Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The OECD stated earlier today that Irish households experienced a massive drop in living standards last year. Under the Government, people have got poorer in the past 12 months. The amount of money that workers earn, adjusting for inflation, fell last year. Of course, people did not need the OECD to tell them this. Many of them have felt it as a result of their own bitter experience of rising prices. Many families are going from overdraft to overdraft at the moment. That is if they can get overdrafts. Many families are forced to go to moneylenders. Many families are maxed out. They are going without food and heat on a weekly basis.

I speak to many people who tell me that they are lying awake at night wondering which bill they can afford to pay this month or which bill they are going to have to put off until the next month. This State is now the sixth most expensive country in Europe. As a result, many people are being left behind. Some 20% of people here are living on the margins and below the poverty line.

The annual cost of food shopping for families is €1,000 higher than it was last year, and the food inflation rate is at 16.5%. That is incredibly difficult for families.

The worst part is that the Government is making money out of this. It is quids in on the back of the price increases families have been experiencing over the past while. We in Aontú have found out that the VAT yield on fuel and energy has never been as good for the Government. Last year, the VAT on electricity was at record height, at €381 million, representing an increase of 40.4% on the figure for 2021. The Government has taken in more money in increased taxes and profits from energy semi-States than it gave back through the electricity credit. Can you believe that? The Government is taking more out of people’s pockets while giving some money back and then expecting a clap on the back for doing it.

Today, we learned the shocking news that the price of electricity in Ireland is the highest in Europe at the moment. That is a disgrace. It is an indictment of the Government. The unit price of electricity in this State is nearly double the European average. Gas prices in Ireland are also among the highest. Therefore, rip-off Ireland is back with a vengeance, and it is being brought to us by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. The most frustrating element of this is that the Government is standing idly by in terms of solutions. The Italian Government has brought in a windfall tax and has collected €4 billion, and Germany and Spain brought in windfall taxes in December. Even the British Tory Government brought in a windfall tax and is deriving revenue from the super-normal profits, yet we have nothing but tumbleweed from the Irish Government on this issue. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, committed to a windfall tax six months ago in this House. Practically every fortnight since, a Minister has stood up and said it was on the way in a matter of weeks, but these are very long weeks. What steps will the Government now take to lower the cost of electricity, and when exactly will it happen?

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