Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Today, the Government had the opportunity to give people certainty as they face into a winter of rising costs, including certainty about energy costs, certainty on rents and certainty that those on fixed incomes would be shielded from the price rises that they have seen. The Government had an opportunity to plan for the future and deliver on housing, health and real climate action, but it has not done that today.

Time and again, we have seen Ministers come into this Dáil and deliver budgets that promise much, but ultimately deliver little. Ministers opposite have come today, thrown out large numbers and announced tweaks around the edges of crises our people face. Many workers and families on middle and low incomes will see little change in this budget. Workers and families needed certainty to get through this winter. Low and middle earners needed additional support. The younger generation, locked out of opportunity, needed assurances that the housing crisis was going to be tackled. Instead, there are too many instances of this Government making the wrong choices or deciding on more of the same, with money and tax relief that will be swallowed up by inflation and runaway rents before they can make a difference in people’s pockets.

By refusing to reduce electricity prices and cap them at pre-crisis levels, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party have left households exposed to further price hikes. Renters have been promised a tax credit that is less than the rent increases they have seen every year, with the amount to be pocketed by their landlords, because the Government has refused to ban further rent increases. Many workers on middle and low incomes have been pushed to the bottom of the pile with an income tax package that leaves them short-changed. Households needed certainty and support this winter and ambition to build for the future and deliver on housing and health. Those workers in the squeezed middle, earning €35,000 or less, who should have been a priority, have been pushed to the side. The hopes that many had for this budget have been disappointed today.

Inniu bhí deis ag an Rialtas cinnteacht a thabhairt do dhaoine agus iad ag tabhairt aghaidh ar an ghéarchéim ina bhfuil costais ag ardú. Bhí deis ag an Rialtas pleanáil don todhchaí maidir le tithíocht agus sláinte agus gníomhú ar son na haeráide, ach níl sé seo déanta aige. I gcás go leor oibrithe agus teaghlaigh ar mheánioncam agus ar ioncam íseal, is beag athrú a fheictear sa cháinaisnéis seo agus beidh siad níos measa as an bhliain seo chugainn. Bhí cinnteacht ag teastáil uathu agus ón ghlúin óg atá coinnithe amach as deiseanna, go raibh an Rialtas ag dul i ngleic leis an ghéarchéim tithíochta ach i go leor chásanna, beidh lagmhisneach ar theaghlaigh de bharr cáinaisnéise an lae inniu.

Over the past years, our economy and society have lurched from one crisis to another, from the uncertainty of Brexit to a global pandemic, to a surge in energy prices fuelled by Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. Throughout these crises, our people have had to contend with persistent failures in housing and healthcare provision. Despite uncertainty in the global economy, the public finances are in a strong position to support households and businesses in the time ahead. Yesterday we learned that consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest levels on record, with one in three households just managing to make ends meet. Everything is going in the wrong direction. Inflation, house prices, rents and interest rates are going up. Workers and families face the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation and the biggest fall in living standards since the financial crash. Tá imní ag teacht ar oibrithe agus ar theaghlaigh faoin ghéarchéim costais mhaireachtála is measa le tamall fada agus an titim is mó ar chaighdeán maireachtála ó tharla an timpiste airgeadais.

This cost-of-living crisis is not new but has been with us for some time. Already having to contend with unaffordable housing and childcare costs, low pay and long hospital waiting lists as a result of the Government’s persistent policy failures, households have now been hit with massive hikes in their energy bills. They have faced these challenges since last year. For the past year, the Government refused to listen and refused to act. The Government has provided the weakest and least support to households and businesses of any government in Europe. That is the record of this Government, with workers and families having gone through a tough year, trying to run the house, provide for their families and keep their heads above water.

It is clear that this is a catch-up budget to make up for Government inaction over the past year. Sinn Féin have been consistent throughout this time. We told the Government that now was not the time for business as usual. We told the Government that urgent intervention was needed in the summer months to give households certainty and support.

I welcome a number of today's announcements. In particular, student fees will be reduced by €1,000, which will be welcomed by many students and families. That should be a stepping stone on the path to abolishing student fees, but instead we see that student fees will rise again next year, to go back to €2,500.

A Sinn Féin Government would have made the €1,000 reduction permanent and built on it year on year until student fees were ended for all.

I welcome today's announcement that tax reductions on petrol, diesel, electricity and gas are to be extended. As the Minister is aware, however, these taxes could have been cut further, providing additional relief to households. Tonight, Sinn Féin will table amendments calling for further reductions for tax in petrol and diesel. I hope the Deputies opposite will support those amendments.One third of households across the State use home heating oil to heat their homes. The decision to leave them out in the cold, not only by refusing to reduce the tax applied to it but by deciding to increase it next year with a further carbon tax hike, is simply unacceptable. Again, Sinn Féin will table amendments to end this practice and cut the cost for those families and homes. At a time of crisis, when energy prices are soaring, a further hike in carbon tax in this area is the wrong direction. It is clear that the Government does not understand the scale of the cost-of-living crisis that households face this winter, with a package announced today that fails to provide the certainty and the adequate help to help workers and families.

A large increase in energy bills is always difficult for households to bear but the explosion in energy prices will be simply unmanageable for many households this winter. Over the past year, energy suppliers have announced more than 35 price increases with scandalous hikes in standing charges regardless of how much energy a household uses. With all the price hikes since the beginning of last year, households would be paying as much as €3,000 more for their gas and electricity each year. For so many, the cost of this is simply unacceptable. They cannot bear it. It means arrears, destitution or the inability to run their homes this winter.

The surge in energy prices has been turbocharged by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine but we cannot ignore the Government failures that have led to the price shock now facing households. The public deserve the truth. We know that our wholesale energy market is broken, with electricity generators making windfall revenues and profits on the back of a surge in gas prices, even if they do not use gas. This is how our broken energy market operates. For the past year Sinn Féin and governments in Europe have called for this broken market to be reformed. For the past year, the Government has opposed this reform, pushing up energy prices for households and securing windfall profits for energy companies. Sinn Féin and others have called for taxes to be levied against these windfall profits in the face of Government opposition. These are the facts. I welcome the U-turn by the Minister for Finance today that he will introduce a windfall tax. He had argued against this in the Dáil just a number of months ago.

This failure to get to grips with the energy crisis has swollen the coffers of energy companies and drained the bank accounts of struggling households. A Sinn Féin Government would have acted differently. We would have stopped the excess profits that energy companies are making as a result of Government inaction. We would have given households certainty and support by cutting electricity prices to their pre-crisis levels and would keep them there throughout the winter months. We would have delivered cost-of-living payments to middle and low-income earners to support them with other rising energy costs. This Government took a different approach. Today the Government announced electricity credits to every home. No doubt this measure will be welcomed by many. On the surface, this is understandable but if we dig deeper, we see that this is the wrong approach. This subsidy to households will do nothing to stop further price hikes in the weeks and months ahead and will support the profit margin of energy companies.

There is a better way. Sinn Féin would have reduced electricity prices and capped them at pre-crisis levels-----

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