Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

We are in the worst cost-of-living crisis in more than four decades. The price of everything, including basic necessities, is soaring. People all over the country are worrying about how they are going to feed their families and heat their homes. The speed with which prices are increasing and the extortionate levels they are reaching are unprecedented in their scope, scale and catastrophic impact. Even before this crisis, Ireland was the second most expensive country in the EU, with living costs 36% above the EU average. Our housing costs were the highest in the EU. The price of goods and services here were the second highest in the EU and our fuel costs were the fourth highest in the EU.

Today what was a cost-of-living crisis has become a cost-of-survival crisis for a large and growing cohort of our population. We all know what this cost-of-survival crisis looks like. Food costs that are expected to increase by up to €700 per annum. House prices have now exceeded Celtic tiger levels with nowhere near the same recovery for wages. The recent ECB interest rate increase is going to apply even more pressure on already-struggling homeowners. Meanwhile rental costs long ago soared into the stratosphere and are now priced at more than €1,600 per month nationally and an extortionate €2,200 in Dublin. There appears to be no upper limit when it comes to rental prices despite the Government's failed attempts to curb increases with rent pressure zones that are not fit for purpose. Childcare costs are equivalent to a second mortgage for parents and the notion that we have free education once children progress to school is a bare-faced lie. Parents have to fork out up to €1,500 at this time of year when children go back to school just to provide the basics like uniforms, school books, transport and so-called voluntary contributions which schools demand because the Government does not provide sufficient money for them to heat classrooms and keep them clean. Healthcare costs for services like GP care and therapeutic care are another burden that fall disproportionately on families who have children with additional needs and on adults with disabilities.

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Then, of course, there are the energy costs; the primary reason we are having this debate. Energy prices are now out of control, obliterating the incomes of workers and families and threatening the very survival of businesses. It is not just gas and electricity prices that are soaring. A bag of coal, for example, has increased nearly threefold going from €16 up to €45. The cost of home heating oil, which is used by 40% of households, has doubled to €1,400 for 1,000 l of fuel. The stress, pressure and worry these enormous price shocks are causing the length and breadth of the country are truly extraordinary.

Many workers and families are fearful of the future and they are particularly fearful of this upcoming winter. They simply do not have the money to pay the kinds of extortionate bills that are now mounting up month after month. In June, there was widespread shock when the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, revealed that nearly one third of households were experiencing energy poverty. The previous record high for the number of households in energy poverty was 23%, which was nearly 30 years ago. Following further increases in energy prices, the number of households in energy poverty has now reached 43%, which is nearly half the population. This is almost double the previous high in the 1990s. The worst-case scenario, which does not seem beyond reality now and which was outlined by the ESRI to the Government, was that the number of households in energy poverty could climb to 70%. This would be catastrophic. Therefore, the Government must act now to avoid that worst-case scenario becoming a reality.

It is clear that the energy market is broken and when markets are broken, it is the job of the State to intervene. So, what should happen to ensure that those who desperately need assistance get a sufficient amount in as rapid a way as possible? In a crisis like this, which has the potential to do untold levels of societal and economic damage, every policy approach that could provide relief needs to be carefully considered. Nothing can be discounted. Governments across the EU are dealing with similar crises but in countries like Germany, which recently announced a €65 billion support package, we have seen real tangible action. We will have to see commensurate financial firepower used here to ensure that workers and families are protected from the worst excesses of this crisis.

A core part of our approach and a call of the Social Democrats is for a windfall tax. Energy companies are currently making grossly excessive profits on the backs of ordinary workers and families. The Social Democrats have been calling for the Government to act and introduce a windfall tax for a long time now, and it is unfortunate and regrettable that there has been no action from Government on this. The Government waited until the European Commission finally signalled that a windfall tax was warranted before it began to show any interest in pursuing these companies with any vigour. While it is welcome that the EU is now moving ahead with a windfall tax, the Government should have already been ready to act to try recoup some of the obscene profits that are being made on the backs of families.

It is grotesque to see the level of amoral profiteering by energy companies that is accompanying a catastrophe like the war in Ukraine which is causing so much loss of life and destruction. The introduction of a windfall tax must be prioritised and these companies must be pursued. While the windfall profits of energy companies are taxed, the companies whose very survival is threatened by this crisis must be supported by the Government. This will not only protect individual businesses; it will protect the economy ensuring that when this crisis subsides, the economy can bounce back.

We need an energy crisis support scheme using the template provided by the Covid-19 support schemes to ensure that businesses and jobs are protected. Targeted supports for workers that are graduated based on income levels must also be part of the solution. When the Government first announced its €200 electricity credit in December 2021, it said that it was opting for a universal measure. That was against the advice of experts like the ESRI and the Central Bank of Ireland. The Government said it was because it would help it get that money and support to families quickly. We know that was not case, however. It took up to six months for that money and that credit to actually land in people's accounts.

There is no excuse for the Government having sat on its hands for the past year and fail to devise a way to target these payments where they are needed most, which is at low and middle-income earners. Deputies in this Chamber and other high-income earners do not need the same level of support as those on low and middle incomes. I think that is something on which we should all be able to agree within this Chamber. Why then is it proposed that we would receive the same level of support as those on a minimum wage? Why would that credit go to all of us and not be targeted?

It is astonishing that nearly a year after the first energy credit was announced, the Government still has not figured out a way to target those payments to those who need the support most. Spreading resources too thinly will inevitably mean that those on the margins who are struggling to keep their heads above water will be plunged into poverty. A failure to plan is a recurring theme with this Government, or perhaps I should say that plans do not ever seem to get beyond the publication of a new strategy document. The climate action plan is a case in point. The Government prides itself on its alleged environmental credentials but the evidence does not support the sloganeering. The reality is that our emissions are going up while retrofitting targets are looking increasingly fantastical. The waiting list for retrofitting for those most at risk of fuel poverty on the warmer homes scheme is now more than two years. The low-interest loan for retrofitting, which was promised in the spring, still has not materialised and now the Minister is flying kites with regard to banning gas boilers from 2025 despite the fact that those homes need a building energy rating, BER, of at least 2B to get a Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, grant for a heat pump. What planet is this Government on? We need the Minister's climate action to catch up with his climate rhetoric.

We have no idea how long this energy crisis will last but it could be very prolonged. Therefore, we need to massively scale up our renewable energy production, our grid capacity and our retrofitting plans. This does not just mean publishing glossy plans and posing for pictures on bikes. It means resourcing schemes adequately, enabling offshore wind generation and meeting targets instead of missing them. This country's antiquated energy infrastructure and its woeful inability to plan for its future energy needs is the fault of successive Governments, all of which have been led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. This is not a political attack; it is a political fact. That failure to plan and invest is now exacerbating an energy crisis that is causing untold levels of damage. The Government must act now, first with emergency and targeted measures to put out the flames of the cost-of-living inferno and then to actually deliver on the climate action plan.

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