2026-07-01

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan. The Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment has tabled an amendment to Deputy Tóibín's motion, as have Sinn Féin Members.

I move: That Dáil Eireann: notes that: — Ireland is an outlier regarding the spiralling cost of living, and a Eurostat report this week showed we are the most expensive country for housing, health, energy and alcohol, overall prices are 36 per cent above the European Union average, with health costs in Ireland being 85 per cent higher than the European average; — a study by Barnardos found that more than one-third of households went into arrears on energy bills in the last 12 months, with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities showing half a million people are behind on gas and electricity payments, and electricity prices are to rise from next week by 8 per cent, while gas goes up by 7.7 per cent; — rents are also at record levels, as are evictions, in the wake of the Government's rent reforms, and a two-bed accommodation in Dublin is now almost €2,700 a month, while nationwide it is €2,176, which means it costs approximately €30,000 a year to rent here; — the cost-of-living crisis is now mainstream, and families with two incomes are finding it hard to cope, with very little left over for emergencies; — in the past five years grocery bills increased by 40 per cent, and that adds up to approximately €3,000 extra a year, for the same goods; — since 2021, energy costs are up 57 per cent, diesel is up 60 per cent, a pint of stout is up 28 per cent, beef cuts for home-cooked stew are up 50 per cent, butter has risen 42 per cent, chicken breasts that were €5 in 2022 are now €12.98, steak has doubled in that time and eggs have gone up 35 per cent; — this year, the Nevin Economic Research Institute found that Irish households pay around €360 more per year than the western European average for electricity, and it identified Ireland as a significant "cost growth outlier", as overall consumer prices have risen by 24 per cent over the past four years; and — families across the country are working hard, yet barely keeping their heads above water; recognises that: — the Government has implemented measures that add to inflation and household bills; — the Government refuses to halt the punitive increases in carbon tax and the M50 tolls; — the Government collected €1.17 billion in carbon tax last year, the highest ever; — carbon tax was supposed to be ringfenced for climate projects, but Aontú parliamentary questions found that a quarter of a billion euro of carbon tax revenue, nearly one fifth of it, went back into the State coffers in three years; — 39 per cent of the carbon tax either was directed to other non-climate projects, or went back to the Exchequer, proving it is not needed for its stated purpose; — the National Oil Reserves Agency levy for the climate action fund found that €278 million, 70 per cent of it, was left sitting in the Government's bank account from 2020 to 2024; — the Government took in €4.3 billion in fuel taxes last year alone; — the Government seeks to increase diesel prices by 32 cents, and petrol by 27 cents, a litre on the 1st August; — Irene Tinagli, Italian MEP, Economist and Chair of the European Parliament's Special Committee on the Housing Crisis, categorised Ireland's housing crisis as the "most severe and complicated in Europe"; — this year, the Government removed the rent cap for new builds and new tenancies for the objective of making the housing market more lucrative to investors, and the move failed to increase supply, but it resulted in increased rents and record evictions; — the M50 has paid for itself 30 times over, yet toll fees were still increased this year, as it has taken in over €2.2 billion in revenue since 2008, and is now a tax on work; — there is no reprieve for burdened customers with the ESB, as despite the semi-State company making supernormal profits of €650 million last year, half a million people are in energy arrears; — the Deposit Re-turn Scheme was introduced in 2024, adding 25 cent and 15 cent per can and bottle onto consumers' shopping bills upfront at the till, and it is an amount in excess of most other European countries who have the same scheme; — the scheme has put extra costs on the taxpayer since its inception, such as the half a million-euro cost of cleaning up Dublin from the scavenging it has caused, while the introduction of bottle holders around the bins to try and stop it cost €155,000 before being scrapped; — the Government's waste is at levels never seen before, including the Iarnród Éireann €50 million Information Technology system failure that was written off, the recent €127,000 Health Service Executive (HSE) Kerry bike shed, following on from the infamous €336,000 Oireachtas bike shed, and another cost overrun is the National Children's Hospital that has seen its original estimate of €650 million increase to €2.24 billion and counting for the hospital, with no opening date; — there is the €10 million being spent on Dublin City Council's Wood Quay offices, which are planned to be bulldozed in three years' time; — the Metrolink, that started in the mid-2000s, should have cost €2 billion but is projected to cost €15.8 billion, and Ireland is the world leader when it comes to squandering public money, bad budgeting and bad planning; — Government spending overruns have averaged €5 billion each year since 2023, and the International Federation of Accountants has strongly criticised the State for year-to-year budgeting, using unrealistic forecasts, and ignoring these overruns; and — health accounts for more than 40 per cent of total current spending overruns, and capital infrastructure overruns hit €1.6 billion in one year; and calls on the Government to: — cancel the planned increase in fuel taxes on diesel of 32 cents, petrol of 27 cents, and green diesel of 2.4 cents per litre; — remove the Value-Added Tax (VAT) from construction for a three-year period, as removing VAT from construction would reduce the average price of a house by an estimated €50,000 per house, and this is also a market activation initiative, as it would improve viability; — reduce profits at semi-State ESB to zero, allow it to wash its face, cover its costs and invest, as this would save every household €300; — reform the Deposit Re-turn Scheme, as the not-for-profit company running it has €103 million in unredeemed deposits in its accounts; — bring in a solar panel grant scheme that is accessible for all, increase the grants for solar panels to 50 per cent for low-income families, and reduce it on a sliding scale to the current grant level for high income families; — reintroduce the rent caps for new build and new tenancies, as rent caps should be set at the rate of inflation or 2 per cent; — scrap the M50 toll; — end increases in carbon tax; — publish the profits in the grocery sector, as mandating the biggest supermarkets to publish their profits would not interfere with the market, but would bring transparency to the industry and benefit customer choice; — introduce a "heads will roll" clause for senior civil servants, if they spend money in an irresponsible fashion, as there has to be a cost to their careers, up to and including losing their job; — appoint a Minister of State in the Department of the Taoiseach, whose responsibility is to make sure, in real time, that capital projects are not overrunning in cost; — audit non-governmental organisations that are being funded by the State, to ascertain if they are providing a benefit for citizens, and cut Government funding to those who are not providing a benefit for citizens; — end the €5 billion of Government budget spending overruns; — reduce the processing time for International Protection Accommodation Services applications, to reduce accommodation costs; — introduce a 2-year recruitment moratorium in administration within the HSE, to rebalance staff numbers towards the front line; — introduce output payments within the HSE, to ensure that the health service gets paid for the consultations, treatments, engagements and operations that are delivered to patients, as this would save money, incentivise hospitals to reduce the length of hospital waiting lists and reorientate staff numbers towards the front line; and — increase the price of electricity to new data centres, as this would reduce household electricity prices. Today, we in Aontú are using our Private Members' time to try to ease the burden on families throughout the country and make life affordable for them again. The primary aim of our motion is to stop the Government from increasing the price of petrol by 27 cent and the price of diesel by 32 cent between now and 1 December. Incredibly, it is the Government's plan to increase the price of petrol and diesel five times before the end of the year. It is a startling plan for any government to implement in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, when so many families are to the pin of their collar. One of those increases will be a carbon tax increase, which will likely be imposed after the budget. Aontú's motion seeks to stop the Government from increasing carbon tax. It is absolutely incredible that any government would raise fuel prices by so much during a cost-of-living crisis. Much of the increased prices we pay in this country are as a result of Government actions. The Government is an architect of the cost-of-living crisis. It is implementing measures that are adding to inflation and household bills. I will give examples. The Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Independents Government collected €1.17 billion in carbon tax last year, which is the highest ever, in the jaws of a cost-of-living crisis. This tax, which is now the biggest fuel tax in the country, hardly existed five years ago. The Government took €4.3 billion in fuel taxes alone last year. It is eye-watering stuff. The citizens of this country are being shaken down by way of these taxes. Carbon tax was supposed to be ring-fenced for climate change projects. However, replies to parliamentary questions from Aontú show that in a three-year period, €250 million of carbon tax revenue, or nearly a fifth of the total, went back into the State's coffers. Over those three years, that amount of carbon tax money was directed to non-climate projects or went back to the Exchequer because it was not needed for the stated purpose. The National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy is another example of the Government assaulting consumers. Aontú has found out that €278 million, or 70% of the total revenue from the levy, was simply left sitting in a Government bank account between 2020 and 2024. The Government was collecting hundreds of millions of euro from hard-pressed consumers in this country for four years and simply could not find anything to do with the money. It is an incredible admission. The M50 toll is another tax on workers. The bridges cost €53 million to build and the Government has collected billions of euro in tolls from drivers. The M50 has paid for itself 30 times over, yet the Government seeks to increase toll fees year on year. Before the current excise cuts, the Government was collecting 60% of the price of petrol and diesel by way of taxes. It was collecting more in taxes than the total cost of drilling for that oil, extracting it and pumping it to the surface, taking it from the North Sea to a refinery, refining it and then taking it on a ship to Ireland, transporting it to a petrol station and selling it to consumers. All of that cost less than the Government was extracting by way of taxes on that fuel. We have a rip-off model in terms of the Government's approach to this issue, and it is wrong. The plan announced yesterday is simply to return to that rip-off model in the form of high levels of fuel taxes. The Government is tax-gouging families throughout the country, especially those in poverty and in energy arrears. In relation to electric vehicles, EVs, the ESB, a semi-State company, is hiking up the price of charging at public charging spots. The figures are eye-watering. It will cost 73 cent per kWh to charge an EV in a public space, while drivers can charge their vehicle overnight for 7 cent per kWh. It will cost one tenth of the price to charge an EV at home. The Government says these taxes are designed to move people away from carbon usage and into sustainable types of transport systems. In this case, however, the ESB is incentivising petrol and diesel as fuel sources for travel. It is incredible. Ireland is an outlier in terms of the spiralling cost of living. This week's Eurostat report showed we are the most expensive country for housing, health and energy in the EU. That damning finding is worth repeating: Ireland the most expensive country in the EU for housing, health and energy. Overall prices here are now 36% higher than the EU average. Health costs are 85% more than the European average. Indeed, Ireland now has the second most expensive electricity market on the planet for domestic users. The Government is achieving world records for all the wrong reasons in terms of the price of electricity. Barnardos has found that one third of Irish households went into arrears on energy bills in the past 12 months. That is astounding. According to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, 500,000 Irish households are in arrears on gas and electricity bills. What is the answer from the Government? It is to put electricity prices up today. A total of 1 million householders will pay €300 more on their annual electricity bills because of today's rise. The Government might say that ESB, including its Electric Ireland division, is a semi-State body. However, semi-State organisations operate on the basis of Government policy. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, this semi-State body is putting up the price of electricity today. The Nevin Economic Research Institute has stated that the average household in Ireland is paying €360 more for electricity than householders in other western European countries. That is because of the Government. The ESB is a semi-State body that operates on the basis of Government policy. Last year, it made €650 million in profits. Can the Minister of State see the disconnect here? A semi-State body operating under Government policy made a profit of €650 million during a cost-of-living crisis that has seen 500,000 families go into arrears on their electricity bills. Does he not understand how morally wrong it is for a Government to operate on that basis? The situation is getting worse. Despite the extent of arrears, the electricity companies are raising their prices today. Tone-deaf semi-State bodies, blind to the hardship of customers, are operating on the basis of Government policy. The ESB is making a €300 profit per household, which is roughly the same as the difference between average electricity prices in Ireland and those in the rest of Europe. The whole electricity market is a mess. The grid is creaking and unable to deal with the levels of renewables coming online at the moment. The data centres the Government is incentivising are sucking up all available electricity. We have bottlenecks, constraints and dispatch down notices, which mean we are now actually paying for wind farms in Ireland to switch off electricity output. It is mind-bending stuff. We are paying for electricity companies not to produce electricity at certain times of day every single day. Grocery bills are up 40%. It adds approximately €3,000 extra per family per year for exactly the same goods they were purchasing ten years ago. Families are paying, for example, 50% more for beef cuts, butter has risen by 42%, chicken breasts, which were €5 in 2022, are now €12.98, the price of steak has doubled and eggs have gone up 35%. This might seem small beer to Ministers on big wages but for many families struggling to provide nutrition for the children, this is a major mountain they have to climb daily. The Government is simply adding to that. All of this cost-of-living crisis is happening at a time when the Government is incinerating money. This is the key point, in that we in Aontú have been very careful to show where the Government is wasting money and where money can be saved to pay for a reduction in certain taxes to make life easier for people. We have seen an incredible waste of money recently with the Re-turn scheme, which added 25 cent and 15 cent to cans and bottles. That is now leading to a €500,000 cost annually for clean-up in Dublin as a result of the scavenging from bins it is causing. Iarnród Éireann incinerated €50 million of taxpayers' money on an IT system that failed to work. In the second part of my contribution, I will list all of the places where this Government is wasting money, where that money can be saved and where there is a facility to then reduce the price of energy for hard-pressed customers. There is absolutely no way this Government should proceed with five petrol and diesel price increases before the end of the year.

