Holly Cairns: Demand Immediate Energy Relief for Households

Taoiseach, there is a constant dread that's now hanging over people's lives. A quiet, growing panic about whether they can make it to the next payday. We have more evidence today of the huge cost of living pressures people are under. A new survey in the Irish Independent confirms what we already know. Costs have soared again. Households are now spending on average an extra €2,000 per year just to get by. People who could never afford luxuries now can't afford the basics. Everything they earn is swallowed up by skyrocketing rents, childcare fees, mortgage payments, energy and grocery bills. And as those people desperately tread water, this government refuses to throw them a lifeline. Even when Eurostat tells us electricity prices here are the highest in the EU, nearly 40% above the average, you're still telling people to wait. Wait until the budget in October or maybe even next January just to get any support. Taoiseach, do you realise how crushing that is to hear if you're already at breaking point? The government has the resources to act, it is just choosing not to. The Social Democrats have a comprehensive plan that could be adopted now, with targeted measures to support low and middle income workers who are now under enormous pressure. A €400 energy credit targeted at households earning up to €70,000. A supplementary mileage scheme for essential workers like nurses and carers. And a €400 emergency cost disability payment. Because Taoiseach, as you know, disabled people were struggling long before this energy crisis. Disability was meant to be a priority for this government. What will it take for them to be heard? We need emergency supports today and we need solutions for tomorrow to protect households from future energy shocks. That is why we have proposed a Solar for All plan, which could be rolled out rapidly and bring down costs instantly. It includes making solar panels free for homes most at risk of energy poverty, doubling grants to €3,600, a new grant for battery storage and finally rolling out plug-in solar, which this government has delayed for far too long. Imagine the difference it would make to people's lives if they could simply plug in solar panels from their balconies and watch their bills fall. These measures are practical, they're achievable and they would make a real difference. So why isn't the government doing any of this? Taoiseach, you say you support targeted measures. You say this is an unprecedented crisis, so why won't you act like it and deliver the targeted support that people need now? Thank you, Deputy. Taoiseach, please. First of all, the government has provided targeted support. The evidence is there in terms of the free school books primary. That's a significant measure that we have brought in, which this year again will assist many families in terms of what was a major cost for families in terms of attending primary and second level schools. We've expanded the free hot school meals programme. We have expanded childcare and we need to do more on the childcare front. We have the €280 new baby grant, for example. Hospital inpatient charges were abolished. We've expanded free GP care significantly, particularly for children. And in terms of the most recent package, we have significantly provided for a reduction in diesel and in petrol that will affect ordinary people. So that's immediate, that's happening. If it wasn't, their costs would be significantly higher. And also then we've provided packages in terms of the transport sector, about €40 million per month. About €100 million worth of the fuel scheme for farmers, contractors and fishers. And of course the diesel rebate increased to €0.12 per litre. We expanded the fuel allowance, increased it to €38 per week. We expanded eligibility, brought in the working family payment. So now about 470,000 households benefited from that. So you can't ignore all that, Deputy, and you don't get to choose what measures the government introduce to ignore. And just articulate a banal assertion that government has done nothing. Just because you keep on saying government has done nothing doesn't mean that that's true. Clearly government has done a lot. But 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. And 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. I support your broad principle of targeting. Because I had that challenge, others in the House don't, but I do. And I think in the budget we have a far better range of measures. That we can arrive at a balanced approach where we can give working people relief. But where we can also then target, as we did in the last budget, in terms of the child support payments. Which were the highest on record in terms of what we did there to try and ease into the issue of child poverty. And we want to do that consistently over time. We also want to make sure we can reduce the cost of childcare. And look again at what we can do in healthcare. So can we add to measures that we took previously in terms of HRT and free contraception and so on. But if you want to blow everything today and spend 2 or 3 billion now. And maybe come back in July and say let's have another 2 billion. By the time we get to October we'll have 5 or 6 billion spent. That's no way to run a country either. Taoiseach, this isn't about ignoring certain measures that the government have introduced. But when I'm asking you about targeted supports for people who can't pay their bills. In the context of an energy crisis with rising costs of 70% a month for home heating oil. It's not that I have no regard for the free book scheme. But you can imagine somebody watching who's struggling to pay their bills. And Taoiseach is asked about targeted energy supports for people who can't pay their bills. And you talk about the school book scheme that people despair. So Taoiseach, in the context of these rising energy costs. You understand that there's an energy crisis. You understand that we have energy costs that are 40% higher than the European average. You understand how much people are struggling. How do you expect people to wait until October? We already had hundreds of thousands of people in arrears in their energy bills before this crisis. We already had disabled people out in the street protesting for an emergency disability payment. And even before that, we knew that one in five disabled people are living in poverty. But you won't bring any measures. Taoiseach will now respond. Time is up. Deputy Taoiseach will respond. Taoiseach, please. First of all, Deputy, we invested an additional 20%, additional, up to half a billion extra into disability services. That's systemic and that's sustainable and that's something that will happen year on year. And secondly, we increased the domiciliary care a second year in a row by 20 additional euro. And we'll do more in the forthcoming budget. If you look at the changes we've made to the fuel allowance scheme, a two-adult household will benefit by about 2,300 per annum as a result of that, and a lone parent family up to 1,800. So these are significant measures that were taken, and we extended it then because of the impact of the war in the Middle East, which has undoubtedly created huge pressures all around. And the biggest issue is uncertainty. Uncertainty as to how long this crisis will last and the direction it will take in terms of the impact on fuel prices, which will then impact everything else. But we have to be very careful, too, of the inflationary impact of government spending. So if government just allocates another four or five billion, that sounds great, but it simply brings us to a 5% or 6% inflation rate which will not be sustainable.