Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Economically, Ireland is in reverse at the moment. We are the sixth most expensive state in Europe. According to the OECD, last year the citizens became poorer. Living standards fell last year as a result of the Government's actions. That is an incredible indictment of the Government's policies. At the same time, while citizens' incomes were falling, we saw that energy company's profits sky-rocketed in with incredible increases. After-tax profits for the ESB, a State-owned company, doubled to more than €649 million. The Minister is allowing energy companies to win the lotto everyday while condemning citizens to penury and poverty in this country. Will the Minister put those two facts side by side? Will he ask himself how he stands over it? How does he stand over the fact that he is allowing energy companies to make massive profits while at the same time families are hurting so much? It is no wonder they are making so much profit. Ireland's cost of electricity per unit is now double the European average. Ireland has the highest electricity price in Europe. Either that is an accident or it is a policy decision by the Minister; either it is incompetence or it is a desired outcome of the Government. Either way, it is an indictment of the Government’s policy in regard to people. We know that hundreds of thousands of families are living on the fumes of debt. Families are living on credit cards, overdrafts and moneylenders. We know that 20% of the population is on or below the poverty line at the moment. Families are consumed at nighttime, when they are trying to sleep, by working out which bill they will be able to pay or which bill they will have to leave until next month to pay.

7 o’clock

At the same time, we have this situation where the Government is allowing these prices to increase. There is an enormous cruelty to the Government's actions here. It is a laissez-faireattitude, because at the same time, the Government is milking it with VAT. The VAT take has never been as high in this State's history. An answer to an Aontú parliamentary question showed there was an increase of 40% in the level of VAT earned by this State on electricity. The Government is turning the screw on families with VAT in their time of need. It is an incredible situation. The Government has this €20 billion surplus coming down the tracks within the next three years, yet it made a record €381 million in VAT on electricity last year.

One of the most frustrating elements of this is every single fortnight, a member of the Government has come into the Dáil or some media studio and stated the Government is either going to deal with the high energy costs or it is going to put in place a windfall tax. Every fortnight, without fail, the Government has reneged on that commitment. Months have passed since Government made those commitments. The Government committed six, eight, ten months ago to deal with these high prices, yet it sat on its hands. This winter the only thing that has been warm are the Government's hands, from being sat on in the wintertime. It is an incredible situation. I believe this is a case of the Government strategically being incompetent. If we take the big picture with respect to the Green Party's major objectives, the party seeks to reduce energy consumption. The biggest driver of reductions in energy consumption are high prices. It is the Green Party's stated objective to have high energy prices in this State. Thus, it is not at all by accident that families are suffering so much with these energy prices. It is not at all by accident so many people are living in fuel poverty.

The solution is very simple. The Government has the levers in its hands to put these companies on notice. Other countries have done so. Italy did it, and has harvested about €4 billion in windfall taxes. Spain did it, as did Germany and Belgium. Even the British Tory party is more decent when it comes to these issues than the Green Party, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I implore the Minister of State not to give us another promise that in a short while, there will be a windfall tax and in a short while, there will be reductions in fuel and electricity prices. The Government should do it now and put the people out of their misery.

See this speech in context