I am the Chairperson of the budgetary oversight committee. We have had many witnesses in over the past number of months. Yesterday, we had witnesses in who agreed with exactly what I and Independent Ireland have been saying. The Department of Finance does not talk to the Department of enterprise. The Department of Finance is responsible for divvying out the moneys but they all work separately. When it hands out bits and pieces, which it says is targeted, it does not cover everyone. The conclusion in our meeting yesterday, which was very good and informative, was if you keep doing the same thing over and over and there is no change, it is a sign of madness. The Government has got to learn from the sign of madness. It is doing the same thing over and over and getting the same result - vulnerable people suffer and the Government does not make change. We have been talking about the carbon tax and protests. Five years ago in November 2021, I brought a truck up here when truckers were protesting about fuel costs. That was five years ago yet a few months ago not only truckers but farmers, businesses and homeowners all protested and the Government still has not listened. That is after five years. The Government has got it wrong. What does it pay its Departments for, if they do not know how to react to problems? The Government is reactive, not proactive. That is its biggest problem. I have stood at Limerick Junction and at the Tipperary and Charleville shows - I stand at shows every year meeting people. Of all the shows I have gone to, I have never seen as many people coming to me with their concerns. They were all Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael all their lives. It is not only young people coming to me but it is all age groups, even people who have retired. I was at a mass at the graves of deceased family members. The last man who came up to me as I was leaving was in his eighties. He said, "Richard, what are they doing up there?" If the Government has lost all those people who stood beside it all the years and they can see the Government is getting it wrong, why can it not? They see their children and grandchildren suffering because of the people they put in here and now they are embarrassed because the Government is not learning. Why is it not learning? Why is it targeting the most vulnerable people in this country? The Government made €1.7 billion extra this year in fossil fuel taxes. The vehicles in this country are mostly from between 2010 and 2018. People are lucky to keep the vehicles they have on the road but the Government has no problem bringing in inferior food from other countries and wants the quality to stay the same here. This is what the Government has done in this country - it has forgotten the very people who put them here and put their trust in them and it is taxing them out of existence. The most badly off people are the squeezed middle, the working people, people who get up every morning and go to bed late at night. The Government does not look after them. It penalises them for working rather than giving them some bit of a reward. The harder they work, the more they are penalised by the Government. If two people in a household work, they are penalised twice as much as are their children. That is what this Government has stood for. The people are changing in Ireland and it is now showing on the ground. I thank them for that.

When we discuss the cost-of-living crisis, we need to move beyond the headlines and focus on the reality facing households. The Government points to falling inflation rates as evidence the crisis is easing but inflation measures the speed at which prices are rising. It does not mean prices are returning to previous levels. According to analysis of CSO data, the reality is that overall consumer prices are approximately 24% higher than they were five years ago. Families carry the cumulative impact of five years of rising costs. The increases have been most severe in the areas people cannot avoid. Electricity prices are up 62% since 2021, natural gas prices have more than doubled and home heating fuels have increased by over 60%. They are not luxury expenses; they are basic necessities of life. Food prices continue to increase year after year. Food inflation reached 5.1% in 2025 while the price of many everyday grocery items increased substantially. Families see these increases every week as they pay for their shopping. At the same time, the Government continues to speak about economic growth, strong tax revenues and budget surpluses. If the public finances are so healthy, why are so many working households struggling to get ahead? That is the question the Government cannot answer. One area where relief can be provided immediately is through the abolition of the universal social charge. Independent Ireland has consistently argued that the USC has outlived whatever purpose it may once have served. Just last week, Councillor Danny Collins tabled a motion before Cork County Council calling for its abolition. His point was straightforward - the USC was introduced in 2011 as a temporary measure. Fifteen years later, workers continue to pay it despite repeated promises it would be reduced or abolished. The State collects between €4 billion and €5 billion every year through the USC. Meanwhile, families deal with rising housing costs, childcare and fuel costs and energy bills. Independent Ireland believes workers should keep more of the money they earn. That starts with the abolition of the USC. Independent Ireland believes in rewarding people who work but this Government and some in opposition believe in punishing those who work or create employment. The same principle applies to carbon tax. For years, many of us warned carbon tax would increase the cost of everyday living. We were told we were wrong yet today we see the impact. Motorists pay approximately €1.85 per litre for petrol and €1.88 per litre for diesel. More than half what motorists pay at the pumps consists of tax, levies and charges. Taxes account for approximately 58% of the price of petrol and 52% of the price of diesel. That is why communities across Ireland witnessed fuel protests. Ordinary hardworking people took the streets because they believed Government policy was making life more expensive and they could not afford to continue. They were not asking for special treatment; they were asking for common sense. Housing remains another major contributor to the cost-of-living crisis. The Government will point to more than 36,000 homes being completed in 2025. While that increase is welcome, affordability remains the real issue. Residential property prices have increased by 7.3% in the year to October 2025, with a median dwelling price reaching €381,000. For many young couples and single workers trying to purchase their first homes, those figures place home ownership further out of reach. The Government talks constantly about supply, but people judge housing policy by whether they can afford to buy a home or pay their rent. Childcare is another example of the gap between promises and delivery. Families are repeatedly promised affordable childcare. Parents were told that costs would reduce significantly, yet many families continue to pay hundreds of euro every month simply to go to work. The aspiration was commendable; the delivery has been lacking. I wish to address what has become one of the worst examples of public sector mismanagement in the history of the State, the national children's hospital. The Minister for Health recently stated on Gavan Reilly's programme that there should be between 500 and 600 workers on site at the project, but when she asked to see all these workers, she said, "They declined." You could not make it up. Let us consider that for a moment. This project began with an expected cost of less than €1 billion. It is now projected to cost well over €2 billion. It has become the most expensive hospital project in the history of the State and probably the world. Electricity from Electric Ireland is going up by 8% today. We have not been able to bring the electricity companies to task in this country. They can just put up the electricity to any price. For those who have solar panels, and some are lucky enough to have them even though the grant is shockingly bad, tell me that what they are getting from Electric Ireland is not going to rise. Electric Ireland will put up the charge if we are using the electricity, therefore, but it will screw over the ordinary hard-working person who has put money into their home and put up solar panels. We are not fighting for renewables and to give people that opportunity or bonus by having renewables in their homes.

