Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government has done very little to alleviate the pressures being put on households due to the high cost of their energy bills. Consumers are at the end of their tether and there is little to no relief being offered to many of them. A number of elderly people I have spoken to recently have told me they have exhausted any savings they had and are extremely worried about the future.

The rate of inflation for groceries, although falling slightly, remains high at above 16%. The average cost of rents has increased year on year and the impact is being felt by those lucky enough to be able to afford or find a place to rent. Interest rates for homeowners are set to increase, and the Government made sure last week that there was no targeted relief to be offered to them. If we add to this the choice that the Government has made to increase the carbon tax, we see that many people have nothing left to give. We can also throw in the extremely high cost of energy, with this State having the highest cost consumer price for electricity and the eighth highest for gas. I wonder if the Minister has any concern for the plight of these consumers.

Households and those on middle to high earnings are struggling with these payments and those on low incomes are being impacted even more. By the end of February this year, we had 152,276 homes in arrears on their gas bills. That is a fifth of householders who use gas to heat their homes.

Despite all this, the Government does next to nothing to help consumers. There were the energy credits that took a portion off some bills, but this was not anywhere near enough and only served as a temporary cushion for some families. The option existed, as was seized on by other European nations, to introduce electricity price caps, an option the Government would not take.

Wholesale prices for gas and electricity have fallen significantly, yet consumers have not seen any benefit. A windfall tax on the huge profits of these energy providers could have been introduced, yet the Government opted not to do so. When it was compelled to do so by the European Union, it did nothing to pursue the mega profits of energy companies when the prices were at their peak in 2022.

There were choices that could have been made. The Government had options. It could have and should have protected workers and families from rising energy costs. It did not do that. It chose a piecemeal gesture to consumers that, while welcome, was not enough. The other choice was to prioritise the profits of energy companies. The superprofits of these companies and the struggle of our domestic consumers demonstrate the road the Government took.

The Minister and his Government colleagues still have the chance to change tack and this motion outlines how they can do so. They can choose to alleviate the pressure on consumers by stopping the increase in carbon tax, reducing household energy prices and offering certainty to people by capping electricity prices and granting new regulatory powers to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities.

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