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

I thank Oxfam for the annual report it publishes in the run-up to Davos highlighting the obscene and growing wealth inequality in our world. This year's report is entitled Profiting from Pain and it shows how billionaires have, quite literally, profited from the pain of ordinary people. One thing the report highlights, which the Government does not like to talk about, is the fact that while energy bills are going through the roof for ordinary people, contributing to a massive cost-of-living crisis, the five largest energy companies have made $2,600 in profits every single second. That means that in the time it takes us to have this debate, those energy companies will make a profit of over €2 million. The Government refuses to tackle the profiteering of energy companies and refuses to introduce what both we and Oxfam have called for, which is a windfall tax on the super war profiteering of these energy companies. We call for price controls to stop the energy rip-off and the Government rushes to the defence of these poor, defenceless billionaires. That is why we need a left Government that fights for socialist policies and defends workers, not billionaires. The report reveals that the nine billionaires in Ireland increased their wealth by €16 billion in the last two years. That is absolutely obscene. While ordinary people were struggling to get by, people like Larry Goodman and Denis O'Brien were making a killing. The Irish oligarchs increased their wealth by 55% during Covid but there was not a single new tax on this vast wealth. What more evidence does the Government want that this economic system is rigged? It is rigged by the 1% for the 1%. We agree with Oxfam. We have been calling for a tax on the wealth of these billionaires for some time.

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