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that the Government: — remains deeply concerned about the conflict in the Middle East and Gulf region; — is acutely aware of the impact on households and businesses of the recent increases in the cost of living, and is actively monitoring the current geopolitical situation and its impact on costs; — affirms that affordability is a priority for this Government; and — has taken action to help households and businesses with the cost of fuel and energy, by introducing one of the most comprehensive support packages in the European Union (EU); affirms that: — the Government is deeply aware of the pressures placed on households and businesses by cost-of-living pressures; — the National Energy Affordability Taskforce (NEAT) was established in June 2025, to identify, assess and implement measures that will enhance energy affordability for households and businesses, while delivering key renewables commitments and protecting security of supply and economic stability; — in recent months, the Government introduced a €750 million package of fuel supports, which is among the largest per capita of any EU state; — these measures have been further extended until 1st September, 2026, at an estimated cost of €270 million; — the Value-Added Tax (VAT) rate on electricity bills has been reduced to 9 per cent, until 2030; — enhanced social protection payments have been introduced, including an increase to the fuel allowance rate, and an expansion of the eligibility rules; — successive budgets have provided targeted support to help households with cost-of-living pressures; — the NEAT continues to work intensively on an energy affordability action plan to be submitted to the Government in quarter 3 of this year; — this action plan will be focused on short-, medium- and long-term measures, to support households and businesses to meet energy costs; — the action plan will be built on four key pillars: — addressing the price; — sustainable demand and enhancing flexibility; — addressing energy poverty and customer protections; and — energy affordability for businesses; — this will be a crucial element of the Government's work to improve competitiveness, complementing the current Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity; — a range of protections are in place for customers experiencing difficulties in paying their bills, including through the Department of Social Protection, who can provide support through the Additional Needs Payment, to help households meet expenses, including those who face difficulties with fuel bills; — a record capital budget of €640 million, including €558 million from carbon tax receipts, has been allocated to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, supporting 73,000 home energy upgrades to make homes warmer, healthier and more comfortable, with lower emissions and lower bills; — the allocation also includes a record €340 million for the Warmer Homes Scheme, which provides fully funded upgrades for those in energy poverty and is targeting 11,500 upgrades this year; — Ireland has legally binding targets for the collection and recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, and the Deposit Re-turn Scheme is ensuring we meet those targets; — the fully refundable deposit amount balances affordability with incentivising consumers to return the empty container, and the return rate of nearly 77 per cent shows that this is working; — under the EU accounting framework, reporting and disclosure obligations are determined primarily by the size of a company, with different requirements applying to micro-, small-, medium-sized and large undertakings, reflecting the principle that reporting obligations should be proportionate to the scale of the business, and is applied consistently across the EU; — accordingly, grocery retailers are subject to the same accounting and disclosure requirements as other companies of a comparable size, and companies operating in Ireland, including those connected with other EU member states, are subject to harmonised reporting frameworks under EU law; — any proposal to introduce additional reporting obligations, for a particular sector, would therefore need to be considered in the context of Ireland's obligations under the EU accounting framework, and the existing size-based system of corporate reporting; — Budget 2026 reduced the VAT rate for the construction and supply of qualifying apartments and apartment blocks, from 13.5 per cent to 9 per cent, until the end of 2030, as part of a social policy to deliver higher density housing; — a 0 per cent VAT rate may be applied to a maximum of seven of any of the categories included under Annex III of the EU VAT Directive, however, as Ireland already applies the 0 per cent rate to the maximum number of categories, there is no scope to expand this to the construction of new housing; — the national housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030, contains a suite of measures to support domestic and international investment in the delivery of new rental properties, in particular, the supply of new apartments; — the recently enacted Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026, provides improved security of tenure for tenants, while also encouraging more private investment in the rental market; and — the Act, effective from 1st March, 2026, introduced a national system of rent control, with rent increases to be capped by inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index, and in times of high inflation, rent increases are capped at a maximum of 2 per cent; and further notes that: — the latest Eurostat report, comparing electricity prices across the EU, outlines that Ireland had the 5th highest for household electricity prices in the second half of 2025, when adjusted to take account of the 'Purchasing Power Standard', i.e., practical affordability, taking account of household income and so on; — the most recent report from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities shows that 319,000 (14 per cent) of domestic electricity customers were in arrears in March, unchanged since December, and that a much lower 8 per cent (184,000) of domestic electricity customers were in arrears for over 90 days, approximately the same level as May 2025; — the four biggest energy retailers have confirmed that hardship funds and focused measures are in place, for any customers in difficulty; — switching energy supplier or plan could save the average electricity customer up to €500 annually; — the Government has also established the NEAT, to identify, assess and implement measures that will enhance energy affordability for households and businesses, while delivering key renewable commitments, and protecting security of supply and economic stability; — the Government remains committed to ensuring that low-income households benefit from Ireland's renewable energy transition, and will continue to explore how best to integrate solar and other technologies into our energy poverty retrofit programmes; — carbon tax funds are allocated for expenditure on measures including the continuation of a national retrofitting programme, investment in community energy efficiency measures, and funding for greener farming practices, as part of Ireland's climate policy and our aim to reach net-zero by 2050; — the temporary deferral of the 1st May carbon tax increase will result in lower carbon tax revenues of €22 million in 2026; — neither the Government, nor the Minister for Transport, have a direct role in the setting of M50 toll rates, as these are instead governed by statutory byelaws, and are managed by Transport Infrastructure Ireland; — additionally, toll revenues from the M50 are fully reinvested in the operation, maintenance, protection and renewal of the national road network, and abolishing the M50 toll would cost the €250 million in revenues that would instead have to be raised from general taxation; — recruitment within the Health Service Executive is complex and has been devolved to regional structures, who are best placed to assess service needs and prioritise posts, and a recruitment pause would directly undermine this approach and could result in increased reliance on agency staff, ultimately driving up costs rather than reducing them, and thereby restricting the funding for hiring more front-line staff; — the Government is already progressing a significant reform programme, to link healthcare funding more directly to the level of activity delivered to patients through implementation of Activity Based Funding (ABF), which represents a fundamental shift in how hospital budgets are set; — a structured implementation plan is in place, with shadow ABF processes being rolled out across 2026–2027, allowing funding models to be tested and refined before full implementation from 2028; — achieving value for money must be sought at all stages of policy formation, and it is the responsibility of every Minister, public and civil servants within all Departments; — earlier this year, the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation published Circular 21/2026 Expenditure Control and Escalation Processes, this sets out the various phases of an expenditure control escalation process for use across Government, and the corrective steps that may be implemented where expenditure risks and overruns are identified, and this new escalation process will strengthen effective budget oversight through enhanced governance and a focus on value for money, ensuring that expenditure ceilings are credible and deliver effectively on Programme for Government commitments; and — this builds on Value for Money Circular 18/2025, which highlighted the roles and responsibilities in the delivery of value for money, as well as the robust guidance, codes of practice, and circulars underpinned by legislation, and informed by best practice in the pursuit of value for money, and it is the responsibility of the Accounting Officer for each Department to ensure that they manage expenditure sustainably, and in accordance with this allocation.". I speak on behalf of the Government on this wide-ranging motion regarding the cost of living. I reiterate that the Government opposes this motion and puts forward its own countermotion. The proposed countermotion outlines and affirms that energy affordability is a priority of this Government and highlights the significant supports that have been provided by the Government to help households and businesses with the cost of fuel and energy, including the introduction of one of the most comprehensive support packages in the EU. The conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine have caused significant disruption to global energy markets. The Government is also very aware and concerned about the pressures placed on households and businesses while high energy costs are rising due to the conflict. Providing supports to alleviate this pressure has and will continue to be a priority. We have taken action to help households and businesses with the cost of fuel and energy, such as the expanded fuel allowance, tax reductions on energy and significantly expanded retrofitting programmes. On 12 April, the Government agreed a €500 million package of fuel supports. This is in addition to the initial €250 million in targeted supports announced in March. These packages are among the largest per capita interventions in any EU member state. Key measures introduced include a reduction in excise on petrol, diesel and marked gas oil, MGO. When taken with the reduction in the NORA levy, that means 32 cent off a litre of diesel, 27 cent off a litre of petrol and 7.4 cent off MGO. There is a deferral of the planned increase in carbon tax scheduled for 1 May until the budget and an increase in the maximum repayment amount available under the diesel rebate scheme for qualifying road haulage and bus transport operators from 5.7 cent to 12 cent per litre for quarter 1 and quarter 2 of 2026. We have also developed a new €120 million road transporter support scheme, as well as supports for coach operators providing Local Link services. A €100 million fuel subsidy support scheme for farmers, agricultural contractors and fishers has also been opened. These measures were introduced on a temporary basis to provide some relief from fuel price inflation. As stated at the time of the interventions in March and April, the Government reserves the right to review and alter the policy approach, as necessary. Accordingly, the Government has continued to actively monitor all relevant strands of information, including global energy market dynamics and domestic retail pricing trends. Following this review, the Government announced an updated approach on 30 June. This approach is informed by very significant reductions in crude oil prices, as well as retail fuel prices, over recent weeks. It is therefore appropriate to begin the process of reversing the temporary reductions in mineral oil tax. It is important to emphasise that there will be no cliff-edge effects for consumers; rather, the restoration of pre-March 2025 mineral oil tax rates will be done in a gradual and phased way. The motion also calls for an end to increases in carbon tax. However, as Deputies will be aware, carbon tax is a core part of Ireland’s climate policy and our aim to reach net zero by 2050. The need for society and the economy to decouple from fossil fuel dependence is even more apparent now given the volatility of international fuel markets. The best way of insulating our economy and society from fuel prices shocks is to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Carbon tax funds are allocated for expenditure on measures that will achieve this, including the continuation of a national retrofitting programme, investment in community energy efficiency measures and funding the greener farming practices. The benefit of carbon tax is obvious, with 2026 seeing a record capital budget of €640 million, including €558 million from carbon tax receipts, allocated to the SEAI residential and community energy grant schemes. This allocation will support 73,000 home energy upgrades to make homes warmer, healthier and more comfortable, with lower emissions and lower bills. The allocation also includes a record €340 million for the warmer homes scheme, which provides fully funded upgrades for those in energy poverty and is targeting 11,500 upgrades this year. A total of 53% of the allocation for SEAI residential and community schemes in 2026 is for the warmer homes scheme. It is important to note that the fuel supports announced this year build on the suite of measures to assist households with cost-of-living pressures announced as part of budget 2026. A total of €28.9 billion will be spent on social protection in 2026, including over €1.15 billion of new measures targeted to assist households. The measures contained in the budget are designed to support the most vulnerable in our society with the cost of living and there is a particular focus on tackling child poverty. The package includes the largest child support payment increase in the history of the State, with a weekly increase of €16 to €78 for children aged 12 and over, which is a 26% increase, and a weekly increase of €8 to €58 for children under 12 years, which is a 16% increase. This brings the total annual value of the child support payment to €3,016 for each child under the age of 12 and €4,056 for each child over 12. Record increases were announced in respect of the carer’s allowance income disregard, with an increase of €375 to €1,000 for a single person and an increase of €750 to €2,000 for a couple. The income limit for carer’s benefit will also increase by €375 to €1,000 per week. This change will take effect from this month. Also included in the budget package were across-the-board increases of €10 per week to maximum personal payment rates, benefiting people such as pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and lone parents, with proportionate increases for people receiving a reduced payment rate and qualified adults. These changes took effect from January. The budget package also provided significant supports to help householders with the cost of heating and other energy bills. The fuel allowance increased by €5 to €38 per week and, for the first time, families receiving the working family payment now qualify for the fuel allowance. In addition, people moving from disability allowance or the blind pension to take up work will retain their fuel allowance for five years. The budget also included an extension of the 9% VAT rate that applies to gas and electricity. The wide array of measures clearly demonstrates the huge focus the Government has placed on assisting ordinary people and families with the cost of living. In addition to the wide-ranging support already provided by the Government, we recognise that more needs to be done to help households and businesses that are under pressure as a result of increasing energy prices. The cross-government national energy affordability task force, NEAT, will play a key role in that regard. The task force is preparing an energy affordability action plan as well as co-ordinating the national response to the energy shock arising from the conflict in the Middle East. This structure will ensure a co-ordinated and coherent response to the energy crisis that is aligned with the programme for Government commitments and longer term action on energy affordability. The report of the task force, which included measures for consideration in budget 2026 including those I mentioned earlier, was published last November. The task force is now working intensively on the preparation of an energy affordability action plan, which will be completed in quarter 3 of 2026. The action plan will examine cost drivers in the energy sector and identify short-, medium- and long-term measures to enhance the affordability of energy for households and businesses. The action plan will be built on four key pillars: addressing the price of energy, sustainable demand and enhancing flexibility, addressing energy poverty and customer protections, and energy affordability for businesses. Intensive work on the action plan by NEAT subgroups, for example those on energy demand and grid financing, assisted by external advisory support, will continue over the coming weeks. This work will be supported by a process of engagement with relevant stakeholders. This will ensure that EAAP priorities are shaped by public and stakeholder input and remain responsive, inclusive and grounded in lived experience. A targeted stakeholder consultation has taken place on tackling energy poverty. This follows on from a recent meeting with representatives from the community and voluntary pillar such as Age Action Ireland, the National Women's Council of Ireland and the environmental pillar in respect of their proposals on energy poverty. Consultation sessions with business groups and the Electricity Association of Ireland, EAI, and retail electricity suppliers have also been held. In addition, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has engaged with the four biggest energy retailers in recent months to ensure that hardship funds and focused measures are in place for any customers in difficulty. It is important to note that the Department of Social Protection can also provide support through the additional needs payment to help households to meet expenses, including those who face difficulty with fuel bills. The Government has introduced substantial support during this volatile period. Supports are timely and necessary and we will continue to monitor the situation closely. In the remaining minute I will add, because very little was alluded to on this in the initial contributions from the Opposition, that the key most fundamental way we can reduce energy prices for the people of Ireland is by ramping up renewable energy. It is as simple as this: the higher the proportion of our energy needs or fuel needs that are met by fossil fuels, then the higher our prices will be. It is simple maths. Our fuel and the cost of electricity, the cost of energy, is directly linked and tied to the cost of a barrel of crude oil. We have to step away from that. We have to ramp up solar and wind generation. However, we can only do that if people get behind it. The Deputies who are contributing and criticising the Government for energy prices are the same Deputies who will object to renewables and to solar and object to alternative forms of energy. It is a fact.

