Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Rourke for tabling the motion before the House. This Government needs to start standing up for the people who are in need of help. People are sick and tired of seeing a Government watch while others take advantage of the people. The Government only responds in the interests of the public when pressure from the Opposition or elsewhere becomes too much to bear. We have seen this with its slowness to act in the areas of windfall taxes and decoupling gas from electricity prices while energy providers have used the war in Ukraine to boost their massive profits. We have seen similar foot-dragging from the Government when it came to implementing an eviction ban as people deal with the cost-of-living and the housing crises throughout the winter.

The Department of Transport was made aware of this planned toll hike in early September. It did absolutely nothing until it was faced with public opinion and a motion that called it out on its inaction. The Minister then announced a freeze on the increases until next year. That is welcome for now, but what plans does he have in place for next July? Will he let the toll companies have free reign again and hike its charges even further? It is another Government-sponsored sticking plaster. What it needs to do between now and then is assess the funding for our roads network and review the value for money of PPP contracts. In our alternative budget we proposed savings for next year by reducing the threshold for cars that qualify for EV grants from €60,000 to €50,000. Whether the Minister likes it or not, if someone is ready to spend that much on a car, they do not need financial support, no more than they need a tax break for a private jet. This would have created space to deal with the cost of these toll hikes and would have spared the Minister his last-minute scrambling to see how the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform can find the money to fund the U-turn.

Is the temporary freezing of tolls meant to lessen the impact of the Minister for Finance's decision to reintroduce bonuses for senior bankers. I will tell the Minister one thing. I look forward to the day when we can shake off the damage done to us by decisions made by successive Fianna Fáil-led Administrations which, among other things, gift gold-plated contracts that permit these toll increases. With Fine Gael and the Green Party, Fianna Fáil now wants to reward senior bankers with outrageous bonuses while families are forced to tighten their belts even further.

See this speech in context