Opposition TDs have rounded on the Government over the cost of living as the issue dominated Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald claimed the coalition’s “gutless carte blanch approach and refusal to rein in energy companies” has left Ireland with the highest electricity prices in Europe.
Latest figures show that households in this country are paying around €480 more for their power than the EU average.
“People are sick of you standing back as they take hit after hit.
“You won’t take on the energy companies to get the prices down.
“You won’t provide energy credits to households to help with bills.
“You push back against the immediate need for an emergency budget”, she said, accusing the Government of a “dereliction of your duty to the people who keep this country going”.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin rejected Ms McDonald’s analysis.
He said the Government “acknowledge there are significant pressures on people because of a range of issues – not least the rising price of fuel owing to the war in Iran, which follows the tariff issue, and the war in Ukraine.”
Mr Martin said that the budget measures proposed by Sinn Féin’s last October, alongside the cost of its recent cost-of-living package of €3 billion, would lead to inflation rates of 5- 6%.
Ms McDonald accused the Taoiseach of only offering “spoof and distraction”.
He responded by saying that Sinn Féin was the “personification of spoof and bluster”.
Watch: Mary Lou McDonald accuses Govt of a ‘dereliction of duty’ as prices rise
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said that “rising costs are blowing a €2,000 hole in average household budgets” and the Government’s words of sympathy are meaningless because it is not intervening.
She called for the rapid delivery of renewable energy.
Fianna Fáil is “the Don Quixote of Irish politics, you’re frightened of windmills,” Ms Bacik said.
Mr Martin described this remark as “silly” and said “things are far too serious for that”.
Micheál Martin insisted there has been a long-term commitment to renewable energy.
“It’s false and it’s untrue” to say the emphasis on renewables has fallen away since the Green Party left Government, he added.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns told the Dáil that people are in a “growing panic about whether they can make it to the next payday” as she again pressed the Government for further help.
People’s earnings are being “swallowed up by skyrocketing rents, childcare fees, mortgage payments, energy and grocery bills,” she said.
The Government is refusing “to throw them a lifeline” and it is “crushing” for those who are “already at breaking point” to hear that they must wait until October or even January for further support.
The Taoiseach said it was wrong to suggest that the coalition had done nothing, but warned that a cautious approach was needed in the face of uncertainty.
“The reality is, we have a budget in October. We don’t know where this crisis is going, or indeed, the more medium-term consequences of it.
“We do need to hold some resources in reserve for the winter period, minimum, and to work out how best, systemically, to cushion the lowest income groups and those who need our support the most,” Mr Martin said.
Fuel supply chains ‘robust’
Ireland’s fuel supply chains are robust and reliable but energy prices remain highly volatile, which is putting pressure on households and businesses, Energy Minister Darragh O’Brien has told the Cabinet.
The Minister has been updating his colleagues on the work of the National Energy Affordability Taskforce (NEAT), which will meet again tomorrow.
NEAT is working on an energy affordability action plan which will be submitted to Government by September.
The taskforce is coordinating with the Departments of Transport; Agriculture, Food and the Marine; and Finance in relation to a short-term response, which will form part of the recommendations to Government possibly within the next month.
“The Government is taking action; we have already introduced €755 million in supports – including reductions in excise on fuel, the deferral of the carbon tax increase, an extended Fuel Allowance season, and enhanced supports for our hauliers, agricultural contractors and farmers – and we will continue to act as the situation develops,” Minister O’Brien said.
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