The data centres are doing that.

The Opposition would prefer to lead us down a path that we cannot come back from and tie us into fossil fuels forever which is only going to continue to lead to increased energy prices.

I thank my colleagues in Aontú for their work on this motion and thank the Deputies for their contributions today. The fact is that the point raised by the Minister of State a few moments ago is actually untrue. This Government has a policy of increasing the number of data centres. For every new wind or solar development the vast majority of that additional capacity is going to data centres.

Says yer man with the laptop.

Let us not mislead the House here. It is important that we say that from the outset. The truth is that Ireland is an outlier in terms of the cost of living in the country at the moment. We are the most expensive country in Europe for housing, health, energy and alcohol. Is the Minister of State going to blame the Opposition for the disasters of health and the cost of housing? The Government has presided over this. It is time the Minister of State owned this. Overall prices are 36% higher in Ireland than in the rest of the European Union. Health costs are about 85% higher in Ireland than they are elsewhere in the European Union. One third of households went into arrears in the past 12 months. That equates to more than 300,000 people. Since 2021, energy is up 57%. During that time there has been an increase in renewables. Can the Minister of State explain that? Diesel is up 60%. Much of that increase is due to geopolitics but there is also the fact that the Government is gouging in terms of taxation, which accounts for the majority of what we pay at the pump. That is the truth. We are being overcharged. A significant amount of what we are being overcharged is as a result of Government policy on the high cost of energy. Built into the carbon tax is that very policy. The Government wants to increase the cost of fuel, increase the cost of diesel and petrol, irrespective of the cost at the pump. That is what the Government voted for. We in Aontú did not. In 2021 we did not support the climate action Bill because we knew what it would lead to. In relation to carbon tax, last year the Government collected €1.1 billion in carbon tax, the highest tax on record. This year the Government is on track to take in €200 million more in carbon tax, despite the fact that there has been a reduction in tax due based on the price increases that were due to take place. The Taoiseach constantly outlines that we need this tax for retrofitting and for climate measures. However, the numbers state that between 2020 and 2023 half a billion euro in carbon tax was unspent. It was returned to the Exchequer. Meanwhile, the Government is continually increasing the carbon tax, despite the fact it cannot be spent. I have spoken to so many families who applied for and were approved for SEAI grants but because there is such a constraint in terms of labour, they are waiting for two or three years for that work to take place. A significant conversation needs to be had in relation to the constraints in terms of the labour force and the effect it is also having in terms of the development of homes. The National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy is another tax on fuel and it goes into the climate action fund. Since 2020, the climate action fund has been in surplus by almost €300 million. Since the start of this crisis the Government has been misleading us all. It is time it was called out on this. When it was first announced, the Government rolled out a package. At first, it was a €500 million package, then it was a €700 million package. The cost of this was not cost in terms of income forgone. It was a hypothetical figure. All the additional costs being brought forward, the increases in carbon tax, were added to it. Then the Government went to the people and said we are great and wanted a clap on the back.

I acknowledge Aontú for tabling this motion in good faith. It names a crisis that is biting every man, woman and child in this country. Families with two incomes are working harder than their parents ever did and having less to show for it. Grocery bills are up 40%, energy bills are up nearly 60% and rent is at a level unthinkable ten years ago. The diagnosis, like much of this motion, is correct. However, the correct diagnosis followed by the wrong prescription does not cure the patient. The hard truth this House must face is that the policies that brought us into this mess are the wrong ones to sort it out. For 15 years, we have been governed by an economic instinct that treats the citizen's wallet as the State's first resort and last reserve. Tax it, levy it, surcharge it, toll it and then families buckle under it. Government members will scratch their heads and wonder why. It offers a one-off cheque for Christmas and call it some sort of compensation. That is not compensation. It is a Government picking your pockets and handing you back the bus fare. That is what the Government has done on a regular basis. Let me offer two solutions to get to the root of this symptom. The first is the universal social charge, USC, which was introduced in 2011 as an emergency measure, brought in from the wrecking and crashing of the economy by the Fianna Fáil Administration and sold to this country as temporary. Now, 15 years later, the emergency is well and truly over but the tax remains. It is the most cynical levy in our system because the tax credit cannot touch it. It is charged at almost the top gross income on the first euro. A worker earning €50,000 hands over more than €1,000 in USC alone. The self-employed, who are the drivers of our economy, who take the risks, who create jobs and who, when something happens to them or they are sick, are not entitled to any social welfare, are taxed at a rate of 11% on top. Independent Ireland's answer is plain: abolish the USC. Do not tinker with a tax band or two, do not shave half a percent off a rate here and there and issue a press release. Abolish the universal social charge and let every worker in this country keep what they earn. That is a real payment structure relief - money in the pocket of every nurse, every electrician and every shop assistant every week of this year. For those in this House who will ask how we will pay for that, I would say look at your own motions, the things that have been brought to this House: MetroLink, costing €15.8 billion; and a children's hospital that has quadrupled in cost to €5 billion in overruns since 2023. You do not fund a tax cut on the back of workers but by ending wasteful spending. Wasteful spending is something the Government is very good at doing. The second solution is energy, and the Minister of State mentioned that himself. The contradiction he failed to mention is the Irish policy laid before us. We have some of the highest electricity prices in Europe. In 2021 the Government legislated for a ban on all new oil and gas exploration in our waters. It chose deliberately to keep the resources in the ground. We are aware that the Corrib gas field is running dry. By 2030, the Government's own figures have told us that the country will import over 90% of gas, almost all through pipelines from the United Kingdom. We are one of only a handful of EU states that has no gas storage of its own. The Minister of State is talked about renewable energies and how important they are. Nobody on this side of the House, and certainly in Independent Ireland, objects to renewable energy but we realise the importance and the reality that we are going to be dependent on fossil fuels for another 20 to 40 years. We can face the facts and deal in reality, unlike the Government. The Government chose not to open or explore Barryroe, knowing there are hundreds of millions of barrels of oil there. It will not even allow the exploration of it and has chosen not to look at it. The Government intends to import energy from France and Spain. That is not renewable energy, which the Minister of State knows as well as I do. He is denying that. His environmental policy is dressed up as virtue. That is the reality of it. He can talk and virtue-signal about renewable energies all he wants, and nobody is objecting to that, but he has to realise there are other energies as well that we are heavily dependent on in this country. The Government has to lift the ban and look at our energy security. Energy security is national security.

I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1: To insert the following after "expenditure sustainably, and in accordance with this allocation": "; and calls on the Government to: — recognise that increasing diesel by 34 cents and petrol by 29 cents a litre before the end of the year will put unjustifiable pressure on workers and families already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis; — rule out any increase in excise duty prior to budget day and conditional on a review of the market conditions at that time; and — introduce energy credits of €400 per household in direct response to the record number of households unable to pay their energy bills.". Cuirim fáilte roimh an rún seo ar an chostas maireachtála. Tá leasú curtha síos ag Sinn Féin ar an méid atá curtha chun tosaigh ag an Rialtas. Tá an Rialtas ag iarraidh orainn tacaíocht a thabhairt don mhéid atá curtha chun tosaigh aige, is é sin, go n-ardófar praghas an díosail 34 cent agus praghas an pheitril 29 cent idir seo agus an Nollaig. Tá sé dodhéanta. Nil glacadh ag gnáthdhaoine na tíre leis seo mar tá a fhios acu go bhfuil brú millteanach orthu. Ba chóir don Rialtas faoiseamh a thabhairt do dhaoine atá ag streachailt amuigh ansin, in áit a bheith ag cur níos brú agus ualaigh ar a gcuid guaillí. Is é sin an rud atá ag tarlú inniu. Seasann Sinn Féin go huile is go hiomlán ina éadan sin. Níor chóir go mbeadh praghas an pheitril agus díosail ag ardú le linn an tsamhraidh agus níor chóir go mbeadh sé ag dul suas an méid is atá an Rialtas ag iarraidh. Today households across the State are hit with blow after blow. This has been a continuous situation for the past number of years with costs rising, whether in our supermarkets, for rents, for insurance or the costs of the basics, just to get by. Today is a dark day for people because over a million households will see their electricity rise. I heard the Minister of State say that his Minister sat down with the electricity companies and energy generators. What was the response? It was double-digit increases in gas and electricity, kicking in today. That is going to really hurt people. Today is the day the European Commission decided that the Irish people should pay more tax. Every single person who now buys a product from outside the European Union will be hit by a €3 charge as of today, another ridiculous situation and disastrous policy introduced by the Commission, which our Government has refused to stand up against despite them now taking on the prestigious position of the EU Presidency. Today is the day the Government has come forward with its amendment and asked us that we pat it on the back for the job it thinks it is doing. More importantly, the amendment asks us to support the idea that it would increase the price of diesel by 34 cent between now and Christmas and the price of petrol by 29 cent between now and Christmas. Are the Minister of State and the Cabinet Ministers who sat around the table yesterday morning and decided this was a good idea not listening to people? I ask that genuinely. Are they not talking to people in their own constituencies? Do they not hear the concerns of people who cannot pay their electricity bills and the concerns of those who work every hour that God sends them yet still find it tough to make ends meet at the end of the week? Do they not hear people talking about how the shopping trolley has got more expensive? How under God can they sit at a Cabinet table and decide to bring forward a proposal that will increase the price of diesel by 34 cent between now and Christmas? It is simply outrageous. It should not happen. It is absolutely tone deaf to the concerns, frustration and worries of the Irish people right across the State. That is why Sinn Féin has tabled an amendment to the amendment to demand that the Government does not proceed with these increases at the scale and timeframe it has proposed. We do not have to be like this. Ireland does not have to be the country that has got the highest taxes on petrol and diesel across the European Union. Ireland does not have to be the country that charges the highest electricity costs across the European Union. Ireland does not need to be the country where we charge some of the highest rents in the European Union. A different type of Ireland is possible. It requires a Government that listens, understand and takes action to meet the needs of ordinary people. A Government's responsibility at a time of pressure on its citizens is to lift the burden off them, not do what was decided yesterday at Cabinet, namely to place more burden on the shoulders of ordinary Irish people over the next four months when it will get away with it. It is simply wrong. The Government is kicking the can down the road but the end result is the same. The end result we are being asked to support here is a 34 cent increase in diesel, pushing the price of diesel well beyond €2 and the price of petrol up another 29 cent. The Government is not even finished at that because it plans to increase it again next year and in the years after that. It is absolutely reckless and bound by this notion that if we increase the price of diesel and petrol, if we make it so hard and so expensive for people just to get into their cars and drive up that road, they might all go and buy an electric car. People in my constituency do not have the €40,000 or €50,000 to buy new electric cars. The Government needs to get real here. This cannot go ahead.

