2026-05-26

136. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will bring forward an emergency budget to help people deal with the cost of living. [39713/26]

I ask the Tánaiste again to review the decision not to have an emergency budget. It is absolutely crucial. What was announced last October in the budget left people worse off. It is not just Sinn Féin saying this - we saw in the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, analysis of the budget that families were left worse off and those on lower incomes were worse off. Added to that, inflation is running at nearly double what was projected on budget day. People cannot wait until next year until the Government brings forward the budget. They need support right now with the cost-of-living crisis.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government has already intervened to help absorb the impact of rising energy prices for households and businesses with two packages of measures worth over €750 million. The first package of measures introduced in March reduced excise on fuel, cut the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy to a nominal amount and enhanced the diesel rebate scheme. We also extended the fuel allowance season by an additional four weeks. This meant that 470,000 households received additional financial support, an extra €152 in total. A further package of measures was introduced in April. Excise on fuel was cut further, bringing the total reduction in diesel to 32 cent per litre, 27 cent per litre for petrol and 7.4 cent per litre for green diesel. We are also delaying the scheduled increase in carbon tax and introducing a support subsidy schemes aimed at key productive sectors of our economy, both haulage and agriculture. We have shown we are not afraid to act when the circumstances demand action but we have also been clear that the best way to manage the State's finances is as part of a carefully considered annual budget process. I emphasise that the Government’s response has been made possible because of the resources we have thanks to the careful management of our public finances. We have run surpluses for consecutive years. Running surpluses has not always been popular, but it has given us the flexibility and agility to respond swiftly and forcefully to this shock. The resources of the State are not infinite. There are still vulnerabilities in our public finances. Around €1 in every €6 paid in tax comes from about ten firms in the country. The vulnerability around what we refer to as windfall tax receipts is real. We are highly exposed to any deterioration in the global economy and there are structural changes on the horizon that must be prepared for. That is why it is important that we get into that annual budget cycle. I accept the Deputy’s point. People are feeling the pressure and, as a result of the war in Iran, inflation is higher this year than it was expected to be. The focus in the budget will be to see what measures we can take in a rounded way to try to assist people, including in a structural way, with the charges that families and businesses face.

Many people would love to be in the Minister's shoes and have the luxury to wait this out until next year until budget 2027 but they are not in that position. We have 320,000 families across this State who cannot pay their electricity bills. One in four households cannot pay their gas bills. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of other families are paying those bills but are really struggling, finding it difficult to make ends meet at the end of the week, working every hour God sends them and doing everything right, yet still they find it tough because groceries, insurance and rent have gone up. All the pressures of life are bearing down on them and they are looking at a Minister who has a surplus that is now twice what was projected just a couple of weeks ago but who tells them to hang in there, to tighten their belts, to hold tight and that the Government will come to them maybe in October or might have something for them in January. People need support right here, right now. The Minister needs to understand that there is serious pressure on families at this point in time and they are looking for a Government that will listen and respond to them. The way the Minister needs to respond is to bring forward measures that recognise the pressures families are under right now.

I am not sure that the Deputy's take on the Irish people is where they are at. The Irish people get the fact that this Government responded with one of the largest packages of support in the European Union, so nobody has been asked to wait at all. We reduced excise on diesel and petrol and put in place measures for key sectors. All of that benefits every citizen in this State in terms of trying to put some downward pressure on what the Deputy rightly said was rising inflation. The Department of Finance estimates that the overall package will reduce inflation by about 0.5% on what it otherwise would have been. We are taking proactive measures but I have to be honest with the Irish people - the winter could be very challenging. We have to try to make sure we can have a well-considered package for how we assist people, families and business not in a temporary way, but in a way that looks at structural change. I am open to positive and constructive engagement. We had a discussion about this in the budgetary oversight committee today. What can we do structurally on energy? What can we do to make it easier for people to make their own homes warmer? Are there measures we can take there? However, getting into that annual budget cycle is to the benefit of citizens in this country.

There the Minister goes again saying the winter could be very challenging. People are telling me that it is very challenging right now. How more challenging does it need to be when you cannot pay to keep the lights on in your home? That is the pressure that people are under. The Minister is saying that we need to keep the power dry until the winter and budget 2027 and I am telling him that there are large numbers of people who are really under pressure. They are under pressure because of the budget that the Government brought forward. The Government brought forward a budget of €9.4 billion last year and the Government left workers and families worse off. That is what the ESRI says. The ESRI is very clear on what the Government has done. They are worse off this year than they were last year. That is the Government's conscious decision. On top of that now, we have inflation. We have so much pressure bearing down on people. Can the Minister not understand that people's lives are really challenging now? What they are seeing is a Government that thought it would have a surplus of over €4 billion, now it is twice that amount and the Minister is still not willing to alleviate the pressures on those families right now.

The Deputy is doing it again. The Deputy is speaking for the people of Ireland. We both went to Galway and we put our cases to the people. The Deputy said, "Send a message to the Government on the cost-of-living crisis - vote Sinn Féin", and the people of Galway West said, "Now, hang on a second here. We can see through this." The Deputy should have a little humility in terms of coming in here speaking for the people of Ireland and that the Deputy is in touch with everyone and I am out of touch. We just had an election. That is the first point. The second point is, we need to be very careful we do not chase inflation. The Deputy's budget proposals last year would have put up inflation. The Deputy knows that too. We have to get this balance right. We had a good conversation of Government and Opposition at the oversight committee on this today. We have to be very careful that anything we do does not chase inflation because things that we do that could in the temporary moment seem like we are trying to assist people could end up pushing up prices for them and nobody in this House, I presume, wants to achieve that situation too. We have taken measures. The people of Ireland get this. It is one of the largest packages of support in the European Union to help people. We will work in the annual budget cycle but if we get into this situation of mini-budget here and mini-budget there, it is a dangerous spiral that will not serve the people of this country well.