Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

Níl dabht ar bith go bhfuil níos mó agus níos mó teaghlaigh ar fud an Stáit ag streachailt agus iad ag iarraidh íoc as billí leictreachais agus billí gáis. Ag an am céanna, tá an Rialtas ag caitheamh leis seo mar is go síleann sé go bhfuil géarchéim na gcostas maireachtála thart cheana féin. Tá sé ag diúltú pacáiste costas maireachtála a chur ar fáil i mbuiséad mhí Dheireadh Fómhair. Tá sé ag ullmhú chun na faoisimh fuinnimh atá ansin a bhaint de dhaoine agus iad ag brath go mór orthu. Tá sé sin scannalach.

Workers and families are being hammered by rip-off electricity and gas prices. Households have been hit with some of the highest energy costs in Europe, forking out far above what people in other countries are paying. Figures published this morning by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, CRU, lay bare the hard realities that folks face. The number of households in arrears on their electricity and gas bills has jumped by 70,000 in the past year. This means that over 300,000 households are behind on their electricity bills and over 175,000 are behind on their gas bills. The Tánaiste should let that sink in for a moment. Today, as the Dáil breaks up for the summer, hundreds of thousands of working families cannot meet the bills for heating and lighting their homes. That is disgraceful. Is it any wonder, particularly when we have seen their bills shoot up by hundreds of euro in recent years? Families simply cannot absorb this type of shock to their finances. Now, the Government's plan is to cancel the energy credits that they so desperately need and have relied on.

The Government has dug in and continues to refuse to agree to have a cost-of-living package in October's budget. Those on fixed incomes are at greater risk of poverty and need greater support. This ever-worsening cost-of-living crisis has widened significantly. More families and working people are struggling to get by. Even families with two incomes coming into the house find it harder than ever to keep up with the bills. The out-of-control prices that people are being forced to pay right across the board are pushing households to the brink. They can forget about keeping their heads above water. Many families are wondering how they stop sinking even further. It is not lost on these families that as they are hammered by rip-off prices in respect of electricity and gas, energy companies are recording bumper profits. The ESB recorded operating profits of over €1 billion in 2023, with the figure for last year very close to that again. SSE Airtricity made hundreds of millions of euro in profits in the past two years. These companies are laughing all the way to the bank while working households are being taken for a ride.

These are the people the Tánaiste claims to understand. He told the Sunday Independent at the weekend that he understands what working families are going through and that he gets it. If he genuinely got it, he would understand that runaway electricity and gas bills are putting massive pressure on households. If he genuinely got it, he would do something about that. He would understand that the pressure is going to crank up even more in the autumn and winter when families are putting on their heat and lights earlier and leaving them on for longer.

The Government's plan to unplug energy credits in the budget will push more and more working families to the brink. How many more households have to go into arrears before it sees there is a need to act? There are 300,000 households unable to pay for their electricity and 175,000 unable to pay their gas bills. Does the Tánaiste really get it? The Government just cannot swan off for the summer break and leave people in the lurch with stress and uncertainty. It needs to introduce a cost-of-living package, continue with energy credits and tell workers and families that it will not cancel the help they rely on to pay these massive energy bills this autumn.

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