The cost-of-living crisis is hitting my constituency of Galway West incredibly hard. In this Chamber I have raised countless examples of families in Galway under unbearable pressure from the cost of living. Working people cannot make their wages stretch to cover soaring rents, crippling energy bills and the ever-increasing cost of their weekly shop. Crucially, rents are now up in Galway by 18%. That means that rents are rising more than four times faster than wages. This Government knows that this is completely and utterly unsustainable. Even the Taoiseach admitted that very few people can afford rents in Galway but still he refused to act. The Government votes against every single proposal we put forward to ease pressures on renters. If the Government were serious about tackling the cost-of-living crisis, it would ban rent increases effective immediately. It would end no-fault evictions and ramp up housing supply by actually building social and affordable homes. No matter how many stories are raised in this Chamber of working people, struggling families and fractured communities in desperate need of help with the cost-of-living crisis, the Government fails to act. The Government should be listening to these families and communities who are the backbone of our economy. Instead, it takes its advice from a select few economists who pat it on the back and tell it that it has built a strong, booming economy that is performing very well for the wealthiest in our society. Two weeks ago, some of our most senior economists sounded the alarm bells. The Central Bank published a quarterly bulletin. Its revised forecast shows that the cost-of-living crisis will go up even further than it expected this year. These forecasts show that prices are not just going up, they are going up faster than wages. The Central Bank is crystal clear. Under this Government, people are getting poorer. The Central Bank is telling us that real wages are dropping. That means people are going to struggle even more than they have been up to this point. There is no point in everybody coming into this Chamber during the winter months to talk about this at a time when parents cannot put food on the table or heat their homes. When that happens, everybody cries out and says, "Oh my god. Isn't that terrible". We told the Minister of State that this would happen. It is not only that we are telling him it is happening; statistics constantly show that people are falling into poverty because of the political choices being made. This is on the Government. Rents and the housing crisis are getting worse. That is a direct result of the Government's policies as opposed to anybody else's. It is high time that the Government started listening to the other people in this Chamber, because what it is doing is terrible.

It is not lost on the Irish people that the electricity credits were removed as soon as the general election was over. People received those credits as they prepared to vote. The cynicism behind what was done was off the scale. The Government only decided to reduce excise duty when there were strong protests across the State. The people I saw protesting in Donegal are the salt of the earth. They are responsible for delivering goods and producing food . To quote Leo Varadkar back in the day, they are the people who get up early in the morning and keep the country running. It was those people who were out protesting in desperation. Only after that did the Government introduce cuts to excise duty. It now proposes to increase excise duty again - to sneak it back in - while the Dáil is in recess. People who are trying to get by in this country face being charged €2 per litre for diesel and petrol. You can imagine what we will face in the winter if that is where the Government goes with this. I ask it to reflect very hard on what is proposed. People who say that carbon tax should not be increased are attacked by the Government. The reality for those living in a place like Donegal is that, in the main, they do not have the option to drive electric vehicles. People are not choosing to purchase petrol and diesel. Those in a place like Donegal have to have it in order to get by, to get to college and to get to work in order to earn a living. People are being penalised for choices they are not in a position to make. People do not have the resources to retrofit their homes because the costs involved are huge. Older people in particular cannot afford it. That is why there is heavy reliance on home heating oil in places like Donegal. The Government should stop talking about this in a way that makes it seem that people are backward when they say that those who live in rural communities should be penalised for living there.

I thank Deputies for bringing forward the motion. My constituents pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe. They would love to be able to re-register their households as data centres in order to avail of some of the Government's cheap electricity, but they cannot do so. As a result, they get screwed every single day of the week for the crime of wanting some hot water and a hot or warm home. People with disabilities feel that even more acutely. Some 320,000 household accounts are in arrears with their electricity bills and 180,000 are in arrears with their gas bills. This is the inevitable consequence of the Government withdrawing energy credits, which were a little treat in the run-up to the election and which then disappeared very quickly. Those in arrears are having prepaid meters installed in their homes. The Minister of State should know, but I fear he does not, that prepaid meters have some of the highest rates for electricity. A data centre that is sucking the life out of the grid pays cheap electricity rates. However, a lone parent who lives in Balbriggan, Rush, Lusk, Skerries or anywhere else in my constituency and who gets behind with their bills is punished by being put on a higher rate of electricity. When they cannot pay, a buzzer starts to go off and people know their energy is going to run out. They then have to go to the local Intreo office where they are told to fill out a form and wait. People are being cut off, but this is not recorded as their being disconnected. They do not have the energy to heat their homes. The Minister of State should reflect on the impact of the Government's policies on the people who are at the business end of them.

The cost of living is one of the biggest issues that people raise in my constituency office. People are struggling to make ends meet. Workers are handing over more than half of their wages in rent. They can barely cover their bills, put diesel in their cars, food on the table or pay for childcare and ever-increasing insurance costs. The cost of fuel is crippling people as they go about their daily business. Sinn Féin has pushed every step of the way for the Government to do the right thing. While other parties, including the sponsors of the motion, were sleeping away last week, Sinn Féin, through Deputy Doherty, put forward amendments to the Finance Bill to reduce the cost of petrol and diesel at the pumps. We have also submitted an amendment to today's motion to improve it. Last week, we had to listen to what I can only describe as a rant from Independent Ireland regarding Sinn Féin's policy on carbon tax. Independent Ireland was caught out in its misrepresentation. The Dáil record does not lie. Here are the facts. For those down the back who may struggling with what I am going to say or who hear what they want to hear, carbon tax was brought in by Fianna Fáil in 2010. Sinn Féin opposed it. Some Independent Ireland Deputies were members of Fianna Fáil when it introduced the carbon tax in 2010. Sinn Féin opposed the carbon tax in 2012, 2013, 2019 and at every opportunity since. The climate action Bill had absolutely nothing to do with carbon tax. Carbon tax is not mentioned in the Bill. Independent Ireland and others having a different opinion about Sinn Féin on policy matters is great and is called having political differences and engaging in political discourse. I am happy to argue with them any day of the week, but they should not make things up because people will see through them.

People are struggling. Sometimes I ask myself whether the Government has any idea what is happening. The Minister of State is from west Cork. How do people who do not drive a car or van in west Cork get to work, school, college or hospital? People cannot depend on public transport. The Government is behaving in a sneaky way. It will put up the price of diesel and petrol while the Government is on holidays. The Minister of State should stand up and be a man. If the Government is going to increase the price, it should increase it. The Government should come in here and do it rather than when its members are out sunning themselves. Why will the Government not accept that and stand over its decisions? Is it afraid of doing so? The price of petrol and diesel will increase on 1 September. The Government will not even be here to stand over its decisions. Parents with children who are home from school cannot afford summer camps or the cost of extra food. People are struggling when they go to the shops. They wonder what they will feed their kids. This is the reality for families and ordinary working people. The Irish League of Credit Unions has said that one in five families will not be able to afford a holiday. How is it right that people can work all year and do everything right but cannot afford to take a trip? We are not talking about going to Dubai or America. One in five people cannot afford a short family holiday. People cannot afford to pay their energy bills. They cannot afford diesel or petrol and are struggling to put food on their table. What is the Government doing? I do not know what it is doing, because it is letting people down.

Extending the temporary reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel is welcome, but it needs to be extended until budget day and then reviewed. In my county of Meath, public transport options are limited and cars are necessity. For families, fuel is an unavoidable expense, whether for a car or to heat a home. Ordinary families are stretched to the limit with high mortgages and insurance costs. One in four households cannot pay gas bills. Some 308,000 people are arrears on their electricity bills. Grocery prices are at an all-time high. A report from Barnardos last week found more than half of parents are worried that they do not have enough money to put fuel in their cars. Real people and families under real pressure. People with disabilities are choosing between heating and eating. Rents are at an all-time high. People are struggling right now. They cannot wait any longer. That is why Sinn Féin has called for an emergency budget to put €500 back in the pockets of workers, electricity credits worth €400, a €500 payment for people with disabilities and other measures. Going back to the Dáil record for March, Aontú, including Deputy Tóibín, and the Independents group did not cover themselves in glory when voting for the Government's shamefully inadequate measures that triggered the fuel protests. Sinn Féin stood almost alone. Only one left Independent, Deputy Charles Ward, stood with us in opposing those shamefully weak measures that directly led to fuel protests. In April, after weeks of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael refusing to listen, ordinary people rose up in protest and took to the streets. They forced the Government to reduce the cost of petrol and diesel. They had to fight hard for the little relief they got. Workers have never worked so hard but they have so little. People need a break and they need it right now.

One in seven households is in arrears on its electricity bills. Many have been in that position for months and cannot see any way out of it. Today, 1 July, bills are going up again. Electric Ireland, the State's largest energy provider, is putting up its prices, which means average households will pay an extra €138 on their bills. Some 1.1 million customers will be impacted. Everyone knows we have the highest electricity prices in Europe. We pay 40% more than the EU average and that amounts to around €480 per year for an average household. It is an incredibly large amount of money and we can see why people find it so difficult to make do. All the while, there are wind turbines all over the country being switched off at night or when there are constraints on the grid because the grid cannot take the electricity they would produce. This costs approximately €500 million per year and much of that is being paid by the very people who struggle to pay their bills. It is going onto individual homeowners' bills. It is a crazy situation. I will tomorrow bring a Bill before the Dáil that will prevent that electricity wastage from happening. It would force the Minister to do something with that energy. It needs to be provided to households at low cost or to people at risk of energy poverty for free. It is being wasted otherwise and we are still paying for it. The UK is doing something in this regard and I ask that the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, look into it. It is really important that we address this issue and stop the wastage of renewable electricity. We have heard a lot of discussion this morning about the high cost of petrol and diesel. Those prices are skyrocketing because of what is happening in Iran and what happened prior to that in Ukraine. We need to move people away from fossil fuel cars and towards electric vehicles. Many people are making that change. In 2025, there were record sales of electric cars in Ireland and the figures to date in 2026 seem to exceed that. That is a good news story. We are moving people towards a more sustainable and affordable means of transport. However, at the same time that the Government is encouraging people to move to electric vehicles, EVs, and has a target of 1 million EVs by 2030, the prices people pay for a fast-charging or public-charging system are skyrocketing to the point where it is more expensive than running a car on petrol or diesel. It makes no sense. Those public chargers are essentially unregulated. Ionity charges 85 cent per kilowatt hour for fast charging and the ESB has put up its prices to 72 cent. Many people are being locked out of electric car ownership because they live in apartments, do not have on-street parking or are renting. We have a two-tier system whereby many people are unable to avail of the benefits of electric vehicles. It makes no sense. I ask that the Government begin regulating these fast chargers. We cannot have a situation where they charge whatever they want and there is no indexing to domestic or business rates. It is an incredible system and disadvantages the people we need to get into electric vehicles. Will the Minister of State do that and ensure that there is no price-gouging at EV charging points? It seems to me that there is considerable price-gouging going on now because they know they can get away with it.

