Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Of course, we see challenges every single day in our health system. We have recruited approximately 20,000 more people in health since the beginning of the pandemic. The Deputy spoke about living standards. Living standards in Ireland over the last number of decades have improved, without question. We have seen a reduction in inequality in Ireland over that period of time as well. Our investment in education is held up across the world as being of the highest standard.

Those points are important by means of context. When you talk about price levels in Ireland relative to elsewhere in Europe, of course there is a story there. There is also a story in the fact that we were held up in another report earlier this week as being the second most competitive economy among a large number of economies that were examined as part of that particular study.

Of course, incomes in Ireland, as the Deputy well knows, are well above the EU average. That also has to be taken into account. That being said, there is no question that inflation has had a really negative impact on the people we all represent. As a Government, we have sought to respond in the best way that we could. We brought in approximately €12 billion of additional measures since the beginning of last year to help households, to reduce the burden of income tax, to increase social welfare, to bring in a whole range of one-off payments, to introduce four different electricity credits, and to help the business sector to meet the costs it is facing in the form of an exceptional energy support scheme. The Government will be doing more. We are now finalising the summer economic statement, which will set out the overall budgetary strategy for the autumn budget. It will lay out the amounts of resources we have available.

Energy costs are a key issue for households and we acknowledge that. We need to see the dramatic reductions in wholesale energy costs passing through to consumers more quickly. We need to see consumers at a retail level benefiting from those reductions. Wholesale electricity prices decreased by more than 16% in the last monthly data that are available. Between May 2023 and May 2022, electricity costs actually came down by 26%. I think the Deputy was quoting figures on gas costs, which had even greater rates of reduction.

It is my view that we have not to date had an adequate explanation for the delay in the pass through of those reductions. We all understand there is complexity. We understand there is a lag. We also understand futures contracts, hedging and the instruments that commercial companies enter into, but that said, there is undoubtedly scope over the weeks and the months ahead for the energy companies to reduce the prices that consumers are being charged. I know that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and his Department, are actively engaging and meeting with the companies to understand fully those details and complexities and to make the case for a reduction in the prices that the consumers we represent are currently facing.

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