Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I had not intended to speak on this Bill. I welcome the Minister to the House. There are two or three provisions in this legislation that are reasonably good. For many years, I have listened to people outside talking about us living in a bubble in here, totally removed from real society. How many people sitting round the Cabinet table or in this House have ever experienced real poverty? I mean people who could not even put a slice of bread on the table. I remember one time in my life having three beetroots and a sliced pan for dinner for me, my wife and my two kids. I cannot begin to express the anger I feel at throwing out €200 to every electricity account in Ireland, including holiday homes, the rich, or people like me who are on a good income and do not need it. I will not take it. I am not saying that from a populist point of view but because I meet people who are struggling to live.

I speak frequently in this House about members of the Defence Forces and how tough they have it. A sum of €200 would make a huge difference to these people. I appreciate that the effort here was to get the payment to the public quickly, but what will we do if oil prices hit $150 per barrel by the end of the month? How will we meet the demand or the cost increase if this goes on? How will we address that? We are using borrowed money to make sure people who can well afford to pay their ESB bill get €200 from the Exchequer. There were matrices that the Government could have used to make sure the payment was targeted. We could have sent it to those who receive the working family payment, rather than every citizen in the country.

There are good things in this legislation, but there are others that are difficult to understand. There is a 20% reduction in the cost of public transport. What about those who cannot avail of public transport because there is no public transport service close to them? It is good to see the caps on school transport costs and the change to the drugs payment scheme, but I cannot get away from the €200 payment. I walk around south Dublin, where I live, and see some houses which cost €7 million or €8 million, knowing that the owners are getting €200 off their ESB bill. I ask myself how any of us in this House can justify that. It is totally unacceptable. It is the crudest measure the Government could have used. How will we pay for this? How will we continue to support people who find themselves in an energy crisis as energy costs go through the roof? The way things are at the moment on the geopolitical stage, we could find oil prices hitting $150 per barrel by the end of this month and gas supplies being reduced around Europe.

One of my colleagues mentioned landlords. A number of landlords rent out properties and control every aspect of those properties. They will get €200.

I appreciate what the Minister is trying to do, but the methodology being used is utterly wrong. I will table an amendment on Committee Stage proposing to remove the €200 payment. I know people watching this debate will say "To hell with him, I want my €200." We would all take €200 if it was thrown at us but at the end of the day, this is not the way to go. We in this House are capable of providing a much better service to the public than introducing a measure as crude as this. I regret I will not be present to hear the Minister's reply because I have another meeting to attend, but I will read his reply. I am happy to meet him at any stage to discuss this matter with him. I know he is a decent guy, but this is all wrong and I believe he is being badly advised.