Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)

This is a budget that completely abandons workers and families to look after those at the top. This budget could have been an opportunity to stand squarely on the side of families and support them through the ongoing cost-of-living crisis but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have decided to throw households under the bus and have not provided any cost-of-living package whatsoever. This can be seen clearly through the cost of energy and the cost of commuting, the areas of responsibility of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. Regarding energy prices, Ireland's energy bills are among the highest in Europe and are due to rise further in the coming weeks as energy suppliers jack up their tariffs. We are also seeing the level of energy arrears rise, with over 300,000 households in arrears on their energy bills. Despite this growing trend of rising energy costs, rising energy arrears and rising energy poverty, the Government has refused to include energy credits or a cost-of-living package in the budget. How can that be justified? This is a political choice about whose needs are prioritised and who is protected. Clearly, ordinary families and workers are not being prioritised and are being left to deal with rip-off costs.

On transport, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, outlined that the PSO funding had increased to €940 million. However, there is no breakdown of how much of this increased funding will be eaten up in providing existing services and no outline of how much will be assigned to providing additional routes. At the same time, the Minister for Finance has announced increases in carbon taxes, which will drive up the cost of petrol and diesel. I come from a constituency where many people have no choice but to commute by car and they will see an increase in the cost of commuting.

Despite all the spin, there is a considerable drop in the level of retrofitting ambition in this budget. The 2026 capital allocation of €558 million for retrofitting programmes is actually a cut from the €641 million that was originally pledged in the 2022 national retrofit plan. This comes at a time when we are way behind on national targets and there are significant waiting times for our retrofitting schemes. It appears that the Minister has given up on the targets to which the Government has committed. I have had many people come into my office telling me they simply cannot afford to pay their bills. There has been a refusal by the Government to include energy credits or to tackle energy suppliers. It has refused to tackle this rip-off. Budget 2026 is a missed opportunity to support ordinary households but this does not come as a surprise. That has not been the priority of this Government.

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