Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I love how the Minister of State selectively quotes reports. Maybe he should quote the ESRI’s report where it states the Government has scope to do more. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, believes more targeted measures could be taken. The Central Bank also states that the Government has that scope.

The taxman has been benefiting from inflation in petrol and diesel prices. As prices have soared over past year, we have seen 12 cent more being accrued in VAT. The VAT take on petrol and diesel has increased by between 42% and 46%.

What I am discussing are temporary measures to give people a reprieve. They would form a small part of an overall targeted package, but they would have a broader application. The Minister of State has acknowledged there are limitations on what the Government can do. We also acknowledge that, but the House has the ability to reduce petrol and diesel prices tonight by 13 cent and 9 cent, respectively. That is a pressure we can remove from many families and workers. Will the Minister of State set out the rationale for why the Government will do not this? If it will not do that, will it take on board any of the other suggestions from the ESRI, IFAC or the Central Bank and introduce something instead of sitting on its hands while families are under massive pressure and more are slipping into poverty, including energy poverty?

See this speech in context