Dáil debates

Wednesday, 14 September 2022

Measures to Assist with Household Bills: Motion [Private Members]

 

8:05 pm

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Households are facing the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. Ordinary workers and families and indeed small businesses cannot take any more and they certainly cannot face into a winter with bills that continue to skyrocket and could cripple them. Households need long-term solutions to this cost-of-living crisis, not one-off measures which will do nothing to fix the root cause of the problems households are facing. It is predicted that households can expect to pay a total of €1,200 for gas and electricity for just two months in winter. That is scandalous and beyond what many families can manage. How does the Government expect households to cope with this? Arís agus arís eile, feicimid go bhfuil an Rialtas rómhall, uaireanta ar luas seilide.

People are put to the pin of their collar. The scale of the response must match the scale of the crisis. The Government currently lacks the vision and ambition to deliver long-term solutions to this crisis, instead preferring short-term measures as useful as trying to fix a broken leg with a plaster. Analysis by The Financial Timesfound that Ireland has the second weakest response of 24 countries, ahead only of Denmark. While the Government expects households to shoulder excessive prices, companies are allowed to enjoy windfall profits. Tá na réitigh ag Sinn Féin. Tá an fhís agus an dúil againn an ghéarchéim seo a réiteach. Táimid ag moladh laghdú ar chostais leictreachais agus gníomhartha chun iad a choimeád síos.

We need to cut and cap. Sinn Féin proposes reducing electricity prices for households and keeping them at 2021 prices from October until the end of February at €1,000, inclusive of VAT and standing charges. Sinn Féin also proposes income-linked cost-of-living cash payments starting at €500 for low-income families and individual tapered gradually to €100 for those on incomes of up to €70,000, as well as a doubling of child benefit as families use a significant amount of energy.

Sinn Féin has the solutions that will give certainty to households in Cork and throughout the country that they will be able to weather this winter without significant financial hardship. It is high time for the Government to take this on board and offer the relief, certainty and protection that families, workers and businesses need this winter.

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