I thank the proposers of this motion for giving us the opportunity to raise important issues around the cost of living. The Social Democrats have said time and again that the Government needs to introduce, as an emergency measure, targeted energy credits. The Government seems to have no interest in doing that. It has no interest in the fact that people on low incomes across the country are struggling to pay their electricity bills and keep food on the table. Even before Iran was attacked, people on low incomes were feeling the pressure. To ignore that time and again and to pass a budget that took supports away and did not replace them with targeted measures for people who needed them most was nothing short of cruel. When I think back over the past year, one of the memories that stands out is when I visited the Irish Wheelchair Association in Clontarf in my constituency and met with disabled people after the budget. They were horrified that the Government had decided to reduce their incomes by about €1,400. They were aghast and asked why they were being targeted with those cuts by the Government. Why was the Government being so cruel to people who were already struggling to heat their homes and get by day to day? On top of the emergency measures, namely, the cost-of-disability payment and targeted energy credits, we need investment in permanent measures to bring down the cost of living. My colleague, Deputy Whitmore, spoke about that. It makes no sense that we live on a windy island on the edge of Europe yet are so far behind on wind energy and solar energy. We have put forward proposals to increase the grants for solar panels to help households permanently reduce their electricity bills. Those are the kinds of measure the Government could and should take, would have a long-term effect and would get us out of needing emergency supports. We need emergency supports now because the Government has not done that but we also need to invest in permanently reducing households' energy bills. That has to be a key part of the conversation. It is unbelievable that, after years of talking about the need to electrify and decarbonise, the Government cannot even get EV charging right. It is a basic bit of infrastructure and it is not regulated. There was news today of charges on the public network being more expensive than using petrol or diesel. We are in 2026. How is the Government not able to get something basic like that right? It has not been able to address EV charging for people who do not have driveways and only have on-street parking. Years later, it just has not got around to that. That is before we talk about the inability to develop wind energy. There is no one from Fine Gael in the Chamber but it is 15 years since Fine Gael took office and we have no offshore wind energy in the country. We actually did have one wind farm when it took office. There is an incredible inability by the Government to deliver and to listen to people on lower incomes who are crying out and need support. Our continued reliance on fossil fuels means we are one of the most exposed in Europe, which means our electricity costs are highest and we are most exposed to shocks. There is no excuse for the inability to move towards renewable energy. That has to be the approach. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, has examined the grants that the Government has given out and has shown it has pursued a two-tier strategy. It has given grants to households with means and locked out households that are just above the thresholds for full costs. The latter cannot avail of the grants because they do not have matching funds. These are low--to-middle-income households struggling with bills but unable to avail of retrofit grants or grants for moving to EVs because the Government has designed those grants in a way that is accessible to people on better incomes while those on squeezed incomes without extra money to match the grants are forgotten about. They are faced with higher and higher prices. The Government has created a two-tier system. Of course, this is being driven by the Government's overall economic strategy. We have a two-tier economy. Some companies are able to afford high rents and high fees and to pay high wages but others are being squeezed out. Everybody else in the country is being squeezed out. They are not able to afford ever-increasing housing costs, an ever-increasing cost of living and ever-increasing electricity costs. The Government just forgets about them. The Government could and should be investing in renewables in a way that makes them accessible to low- to middle-income households. That would result in a permanent reduction in the cost of living and in the costs facing smaller businesses while also helping us to meet our climate targets so that we would not have to pay out billions of euro in fines in the coming years. That is the trajectory we are on at the moment and it needs to be reversed immediately.

The Minister of State sits across from us practically every week to deal with motions from various Opposition groups so he will know only too well the challenges that families and small businesses across this country are encountering as a result of Ireland being simply unaffordable for far too many people in 2026. This is the umpteenth motion to be tabled in this House since the general election. We like to call this challenge a cost-of-living crisis but it is not a crisis because the word "crisis" suggests something temporary that will pass. This is a permacrisis, for want of a better description. It is a structural problem in our economy that is affecting our society. The reality is that, outside of thinking that throwing money at problems is a solution, the Government has no solution to the structural problems facing our economy and our society. For example, if the Government thinks that the structural problems in the hospitality sector can be addressed by throwing an inefficient and stupid tax cut at hospitality businesses, it has another thing coming. That simply will not work in the way we would all like to see. It makes no sense. In reality, it reflects a paucity of thinking at Government level, a lack of imagination and a tired managerialism at the heart of this Government. The Government has run out of ideas and has no mission or ambition to change this country for the better for the majority. It is simply picking winners. Edgar Morgenroth said in the media yesterday that fiscal policy in this country is now run by lobbyists. We may regard ourselves as advocates of the people and - dare I say it - lobbyists for the people of this country but there are very few people in this House who are standing up for the taxpayer. The days when Fine Gael would have said it stood up for the taxpayer are gone because of stupid tax cuts like the one introduced yesterday, which makes no sense whatsoever and actually comes at the expense of working people. Working people are paying for this because the resources available for some basic tax relief for working people last year was swallowed up by one of the stupidest in a long line of stupid tax cuts this Government has introduced since 2020. In fact, I will go as far back as 2016. The Government has wasted a boom, is reckless with the economy and is imprudent with the public finances. It is working people and people who depend on the State for their incomes who are being affected by this. Those chickens will come home to roost. The people who will pay are those who depend on the State for their income and working people, including public servants, who the Government has decided not to talk to about a successor to the current public sector pay deal, which ran out yesterday. That goes to show where this Government's priorities are. I will make some basic points on the motion. There is much to be welcomed, although I would quibble with many aspects. There is no reference to the need to restructure our childcare and early years system to make sure that childcare is affordable for families. The motion leans extremely heavily on charges associated with fossil fuels. We are not going to make energy cheaper in this country if we continue to rely on fossil fuels and just keep chasing the price by reducing excise duty and carbon taxes. What we need is a radical approach, a revolution of renewables. That means doing the necessary on offshore wind, realising that moonshot moment the former Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, spoke eloquently about a number of years ago before doing very little about it in reality. It means making sure that undertaking deep retrofits of our homes is not merely a pursuit for the middle class and the wealthy. We need to make sure that SEAI grants to retrofit our homes and introduce renewables are affordable and income-based. We need a fossil fuel-run car scrappage scheme to ensure the electric vehicle revolution we need. As others have said, we also need the reintroduction of targeted energy credits in the next budget to ensure that heating our homes and businesses is more affordable in the interim, as we make that move to renewables.

I thank Deputies Tóibín and Lawless and Aontú for bringing forward this very important motion. As every TD will tell the Minister of State, we are meeting people across our constituencies who are doing everything society asks of them. They get up early in the morning, go to work, pay their taxes, raise their children and contribute to their communities. However, despite doing everything correctly, they are still struggling to make ends meet. These are families sitting around the kitchen table trying to work out which bill can wait until next week. They are the parents wondering how they will afford school uniforms in a few short weeks' time. They are the workers whose wages disappear within days of payday because the rent or the mortgage, the groceries and the electricity bill leave them with little or nothing to spare. These people are not looking for handouts. They are looking for fairness. At the beginning of May, the Labour Party put practical and fully-costed proposals before this House and before the Government in the form of a mini budget. We proposed measures to help PAYE workers keep more of what they earn, targeted energy supports, a summer double social welfare payment, the restoration of the €100 cut to the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, additional support for families through child benefit, and a range of practical measures to ease the pressure on households. The Government voted down these proposals. In recent months, we saw fuel protests across the country. These protests highlighted the very real financial pressure many people are under. I supported the measures brought forward by Government because those people needed relief. I voted for that package. Fuel is only one part of the cost-of-living crisis, however. There are thousands of people who will never organise a protest. There are families quietly struggling behind the front door of their home. If I am a mother or a father trying to find the money for school uniforms, I cannot park my worries on O'Connell Street and hope someone notices. If I am trying to keep up with the mortgage, the rent, childcare costs or the weekly grocery bill, I am fighting that battle around my own kitchen table. Those families deserve the same urgency. If Government accepted that one group under financial pressure deserved immediate action, why did it reject the Labour Party's proposals to support the thousands of other workers, families, pensioners, carers and those living with disabilities who are under just as much pressure every single day? The Government cannot pick and choose whose cost-of-living crisis it responds to. Relief cannot depend on who is most visible. It must reach those who are doing everything right, working hard and paying their taxes, and yet are still wondering how they will get to the end of the month. The people of my constituency are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for fairness and practical action. The Labour Party has put practical solutions before this House. Families cannot wait until the next budget. They need action now. I will touch on some of the stuff my colleague, Deputy Nash, has said. He has given these costed proposals to Government to implement for families across this country. He has spoken about the fact that we use the word "crisis", which makes it seem like this is a short-term issue. This has been a crisis in this country for many years now. Many families and individuals right across Ireland are genuinely struggling behind their own front door. During the week, we saw huge fanfare for the VAT rate being cut to 9%. My aunt has had a hair salon for the past 25 years. On the face of it, the VAT cut is acceptable and seems workable but will the person get the cheaper cup of coffee or a cheaper haircut? They do not have any relief when they have to pay €1,000 for school uniforms and no relief when they have to pay €700 for an iPad that has really disregarded the free book scheme in this country. While the 9% VAT cut favours large business and corporations, it does not favour hard-working families who are struggling behind their own front doors. We speak about the retrofitting of homes. These retrofit grants are only applicable to the majority of people who have huge incomes in this country. Ordinary, hard-working people cannot afford to make up the extra funding needed for these retrofitting grants. There was huge fanfare for the EV scrappage scheme and the €8,000 people would get, but how are people supposed to pay €30,000 extra for the EV?

The cost of living is rising at an alarming rate right across the board. Middle- and low-income households cannot keep up, particularly households on below €75,000. Those on €50,000, €60,000 and €70,000 used to be counted as being well-off. They are not now. Rents, mortgages, electricity, gas, motor fuel, food, health insurance and much more have all increased, not by single figures, but by double-digit figures on every hike. Meanwhile, wages and incomes have increased by 1% or 2% or not at all. In the case of housing, rents are skyrocketing due to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's decision to remove the rent pressure zones, however meek they were. A lot of us on this side of the House wanted them nailed down tighter. The fact is their removal means double-digit increases are happening. Rent for a two-bedroom unit in County Laois has gone up by 34% in one year. Mortgage repayments are now higher because the overall capital sum being borrowed to keep up with galloping house prices is increasing. In Laois, there has been an increase of 12%, 13% or 14% in one year. Electricity and gas prices are increasing today by 8% on top of all the recent increases. Home heating oil is up 50% or 60%. Motor fuels have increased. We had better not forget about health insurance. Health insurance, which families, households and individuals are forced to get because we have not got Sláintecare yet, is going up two and three times a year. These are huge increases of 6%, 7%, 8% or 9% each time. At the same time, public money is being wasted. State projects have cost overruns. That needs to be curtailed. I will always argue for projects but we have to get value for taxpayers' money. We have IT systems that do not work. Construction projects that finish at double their budgets. There are layers upon layers of management and bureaucracy in public bodies that should be rationalised and streamlined. All of this and much more needs to be history. The Department of education has framework agreements for school projects, including school extensions. To provide an example, a two-classroom autism spectrum disorder, ASD, unit with an all-timber outside finish cost €2.7 million. Another unit 30 or 40 miles away, which I can show the Minister of State and have brought to the attention of the Department today, cost €2.05 million. It is completed in brick, is a bigger unit and has the ancillary rooms and everything else in it. These framework agreements need to be re-examined. I hope that the Minister of State and the senior officials are listening to what I am saying because this is an important issue and I hope it is brought to the attention of the Department of education. These framework agreements need to be looked at. There are a whole lot of measures that we need to take, but an immediate step would be to extend medical card cover until we get Sláintecare. Sláintecare, and the public health system it envisions, has to be prioritised. In the short term, we need to extend medical card cover to ordinary workers and families who cannot go to doctors to get medical treatment because they cannot afford to. That will help all of those who do not have medical cards but cannot afford health insurance. We need to bring in a windfall tax to be imposed on the large energy companies, including the wind farm owners where there are high profits, once profits go over a certain amount. That money should be used and ploughed into retrofitting for middle-income families who do not qualify for the free scheme and cannot afford to match the funding for the other schemes. There is an opportunity here. The people in the middle are caught. If someone is on social welfare, they rightly get the free scheme for fuel allowance. People under €75,000 are caught because they cannot afford the retrofitting or the electric car. The minimum wage needs to be increased to a living wage. We need to reintroduce the rent caps for each county. We need to speed up the retrofitting of households, including with solar panels. We need to scrap the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, as it stands or else reform it. In my time here, I have heard and seen reports from it and it is a toothless tiger. It has turned out to be useless. Last year, €9.5 billion in excess was given out but nothing happened for workers. Nothing happened to the taxation of middle-income workers, those people on between €20,000 and €70,000. They got zero. The Government should not forget about them this year. It should adjust the tax bands to favour those low- and middle-income workers and not miss the opportunity again.

