Mary Lou McDonald: Emergency Budget Now to Stop Energy Crisis

Taoiseach, yesterday you told working people and families struggling to get by to wait until next year's budget. You might help them then, you might not. Wait and see. That was your message. The consequences of that indifference were exposed yesterday. While you downplayed the pressure on households, the regulator released startling figures. The number of households behind on their electricity bills has shot up again. And listen to this. Three hundred and sixteen thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight households were behind on their electricity bill in February. That is frightening. More than half of these households are in debt for over 90 days and the number is growing. More and more households find it harder to pay their electricity bill, find it harder to get back on track and the fear of disconnection is real. As a matter of fact a hundred and ninety-seven households have already been disconnected this year. Many are forced to switch to pay-as-you-go meters where they end up paying the most expensive tariffs and bills. These are families who do everything and are desperate to keep up but they just find themselves in awful situations and your government, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, simply shrug your shoulders. The crisis didn't fall out of the sky Taoiseach. You know it's been getting worse. So how can you not accept the need for an emergency budget? How can you not see the need for energy credits? Last October we told you that cancelling energy credits in your budget was a terrible decision. The regulator warned you, told you, that even more households would struggle to pay their bills as a result of your decision. Taoiseach, you ignored those warnings, you withdrew the credits anyway and you left households terribly exposed and you stood idly by as big energy companies, one after the other, hiked their electricity prices up and up and now your energy minister tells people to brace themselves for even further electricity price increases. So you have households in arrears, sky-high prices, fear of disconnection and more price hikes to come. Today's CSO report makes clear that people can't wait till next year's budget, tells them what they already knew, that the cost of living is getting worse. Food prices up, energy prices up, pressure on families increased and you, Micheál Martin, sit back and watch. The damage and hardship caused by withdrawing energy credits is plain to see but you don't listen, you don't recognize that you got it wrong, you don't accept that action is now needed and that is not a real or a sustainable response, Taoiseach. So stop doubling down, help is needed, energy credits are urgent. Ní Féidir leine céide milte díoní a mhuil electricus a éac, ach fós tá fíonamháile agus finnig géal ag díoltú go níomh bhú. Tá ceoair ag tásdáil ag ghaoní leoirach, tá connáisneis égan dóla ag tásdáil anois, Taoiseach. Families are now asking how bad do things have to get before you wake up, how many families have to fall behind in their electricity bills before you act, what's the number, is the number, four hundred thousand, half a million, what number spells crisis for you? Because for every single one of these households the crisis is now, it's today, they can't wait until next year's budget, so you must act. We need an emergency budget now, families desperately need energy credits now. Could I first of all join you, Kian Collar, to welcome the Polish community in the gallery in celebrating their Constitution Day, to pay tribute to Deputy Malcolm Byrne in particular, the convener of the Irish-Polish Parliamentary Group, and to welcome Ambassador-to-be Arthur Michalski to the house as well. Deputy, I fully reject your analysis of the situation. The first point I would make, yet again you ignore the fact that we're facing a major dislocation of oil supply and disruption because of a war in the Middle East. What is your problem in acknowledging the war in the Middle East? Every day, every week, since the war broke out, you keep pretending it hasn't happened. It's almost as if you're living in a parallel universe. We have a huge issue, we have a huge issue, certainly we have. The world has, Europe has, because of that war. Following on earlier shocks in terms of Ukraine and the Russian invasion and the energy crisis that happened then. So we need a government and we need a political response that understands, that understands the seismic potential damage of this crisis. You are ignoring it and that is irresponsible and negligent in my view. Because anybody I meet now, at European level or anywhere, are very, very concerned about the, not just a short term impact, but the medium-term impact and long-term impact of this energy shock crisis to the world. That's not overstating it. That's what people are saying. So we've allocated about 750 million on top of a budget last year that was substantial in terms of public expenditure and I'll deal with that in a second. We've under the highest packages we've just announced. So we're not ignoring anybody, we're not holding back. We've allocated one of the largest packages across the European Union to alleviate pressures that undoubtedly are on families and we decided strategically to look at the food production sector so we can continue the food production at some affordable prices and the haulage industry in terms of our export economy and also getting goods on shelves in an affordable way. And those packages are substantial by any yardstick. And then the general reduction in excise duty of 32 cents in diesel, 27 percent on petrol, is helping to alleviate pressures. But the pressures are undoubtedly there. Of that there is no doubt. What you want to do is, you want to spend about three to four billion now. What happens in October? What happens in October? What happens in October if this crisis doesn't abate? What happens in January? What happens to our housing investments? What happens to our investments right across in education, in health, in childcare? You want to, the USC brings in five to six billion. You want something for everybody in the audience. You want universal energy credits. You want to give credits to the wealthiest in society. You don't believe in targeting anymore. And your measures, if they're brought in, would add about two percent, two and a half percent to inflation. And we know who suffers most when inflation goes up? Lowest income groups. Now that's not politically fancy for you. You've a by-election coming. You want to win as many votes as you can. So you want to say, let's spend four billion and give it out to everybody. That's what you're doing. And let's be under no illusion. That's what's at foot here. But we have to think even short-term to October. We should be looking at more permanent measures that help alleviate the cost of living. Tá gír ghaith eiseann a dhéanamh. Tá anach a dhéanamh againn. Agus beidh níos móle a dhéanamh againn, gan dáos. And it's not next year's budget. It's next October's budget, which is a number of months away. No, not necessarily. And you know that's not the truth either. And we know that we have to help people over next winter. And next winter will be a crucial period. But we're going to do it in a measured, sensible way. Not your way, which is the Liz Truss way, which nearly bombed everything. The numbers of households in arrears that I quoted to you come from February, that predates the Trump Netanyahu attacks on Iran. And that has made matters worse. I absolutely acknowledge that. What you cannot acknowledge is what the regulator and the CSO are telling you directly today. That the cost of living crisis is getting worse. Groceries, energy, and that families are struggling. And I've given you the figures of the level of arrears. They are absolutely terrifying. And you have allocated diddly-squat, sweet feck all, for working families. That's the truth. And families know it. And I'm putting it to you directly that your attitude of sitting back and watching this unfold is not acceptable. We need measures now. One of them is energy credits. That matter is absolutely clear. Why do you refuse to act to protect workers and families in this situation? You are negligent. Taoiseach, to respond, through the chair, please. The budget that we announced last year, we know have introduced, we've introduced permanent measures that reduce the cost of living. In terms of healthcare, we eliminated all hospital charges. In terms of education, free primary school books. In terms of primary schools, free hot school meals. These are measures that matter. We've expanded the back to school allowance and so forth. And in terms of the fuel allowance, we expanded that. Whereas over 450,000, you have to keep interrupting because you don't like the truth. But 450,000 families, working families, benefit from the fuel allowance. And we brought in the working family payment within that. We've done very effective, targeted measures. Free contraception, HRT. You go right through all the health services. These all reduce the cost of living for working families. You choose to ignore them. I welcome, at long last, that you have acknowledged that there's a war on in the Middle East. That is progress from your perspective. But I do not accept your approach to how to resolve the issue. Before I move to Deputy Bacik, I'm going to remind members, don't come to meetings where we all speak out of both sides of our mouth about interruptions. You know the rules. Interruptions are not allowed. Each member is entitled to a fair hearing. And each member will get it.