Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Is the Government trying to address the cost-of-living crisis or is it trying bankrupt the public? As far as I and most people can see, it is the latter. The facts, which have been confirmed to me in reply to a parliamentary question to the Minister for Finance, show that the Government collected a record €3.75 billion in energy taxes last year. Meanwhile, during that same period, the Government gave out minimal energy relief to people. The Government's decision yesterday to extend the minimum excise relief is like throwing breadcrumbs to a flock of crows after starving them. It is not enough. We need relief from those punitive taxes that are crippling our public. The figures expose the Government's exploitation of our citizens and the energy price crisis. The Government is gaining profits from the difficulties of ordinary people through taxes that are bordering on criminal. The plain facts of the matter are that this Government's energy tax policies are nothing but highway robbery. They are taking from the poor and giving to the Government's own coffers to give out this, that and the other. Last year, the Government collected a record €3.75 billion in energy taxes, representing an increase of nearly €500 million or 15% on the previous year. These are staggering figures in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. It gets even worse when you consider carbon tax and energy VAT income, which surged by almost 31%, increasing from €1.681 billion in 2021 to €2.196 billion in 2022. The figures are there. They are Department of Finance figures supplied by the Minister. It is almost criminal to raise VAT on carbon tax revenues from fuel during a cost-of-living crisis. People have to heat their homes and have to try to get to work and keep the wheels of industry going. That is why the Rural Independent Group submitted a motion last year for a zero rate of VAT and carbon tax until this cost-of-living crisis has passed us. It was like Pontius Pilate on Good Friday. The Government just voted it down - Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and some Independents. This Government says it has been prioritising the well-being of the Irish people but it thinks the people are ATMs, that it can reach in, put in the card and take more and more. I can tell the Taoiseach they have no more to give. They are suffering. They are in agony. They are trying to live, put clothes on their children's backs and feed them and send them to school. The Government keeps hitting the weakest and the lowest. Ordinary working families and small businesses are completely crucified and they get nothing from the Government only a threat that it is going to go back up in October to the full taxation on energy, whether it is diesel, petrol, home heating oil, agrifuel or anything else. It is more punitive suffering.

See this speech in context