The reason we have a cost-of-living crisis in this country and across the world for working people is because of the greed of billionaires, multimillionaires, warmongers and the governments that back them. The personal fortunes of Donald Trump and his mate, Elon Musk, sum it all up. This year, while ordinary people across the world are crushed with a cost-of-living crisis and some people are being bombed to bits by Musk and Trump's allies in Palestine, Iran or Lebanon, Musk's fortune has gone past $1 trillion. It is massively increasing. He is the world's first trillionaire. As for Donald Trump's fortunes, shame on anybody who ever echoed a word of support or praise for this guy. Since he got into power, his personal fortune has nearly tripled from $2.3 billion to $6.5 billion by ripping off working class people in the United States with his mate Musk. The billionaires and the trillionaires. Then they start wars. They support a genocide, they bomb Iran, they bomb Lebanon, and the cost of living goes up for working people in this country because of these billionaires and trillionaires. We have our own version of that in this country also benefiting from all of that. There are 11 billionaires in this country and the number is increasing. The Collison brothers, Denis O'Brien, John Dorrance and all these people have €46 billion in personal wealth. The richest 1% of Irish society have between them 35% of all the wealth, which adds up to about €400 billion. These people are creaming it. The more they charge in rents and the more they speculate on property affecting ordinary people affected by the housing crisis, the richer they get while ordinary people are crushed with the cost of living. I cannot help pointing to the fact that while all of this is happening and ordinary people are being crushed by the cost of living, they want to double arms expenditure across Europe because Donald Trump has told them to do it, to the benefit of the international arms industry. Money that should go into addressing the cost-of-living crisis and into housing, health and childcare is going to go into the pockets of the arms producers to make the billionaires and trillionaires even wealthier while ordinary people are bombed to bits, sent out to fight and crushed with the cost of living increases. Contrast that with, for example, the postal worker who came in to see me the other day. The starting salary for a postal worker is €27,000 and the top of the scale is €41,000. He is in a housing assistant payment, HAP, tenancy with one bedroom but he has four children who have to come and stay with him, so they sleep on camping beds. Since An Post pays so poorly, they have not got enough postal workers, so he has to do a lot of overtime. However, if he gets too much overtime, he is going to go over the threshold for social housing and then he will not even be able to afford a home because there is absolutely no way he could afford private rents on his own salary. It is the multimillionaires who are charging these rents that he cannot afford. What is the Government doing to assist or address that situation? Is it introducing wealth taxes? Is it stopping the speculation on land and property? No, it is rezoning land and making more property millionaires overnight. All this wealth is not a victimless crime. It is coming out of the pockets of people in unaffordable rents and unaffordable house prices. That is where they are making their fortunes, and we have a Government that is facilitating them in doing it while ordinary working people are being absolutely crushed. Profits in this country have gone up by 400% since I came into the Dáil. Have workers’ wages gone up by 400%? You must be joking. In real terms, workers are probably worse off because their pay increases have not kept up with inflation. Unless working people get organised, fight and take to the streets against the hikes in the cost of living and the unaffordable cost of housing and accommodation, and demand wealth taxes to redistribute wealth, we are not going to address the cost-of-living crisis in this country.

This motion is timely because, with the massive increases for people running their homes and businesses, people who are working have never been at more of a disadvantage because of the high cost of going to work, childcare and fuel. What we need is a more targeted approach by the Government. It will never be more important or timely than in the upcoming budget to make sure that the supports that will be made available for energy and the general cost of living are targeted to help people who are really struggling. From dealing with people every day, it seems to me that it mostly affects those who are working. Everybody can be struggling, but for the people who are going to work every day, who have the high cost of loans on cars and mortgage or rent payments, everything is piling up on top of them. It is the same for businesses. In County Kerry alone, the number of businesses that are closing weekly is frightening. These businesses are owned by people who have been in business for many years, who are very much valued in our communities and who create local employment, but they are closing their doors. It can be small shops, public houses or gift stores. These are people who were able to manage before, who are involved in different types of personal services, like hairdressers. We have to do something to arrest it. I want to focus on one issue in particular, the high cost of energy. Why is it costing us so much to provide electricity to people's homes? When we look at the profits being made by the likes of the ESB, we have to look at what we are doing. That is why I welcome, for example, what is being done regarding Shannon LNG. We should be doing more about providing our own energy, and doing more in a forward-thinking way to try to ensure that these types of measures will help us to reduce the cost of energy. When energy costs are higher, and we are all well aware of the statistics on exactly how much fuel and energy have gone up in price, we have to be forward thinking about how we are going to deal with that in the coming years. The measures we take, such as those that were voted on in the House last night to support an LNG facility in this country, are very important. I believe we need to have more debates about this matter in the coming weeks in a pre-budget type of way. We have all met with the different groups and sectors that have come here over the last weeks and months to make pre-budget submissions. However, at the end of the day, the people that we always have to consider are people on low incomes, people who are working and people who are struggling. We have to try to help them in every way we can through targeted approaches. We have to look at the bigger picture, like the high cost of fuel and the tax take on fuel. The figures are mind-boggling. Again, why is fuel more expensive here than in any other part of Europe or the world?

I thank Aontú for bringing forward this motion and giving me the chance to speak on it. I have spoken about the cost of living multiple times, including when speaking to my constituents. I have spoken 41 times in the Dáil and committees about plug-in solar, and I want to bring it up again. As we know, Ireland is one of the most data centre-dense countries. I brought in a Bill three weeks ago regarding the Electricity Regulation Act, and I look forward to working constructively with members of the Opposition and the Government on this. I believe we need to change how we are dealing with energy. It was one of the things I was elected to do, and I will continuously bang the drum of common-sense solutions. Speaking of my constituents, I have continuously pushed for home heating oil to be addressed in the next budget because of the homes in my constituency that rely on it. They cannot switch, so they are completely exposed to the global oil price volatility Regarding plug-in solar, this is something that we need to do. It is the quickest solution that I have seen. The UK has just done it. I want to explain that it is for everyone. It is for anyone in an apartment who does not have access to the roof. It is for anyone in a heritage building who cannot put solar panels on their property. It is for anyone who wants to buy a kit in their local supermarket for a fraction of the price of the initial investment because, with the current energy price, this will have a payback period of two years. If we allowed Fingal County Council and Dublin City Council to roll these out with a modest investment of €500 million, the payback period would be two years from that investment. If we allowed it in conjunction with batteries, it would be more. Those were calculations that I did on the back of an envelope, so the Minister of State will excuse me if my current calculation is wrong. The average savings in Germany and the UK are estimated at €260 to €300 a year, and the kits cost €500. If the sun keeps shining the way it is, this will help those single mothers in my constituency who want to put money back in their pockets. It will help those children who have just moved out of their parents’ home and bought an apartment, only to be told they cannot get solar panels because they do not have access to the roof. Some of the people who commented on my video said that a solar panel on a balcony could fall on your head. So could a flower pot, but a flower pot is not going to save you €260 a year off your electricity bill, is it? Germany has 700,000 of these systems with zero reported incidents. The UK legalised it earlier in the year. I want to acknowledge where there has been movement because progress has been made, and I give credit where credit is due. The ESB has responded and confirms that it wants to look at the 800 W system. It has committed to building a simplified online registration system and adopting the German safe standard. I thank the Department officials who have worked on this. Regarding the 2024 consultation with Electric Ireland, Bord Gáis, Energia, the Electricity Association of Ireland and ESB Networks, some of their consultation documents to the Department were very good, and I read every single one of them. The German standard needs to be adopted. The remaining question is: when? We need to change the ISO standard and bring this in immediately. If the worry is the danger, let us bring it in as a pilot scheme for new-build social and affordable housing and apartments delivered by local authorities and approved housing bodies, and allow people to save money immediately. Again, the issue of home heating oil must be addressed in the budget.

I thank the proposers of the motion. I am delighted to get the chance to talk about the cost of living. The increased cost of living is in everyone's mouth, and everyone is saying that their wages are being eroded by the cost of living. I believe the main driver is the cost of fuel and energy. For every litre that is purchased, more than half of the cost, approximately 95 cent, is going to the State coffers. There is room for manoeuvre. It is time to get rid of carbon tax, full stop. Fuel is dear enough. I want to talk about rents. People are out of their minds about the cost of rent. In most cases, the Government is taking 52% in tax out of each person who is renting a property just to provide a roof over their head. Businesses have to deal with the cost of electricity. I have stated in the House several times that there is no sign of a regulator. Every day since Bord na Móna closed, the cost of electricity has gone up. People in Kerry are outraged at the amount of money they are paying for electricity. Especially businesses cannot keep going and with commercial rates on top of that, people are being driven out of their long-standing businesses that have been operating even in Killarney and in places like Castleisland, Currow and Cordal. In all of those places, shops that were there forever, going back ages, are closing. They are gone now and more of them are set to go because the rates have gone mad. The demands that people are getting for commercial rates are totally outrageous altogether. I will say it again to the Government; it is taking in more and its expectations regarding the tax take have doubled over the last number of months. At the same time, it was so slow to react to the protestors and the people who were outraged that the prices at the pumps were going up each day. I told the Government that in this House on 24 March, when it offered 3 cent on green diesel and home heating to the people. It offered 3 cent and 2 cent per litre, when it was costing people 70 cent or 80 cent more per litre. At the same time, it was able to give €40 million to Ukraine and €125 million to Zelenskyy when he came here. The Government put the country down for the almost €2 billion that it borrowed for that.

Thank you, Deputy.

That is where taxpayers' money is going, not back to taxpayers, who are giving the Government the money.

