Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform is quoted this week as saying that in light of a mere 0.2% fall in food inflation, the Government will be monitoring any signs that any part of our economy may be benefiting from inflation. Is he serious in his comments? Has he failed to witness the disparity between costs and profits posted recently? I am afraid the Minister present seems to be in the same boat with the statement he has just made. Does he not, like the rest of us, know when it comes to electricity, for example, that in December of last year, consumer electricity prices were 62.7% higher year on year, while at the same time various energy suppliers recorded eye-watering after-tax profits? The Minister speaks empty words about guarding against inflation being seen as an opportunity, while resisting our calls for an energy price cap and delaying the windfall tax.

Take our farmers. Last week the agriculture committee heard how fertiliser prices started soaring due to increases in the cost of gas. When the price of gas on the markets began falling for some, this was not met with a similar fall in fertiliser prices. Some farmers were told that fertiliser had to be priced with replacing it in mind, but the same rules did not apply when gas prices started to fall. When the Minister speaks of monitoring for any concerning trends in pricing and profit-making, he is late to the table. Ireland is an outlier in Europe regarding the differences in fertiliser costs, and the same is true with electricity. Households now pay 47.9% above the EU average for electricity, yet wholesale electricity prices have dropped by over a half in the past year.

This Government consistently resisted introducing a windfall tax until the EU as a whole backed it. Instead, it prefers to string people along through the hardest times without introducing it. The people need to know that the regulation came into effect in October but the announcement was delayed until November. Now it is going through pre-legislative scrutiny and is unlikely to be introduced before June or July. It appears to me that this delay is not because of matters outside of the Government’s control but because it fundamentally resists the notion just like it has resisted our calls for price caps, opting instead to ensure big profits for big business while people in our constituencies struggle.

Energy poverty has doubled in a year. At the same time, families, elderly people and people with disabilities try to navigate the new community welfare officer system to get the additional needs payment, and it is not easy for them.

We call for the introduction of these measures as a matter of urgency. We also call on the Minister to introduce new regulatory powers for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities to address standing charges and investigate instances of price gouging, which have gone unaddressed but which have fundamentally affected people.

I commend Deputy O’Rourke on bringing the Bill to the House.

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