Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I acknowledged in my reply to Deputy McDonald – I want to acknowledge it again – the Government understands and knows the price of energy has gone up a lot in the past year, as has the price of groceries. We appreciate that many individuals, families and households are struggling to make ends meet, and that is why we have taken action to increase people's pay, reduce the tax they have to pay and ensure the money they have after tax goes further, including through reducing the costs of childcare, public transport and education. We will continue to do so across the summer. We will take further action at budget time, in October, as well.

The Deputy is absolutely correct on one point. In 2022, real incomes fell for the first time in maybe seven years. In other words, prices rose faster than wages. We have had enormous progress under the current Government and its predecessor in that we had real increases in wages for several years, unlike in most countries or many other countries. Last year was an exception but we expect to see real wage growth again this year, with inflation averaging 5%, the minimum wage going up by 7.8% and wages going up, on average, by more than 5%. Therefore, we expect to see a return to what has been normal in Ireland under Governments led by my party and the others in government, with wages going up in real terms every year.

It is not something that happens in many parts of the world.

Regarding electricity bills, the Deputy pointed out the number of people in arrears. What she did not point out is that the number of people in arrears on their electricity bills is at its lowest for very many years. There are fewer people in arrears on electricity bills than there were during or before the pandemic and that is because of the actions we took, particularly the electricity credit. I accept it is not the same for gas. We did not provide a credit for gas because unlike electricity, some people use gas while others use other fuels and there are complications in doing that. We expect to see the price of gas and electricity fall this year. We have already seen the price of petrol and diesel fall this year and we will use the proceeds of the windfall tax and the special dividend we have imposed on the ESB to help families in the autumn with their bills. That is certainly the plan we have.

The Deputy makes a valid point about profit margins. This is something the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, is going to raise with the companies today. I have no problem with companies making profits but I do not see any reason retailers' profit margins should be much greater here than they are in other jurisdictions. That is a matter the Minister of State will raise with them today. The CCPC is a powerful regulator. As Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I brought in legislation last year, working with my Ministers of State, to strengthen that body to make sure it has all the powers any competition regulator would have in any other part of Europe and it has received additional resources.

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