I thank all of the Deputies for raising these important matters and for giving all of us an opportunity on all sides of the House to discuss the pressures households are facing regarding the cost of living and the actions the Government is taking. It is fair to say that some people on the far side of the House have been positive in their commentary in highlighting some of the issues that are faced and providing some potential solutions. Most recently, Deputy Heneghan proposed a solution regarding plug-in solar panels. The Government needs to learn that when decisions are to be taken, if we take them more swiftly, the solution will then obviously be implemented more quickly. A lot of people did not acknowledge the real reason we have such a huge energy cost currently, which is the conflict in the Middle East. To be fair to Deputy Boyd Barrett, he acknowledged it and the impact that it is having on the cost of living, not just in Ireland but right throughout the globe, and how governments are responding to that issue. One thing I will take issue with Deputy Body Barrett on is when he demonised people like the Collison brothers, who started off by winning the BT Young Scientist award and went on to be global players in the fintech place, creating thousands of jobs not just in Ireland but across the globe, and whose innovation in technology is supporting so many Irish SMEs in their ability to trade not just domestically but internationally. If we demonise people like that, who are creating opportunities and employment and paying corporation tax, which enables us to make decisions in relation to investing in services and social welfare, I really do wonder sometimes. We should be celebrating the success of people like that rather than demonising them on the floor of the Dáil. Given all that is happening in the Middle East, the Government is continuing to monitor the situation and continues to provide the necessary supports to alleviate the pressure. In recent days, we witnessed more evidence of that when the Government extended the supports to ensure that the actions are there to help households and businesses with the cost of energy and fuel. Despite what people in the Opposition try to portray, this was always going to be the case. It is right and proper that the Government keeps a watchful eye over what is happening on the international market in terms of the cost of fuel and responds accordingly. People on the Opposition benches tried to build up fear by leaning into people's anxiety in relation to the excise reductions ending at the end of July. Deputy Nash mentioned how I have been in this House many times taking similar debates. During every debate, we reassure people that the supports will be monitored, evaluated and, if needed, extended, and that is just what is going to happen. We are acutely aware of the issues facing people. We also have to remember that the price of a barrel of oil is $73 today and when the supports were introduced it was $120, so it would be wrong if we did not keep this situation monitored. The most recent supports are also coupled with supports the Government introduced in budget 2026 to help households with energy costs. These included an extension of the 9% VAT rate currently applied to gas and electricity, saving households up to €100 per year; enhanced social protection payments, including an increase in the fuel allowance rate to €38 per week and an expansion in the eligibility rules, with 40,000 additional households qualifying for it after the most recent budget; and a record allocation of €640 million for SEAI retrofit schemes, allowing us to target up to 73,000 home energy upgrades this year, including €340 million for the warmer homes scheme, which provides fully funded upgrades for those in energy poverty. I agree, however, with many of the speakers, who identified that budget 2027 needs to include taxation measures and supports for people working. We need to send a strong message out from Government that work is rewarded and recognise that people are making a contribution. That is something that we will see in budget 2007 when it is announced later this year. On energy supplies and the increases in energy costs, I would strongly encourage people who are difficulty with the cost of energy to engage with their supplier. There is a commitment by all suppliers not to disconnect any customers and to engage with them. In addition, for people who are finding it hard, there is a means-tested payment, the additional needs payment, through the Department of Social Protection for people who cannot afford to pay their energy bills. It is important that all of us identify that this service is there for people who need it. Many Deputies referred to the high price of energy for households. It is important to note that structural factors also impact on our energy prices. As a country, we are import-dependent for energy, making us particularly vulnerable to price volatility in the wholesale market. Our isolated island location, low levels of interconnection, widely dispersed low-density population and reliance on fossil fuels are also important price determinants. Retail prices are also influenced by factors other than wholesale prices, including supplier hedging. This is the practice of purchasing energy in bulk ahead of time, protecting consumers from the day-to-day volatility of the energy markets but also having long-run effects on retail prices. This, as well as the current conflict, highlights why Ireland must reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels, accelerate the deployment of renewables and expand interconnection with trusted European partners. We are also working to ensure that households benefit directly from the renewable energy transition. Retrofitting is one of the best measures a household can take to reduce its energy bills. For instance, a deep retrofit can reduce energy bills by up to €1,100 per year. That is a permanent saving. Applications for SEAI grants so far this year have doubled on last year. When people say people are not availing of it, they have doubled in the past year. That is 55,000 applications processed to date in 2025. Since 2019, over 268,000 home energy upgrades have been completed, thanks to Government funding of €1.8 billion, including 36,300 fully funded under the warmer homes scheme. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has significantly expanded the retrofit measures, something a lot of Deputies called for earlier today, to ensure they are more accessible and affordable for households. Key measures include stand-alone window and door grants, increased heat-pump grants and increased cavity wall and attic insulation for first-time buyers and households eligible for the warmer homes scheme. In addition, a rooftop revolution is under way across Ireland. Over 112,000 homes have received solar PV grants since the scheme began. SEAI has received over 15,000 applicants for solar PV up to the end of April 2026, and that is a 72% increase on total applications since 2025. Again, people are responding to the supports being provided by the Government. The numbers simply do not lie. I conclude by reiterating that the Government is aware that people are grappling with rising costs as the geopolitical situation continues to evolve. We will remain focused on ensuring Ireland's energy security remains robust while endeavouring to assist those experiencing real and immediate financial pressures. No Government throughout the world can fully insulate its citizens from the impact of the Middle East but we are doing better than most. We will continue to monitor the situation and to make the necessary interventions.

The Aontú Private Members' motion is designed to reduce the cost of living for families. It is designed to reduce the pressure on families across the country. The Minister of State is right to some extent. There is no doubt that the wars in Ukraine and in Iran, for example, have increased the cost of living for families. However, this Government is the main architect of the rip-off Ireland that is hurting this country at the moment. The Government can list a range of different supports it is giving to families, such as child benefit and fuel supports, but most people would rather it stopped taking the money out of their pockets just to give it back to them in another support. That is the key issue here. The Minister of State mentioned supports for energy costs. The truth is that most of middle-Ireland is considered too rich by the Government for those supports but they are actually too poor still to pay for electricity and fuel. As a result, half a million of those families are currently in energy arrears. We, too, want Ireland to decouple from fossil fuels. We want Ireland to become self-sufficient in terms of energy. Energy independence is as importance as fuel independence. Being dependent on the Middle East and on Russia is a major exposure for this country. However, the way to do it is with a carrot rather than a stick. I am the chair of the Meath on Track campaign. We have been campaigning since 1994 for a rail line. The earliest possible time that will arrive is 2036, that is, if nothing stops it, and there is likely to be another slip in relation to that. We want to see solar panels put on the roofs and increased supports for retrofitting in this country. Most families would give their right hand to get out of fossil fuel dependence and to have the public transport solutions they need but the Government will not provide it for them. This Government has also spoken about renewables. The biggest brake on renewables is this Government. We have been told for years that Ireland is going to become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy - of wind energy. Yet, in recent times, we have become a net importer of electricity. We are going in the opposite direction to the rhetoric that the Government is using in these terms. We have been told about offshore wind. Forgive me if I am cynical in relation to this. This Government has had six offshore wind conferences since 2021. We have no offshore wind energy generation. Not one turbine is operating in this country. The Government is brilliant at developing conferences, brochures, plans and policies. Sticking a turbine in the sea does not work for the Government though. That is the major problem with all of this. Dysfunction in the system is holding back renewable energy. We have, at the moment, marginal pricing in energy pricing in this country. That means the price of a unit of electricity is priced at the last unit that is added on to the system. If we keep adding data centres in this country, we are never going to get out of the grip of gas. We are never going to run fast enough to get free of gas being the marginal unit of electricity produced. The Government is going in the opposite direction in terms of freeing this country from renewable energy. The grid is creaking. It is grinding to a halt. Dispatch down, constraints and bottlenecks are all brakes to the addition of renewable energy. Every single turbine that is added has a diminishing return. We are paying €500 million a year to renewable energy providers to stop producing electricity. The dysfunctional system means the network costs and the stabilising costs of the network are actually now more than the wholesale cost of producing electricity in Ireland, and that is adding to everybody's bill. I want to talk about Sinn Féin's contribution. Sinn Féin Members spent their time attacking Opposition TDs on this while letting the Government off the hook. Let us be clear about this. Aontú voted for the excise cuts that helped people over the past few months. Incredibly, Sinn Féin was the only Opposition party that voted against the excise cuts that helped people over the past few months. Incredibly, Sinn Féin is now arguing against those excise increases, having voted against them being cut in the first place. Deputy Guirke spoke about the fact that Aontú did not speak on the Finance Bill. That is rubbish. Incredibly, Deputy Guirke, the stone-thrower, did not speak on that Bill; we in Aontú did. In 2024, Deputy Guirke had the lowest speaking contribution in the Dáil. He spoke for one hour in a whole year in total. Deputy Guirke is the Fr. Stone of Irish politics and he thinks being a TD is a remote job. It is not. Those who turn up here make the decisions, and not turning up and staying silent does not help the people of Meath. It must also be said that the Government was pulled kicking and screaming to reduce these costs, and the reason for this was people power. It was because of ordinary people taking to the streets of this country and demanding help. Ordinary people, whose businesses, families and jobs were falling around them, took to the streets in desperation and this forced the Government's hands. If we are honest, the major reason this Government is not increasing excise until September is that it is fearful the protestors are going to come back onto the streets on this issue and it does not want these protesters to put bad luck on this EU Presidency. That is the biggest issue here. The frustrations people have about the level of tax on fuel at the moment is because the tax they are paying is ending up in waste. That is a major issue. Most people do not mind paying taxes as long as they get value for money in the services those taxes are producing. We can look at the level of Government waste that is happening. Some €50 million spent on an Iarnród Éireann IT system that never worked. When we asked the Taoiseach about it, he did not know the answers. Some €300 million has been spent on metro north and not a shovel has been put in the ground. When it was announced 20 years ago, the price of it was €2 billion but now the price is edging towards €16 billion. There is the 100 electric buses that were bought that never moved an inch because somebody forgot to provide an electricity charger for those buses. There is the recent €127,000 for the HSE Kerry bike shed, following on from the €336,000 Dáil bike shed, and the €10 million that is going to be spent on the Dublin City Council offices in Wood Quay that it plans to knock in three years' time. Then we have the €2.4 billion on the national children's hospital, which is basically a monument to Government waste at the moment. There are so many examples of taxpayers' money, which is extracted from their pockets, being incinerated by Government over and over again. One of the most insidious levels of Government waste that never gets looked at in this country are the overspends on an annual basis. From 2021, the Government has been overspending by €5 billion a year and it has come under pressure from IFAC in relation to it. Health accounts for 40% of that overspend and capital infrastructure overruns saw €1.6 billion in one year. At the heart of the cost-of-living crisis in this country is the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Independents Government tax gauging the people of Ireland and allowing for dysfunction to reign in terms of the infrastructure and the spend in this country. Ireland has the highest electricity prices in the whole of Europe and the second highest in the world. Incredibly, ESB made a profit of €3 billion just in the past four years. ESB is a public company operating on the basis of Government policy and that company is now looking to increase electricity prices today. Does the Minister of State not see the problem here? How can he stand over a Government company making €3 billion profit in four years and then in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis jack up the cost of electricity? The fact the Government is allowing that to happen is a major problem. Last year there was €4.3 billion in fuel taxes and €1.2 billion in carbon tax, a tax that hardly existed five years ago. These are excruciating costs for families. They are hurting and damaging families. They are damaging businesses. These high energy costs are bad for the economy. That is never discussed here, that jobs are going abroad and businesses are closing because the Government is a high energy cost Government. The Government must gets to grips with that and realise what levers are in place. One of the levers is excise costs. Over the next six months, the Government wants to increase excise five times in a cost-of-living crisis. I am asking the Minister of State not to do that and to back the Aontú Private Members' motion.

The division will be postponed until the weekly division time next week.