Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

There is a serious disconnect between this Government and the average citizen in this country at the moment. The cost-of-living crisis is currently consuming most families. We have a situation where 650,000 people are in poverty in this State. A total of 280,000 people are in arrears on electricity bills while 165,000 are in arrears on their gas bills. People are losing sleep at night wondering what bill they are going to be able to pay the next day. People are living from overdraft to overdraft if they are lucky enough to be able to get an overdraft. Many people are being pushed into the hands of moneylenders, and yet we have Ministers on significantly high wages making decisions as punitive as this. There is a serious disconnect between the people the Government is meant to serve and the people who are so-called in the public service here tonight.

About a month ago, I submitted a parliamentary question in relation to this and I found out that this Government is making more on taxation on fuel than it ever did before. In the past year, this Government is quids in on tax on fuel in the jaws of a cost-of-living crisis. I listened to the Government speaking in measured tones, in sympathy with people who are suffering, and at the same time the Government is pilfering the pockets of those people with more taxes than ever before. In fact, last year the increase in the taxes on fuel exceeded the amount of money that was given back in the electricity credits. That is incredible. The Government actually took more from people than it gave back and expected to be thanked for it. In recent months we have seen an increase in excise in June, tolls increased in July, another increase in excise in September, and now carbon taxes are being increased today.

How is the Government not in touch with the cost-of-living crisis that is hurting people so many times?

The Government has an objective to get more people into electric cars but we have the most expensive electricity in the whole of Europe now. In fact, even changing into electric cars is becoming increasingly difficult. The problem I have is that there is no alternative for many people. There is no Luas from Athboy; there is no DART from Trim; there is not even a rail line from Navan, the fifth biggest town in the country at the moment. On a regular basis, bus services from Meath into Dublin are being dropped. People are in left in their dozens at bus stops with no bus to take them to Dublin because the service is being dropped and they end up late for work all the time. For regional and rural areas of Ireland, this is a punitive tax. It is not a behaviour-changing tax; it is a tax that penalises people just because of where they live.

In recent months, the price of petrol and diesel has gone back up and in the last couple of days there has been a surge in oil prices. This tax is not fair. It is not behaviour changing. It is only hurting families and I ask the Government to listen to the people it is meant to serve and not to proceed with this increase in carbon tax.

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