Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The next number of months will be some of the harshest many people will ever have experienced. For many families, utility bills are already out of reach before the winter starts. A large number of families are living from overdraft to overdraft, if they are lucky enough to have an overdraft, and many others will be reliant on moneylenders because that is the only way they have right now to pay for the necessities of life. There is a hierarchy of needs comprising food, shelter, heat and clothes. Incredibly, in Ireland in 2022, these necessities are out of reach for many working families. I have no doubt lives will be lost and health will be damaged this winter as a result of what is going to happen.

This generation is one of the first generations in which people will be worse off than their parents. It is likely to be the best educated and hardest-working generation in history and the people in this cohort commute further than those in any other generation. However, they will definitely have far less security than previous generations in terms of the necessities, including housing, health and being able to buy food and clothes. As a result of this, incredibly, emigration is now raising its shocking head, with a recent survey indicating one third of Irish families are considering moving abroad. The reversal of generations of economic progress and a return of the Irish curse of emigration is an incredible legacy for the Minister of State and the Government to leave.

The electricity credits that are being provided by the State are an absolute scam and I will explain why that is. Today, citizens are paying more in fuel taxes than they did before the cost-of-living crisis happened. All of the €1.2 billion in electricity credits people will get from the Government in three instalments have already been paid for by the recipients in higher taxation charges, carbon tax increases and ESB price increases. All of that money is being given to people with one hand while the same money is being taken from them with the other hand. It is absolutely shocking that the Government has increased the carbon tax in this crisis. Aontú was the only political party in the Dáil to vote against that tax.

The most frustrating element of the debate on the cost of energy is that the Government has within its gift the levers it could pull to reduce the cost of electricity for people. It could reduce that cost in a large number of ways at no real cost to the State. I understand Ireland is the only country in the whole of Europe that does not have a gas storage supply. That is laid at the Minister of State's door. It is as a direct result of the Green Party's actions that we are the only country with no gas storage and we are the most exposed to price increases and threats to supply. The Government has also introduced restrictions on the use of turf in the middle of an energy crisis. Again, there is absolutely no logic at all to that but Aontú was the only party in the Dáil to oppose it unequivocally. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications spoke recently in measured, proud tones of how he brought together the energy ministers from all across Europe to a conference in Dublin on offshore wind. In 20 years, however, the State has built only seven offshore wind turbines. It is incredible and very frustrating.

Aontú has called on the Government to reduce the VAT on fuel, which it refused to do, citing Government rules. Spain has reduced its VAT on fuel. We in Aontú have called on the Government to decouple the price of non-gas-generated electricity from gas-generated electricity. The Government refused, claiming such a move is an EU competency. However, Spain and Portugal have taken that step. Aontú called on the Government to introduce a windfall tax on certain types of energy companies that are making supernormal profits. It refused to do so, again outsourcing any such decision to the EU. Italy, on the other hand, stood up for its citizens and implemented a tax. We called for the reopening of Lanesborough and Shannonbridge power stations, the closure of which was a ludicrous decision to make at a time of short supply of energy in the State. The country is now potentially facing blackouts as a result. The Minister of State must get rid of standing charges. It makes no sense that we are increasing charges on electricity that is not even being used. It is not environmentally friendly and it hurts people as well.

There is a clear theme running through these Government actions and I would like the Minister of State to think about that. Time and again, we are deferring all the big decisions and all the levers we could use to the EU. This is not because the laws or regulations demand it but because of Government inertia. I believe there are a number of reasons for that inertia. First, we are ceding vast elements of Government responsibility to the EU due to a massive technical inability within the Government to do some of those jobs. Second, there is a bias towards EU subservience in the Government in that it honestly seems to believe the EU would do a better job on many of the issues I have raised. That is a major mistake. The EU has competencies in certain areas and surely does certain things well but it is also extremely cumbersome in taking such decisions. It is a slow-moving animal when it comes to fixing some of the issues we are discussing, such as the decoupling of gas-generated electricity from the rest of the system. We would be faster and more effective in doing that ourselves. Another factor is that, truth be told, the EU is not focused on Ireland; it is focused on the needs of the larger countries. If we keep deferring power to the Union on these issues, we will be waiting a long time and our citizens will hurt. I implore the Minister of State to use the levers that are in the hands of the Government to fix the electricity crisis. It must stop handing those levers over to the EU to work.

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