Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 6, line 37, to delete “23 September” and substitute “28 July”.

Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 seek to speed up the process of providing relief to households by legislating for the temporary solidarity contribution, TSC, to be paid to the Revenue Commissioners on 28 July, as opposed to 23 September. They push forward the date on which the TSC is due from 23 September to 28 July in 2023 in amendment No. 1 and 2024 in amendment No. 2.

This is because people need urgent relief, and they need it now. The Government and the energy companies have had long enough, and it is high time that we got this system up and running. This is an appropriate and reasonable proposition. Businesses will already have completed their annual accounts for last year. They know what their profits were during the reference period 2018 to 2021 and in 2022, which is what amendment No. 1 deals with. Therefore, a 28 July deadline is in my opinion both feasible and realistic.

The same can be said of amendment No. 2, which addresses profits in 2023 and moves the deadline to 28 July 2024. Profits will have already been calculated. We believe this is a matter on which people have waited long enough. We have waited long enough for this legislation. We need to look at every line of the legislation and see where there is room for acceleration. I believe both of these amendments insert the appropriate level of impetus at this already delayed stage.

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