time when those who use it have seen its cost more than double in the past year.

Sinn Féin’s amendments Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, would provide for a VAT reduction on home heating oil, pending communication with the Commission, because that is what a real Government does. A real Government says: “Our people are under pressure and we need the Commission to act.” They should go in and negotiate. They did not even ask for permission. That is how disgraceful and out of touch this Government is.

I would ask the Government to accept this amendment and get to work, resume talks with the Commission and try to secure flexibility with respect to VAT on home heating oil and reduce it accordingly. Households that are struggling with home heating oil deserve a Government that cares. Workers and families are under massive financial strain, whether it is the cost of renting, the price of childcare, soaring energy and rising food prices. For those who, due to lack of public transport initiatives or alternatives, rely on their car to get to work, to visit the family, to pick up their children or to carry out caring duties, transport costs are high. Petrol prices have gone up 35% in the last year. Diesel prices have gone up by 46%.

While legislation that is currently progressing through the Dáil provides for excise duty reductions on petrol and diesel, there is scope for further reduction under the excise directive. On reducing the price of petrol by 13 cent per litre and diesel by 9 cent, the Minister of State did not say it could not be done but that it could only be done with the suspension of the diesel rebate scheme, which should happen because hauliers still get the benefit of it plus more. Others would also benefit from the 9 cent reduction. Sinn Féin's amendments Nos. 1 and 2 to Financial Resolution No. 2 propose exactly that. They reduce petrol by 13 cent per litre and reduce diesel by 9 cent per litre, which would also be applicable to the hauliers.

Again, I ask that the Government accept these amendments to provide modest relief to hard-pressed households at this time. The single largest increase experienced by households in the past year is home heating oil, which has gone up by 127% in the last 12 months. That figure is more than double. In March it cost €1,700 to fill a tank with home heating oil. Many households right across the State simply cannot afford this. They have been struggling to deal with it and it is fair to say that is being forgotten by this Government. More than one third of households across the State use home heating oil as their main heating fuel. In counties such as Donegal, it is two thirds. These households received no relief. There are no VAT reductions. There are no excise reductions. Indeed, the only thing Government is giving them is a price rise.

There is a deep regional inequality in this regard. Some 69% of households in Dublin use gas as their main heating source. Only 4% of households in the Border counties do so. While 8% of households in Dublin use oil as their main heating source, 66% of households in Border counties do so. Yet, there is no levy and there is no reduction in tax, VAT or excise on home heating oil. Indeed, the Government is putting the prices up. The question has to be asked, what does this Government have against households that are heating their homes with home heating oil? Many families are facing difficult choices. These are choices they should never, ever have to make between heating and eating.

The Government could reduce and can reduce the cost of home heating oil, effectively from Sunday, by supporting my amendment. This is the time for the Government to put its money where its mouth is. This is the time to walk the walk. Government Members should stop telling their constituents they have their interests at heart, when in fact they can actually do something about it, but plan to do the opposite. Instead, the Government plans to increase the price in May through a further carbon tax increase.

Last month, Government Ministers, Deputies, and Senators spread disinformation and misled the Dáil by claiming that there was no excise duty on home heating oil. That was fake news, and it was spread to distract the public from the Government’s inaction. There is excise duty on home heating oil, and we can reduce it this Sunday, but only if the Government and Deputies in this House support the Sinn Féin amendment. If they do not, what will happen? The price of home heating oil will go up on Sunday. That is the reality. It will be a further carbon tax increase. We have listened to Government Deputies attempt to justify their inaction through various comments made with respect to carbon tax, but Government Deputies and this Minister of State should get real.

In the past number of months, the Government has reduced tax on petrol, diesel, gas and electricity, all processed from fossil fuels. To criticise Sinn Féin for calling for a temporary reduction in excise duty is the height of hypocrisy. The Government claimed that such a reduction would deprive the Government of the money that funds social welfare payments. It is simply dishonest. The taxpayer knows that there is no tax in this State that is hypothecated, despite the opening statement of that Minister of State-----

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