Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The reason so many people are angry over the RTÉ scandal, for example, and about the pay rates in certain Government Departments is that those pay scales are eye-watering in comparison with the incomes many families are receiving. There is no doubt that we want to ensure that there is a spark in the economy and that people are paid to a certain level to incentivise hard work, education and ambition, but some of the pay scales we have seen are so out of sync with the experience of people that it is hurting them quite a bit. We live in a two-tier society. Many public servants are making eye-watering salaries and, in real terms, that is having an effect on people across the country. One of the issues I want to raise is that people are struggling with a cost-of-living crisis. Electricity prices here are twice the European average per unit. We are the country with the second highest electricity prices. We were told last year that one of the reasons for that is that the price of electricity in Ireland is coupled with the price of gas. Other European countries such as Spain and Portugal decoupled those prices well over six months ago and, as a result, are enjoying far lower prices. The Government has said it will wait until the European Union decouples those prices. When will the European Union decouple those prices or can the Government not do it? We need to make sure that the incomes of normal Irish citizens are not pushed back further towards poverty at a time when so many big names in RTÉ and here in the public service at the upper echelons are receiving incomes which can only be described as largesse.

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