Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A key driver of inflation is the cost of fuel. It feeds into absolutely everything. It is true to say that the issue is EU-wide and that the war in Ukraine has contributed to the problem, but we have our own fiscal tools that we can deploy here to bring inflation under control. The truth is that every country is dealing with the war. However, not every country is like Ireland. We are unique, we are an island and we have almost full employment. Yet, we have not taken one measure to deal with costs. The economist, David McWilliams, has said that we need extraordinary measures in extraordinary times, and we must control the controllables. He said we need to take away the excise on fuel and reduce inflation accordingly.

The Government has instead added tax by increasing the carbon tax, but I do not care what the tax is called. It can be called the carbon tax, the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy or excise. It is tax. Remove it. The tax is causing cost-push inflation and we are getting into a spiral of demand-pull inflation. The Minister is not solving the problem. The proposal to reduce inflation through this measure is a realistic one. Fuel is the lowest common denominator of any economy and even more so in Ireland as we are an island dependent on transport of every kind. We import most of our energy, so we are totally exposed here, yet the Minister has done nothing except add to the cost of living by adding carbon.

The reality is this probably suits the Green Party. Its policy is driving demand destruction because people will have no choice but to stop using fuel and energy, or reduce usage to bare minimums. In response, the Minister will say he is saving the planet. He will say it is a just transition. What is just about people freezing in their homes? What is just about being pushed into abject poverty? What is just about not being able to go to work because it no longer makes financial sense to work, while the price of everything in the supermarket goes up? The Government could, if it wanted to, cut excise on the fuel but it will not. It is gouging the people by increasing taxes instead. Is it the case this so-called just transition we speak of has driven people into penury in rural Ireland? Whatever chance we had of a just transition without a war, we certainly have no chance now. To continue with this high-tax regime when we are, as an economy, extremely reliant on fuel and the transport of goods means this policy will contribute in a negligible way to the world targets on carbon emission reductions while we see our squeezed middle opt for unemployment benefits rather than work. In particular, if the proposal kited this week is anything to go by, the squeezed middle in rural Ireland, where there are no transport alternatives, would absolutely be financial better off to have joined the social welfare queue. Does the Minister realise what is happening?

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