I move:
That Dáil Éireann condemns the further huge increases in CIE fares and ESB charges sanctioned by the Government, and calls on the Government to take immediate steps to counteract the hardship and damage to the economy caused thereby.
This motion has been put down to highlight the effects the increases will have on the economy. These massive increases authorised by the Minister for Industry and Commerce for CIE fares and freight rates and for ESB charges can only be described as the harvest reaped by a Government that is bankrupt of policies and leadership. Despite all the warnings in the past two years from this side of the House and from practically every responsible, experienced observer outside, the Government have done nothing about the fundamental problems that exist. Even now when the consequences of this bankruptcy move from central Government to semi-State bodies, this so-called open Government make use of procedural devices to prevent criticisms in this House of the Ministers who have been responsible for our economic mismanagement. They should be required to render an account of their stewardship. The buck must stop somewhere and it is right that it should stop here.
No longer can we accept the paltry excuses that we have been getting, such as outside influences, ongoing studies and the teasing out of problems which we heard from the Government during the debate on energy and on the economy. These latest price increases can only be described as a rape of the living standards of the people about whom the Government professed to be so concerned. The Government have raped the Exchequer, the farming community, the small businessman and the motorists. They have permitted the multi-national companies to obtain enormous profits, as we revealed in this House. Last December when a 15p increase per gallon was put on petrol the Government assured us the users of public transport would not be affected. The people concerned now realise the truth of the Government's statement. In addition to the 15p increase the companies were allowed other increases as they wished to apply them. They were able to do this because their products were removed from the structure of the National Prices Commission on 12th December, 1973, and we were put into what is known as the Outer UK Zone, to which seven days' notice applies. There were further increases which affected CIE, the ESB and other aspects of our economy.
In the last two years the Government have succeeded in fostering and feeding what can only be described as an economic monster, the greatest this country has ever known. In two short years they have not set out any economic policy; they have made some disjointed efforts which are destroying our economy. The Government are diverting the energies of productive management by their constant sallies into irrelevant taxation areas. They can only be described as Nero fiddling while we are being consumed by inflation. The Government cannot continue to plead ignorance, as they have been doing for the past two years. Their lack of an energy policy has resulted in a final insult to the many thousands of electricity consumers who were exhorted in the last two years to save energy. The Government forgot to tell these people that because they conserved energy they would be fleeced. One of the reasons put forward for the ESB increases was the drop in consumption.
The increase of £200 million in our oil bill need not have been so great if the Government had taken action. This bill is rather like a stone dropped in the middle of a lake; the first ripples are not of great consequence but as they extend they multiply in size and effect. Our oil bill has affected every sector, as we forecast. It has triggered off cost increases and they, in turn, have created pressures for wage increases that were not foreseen.
This is the result of the lack of any real action being taken with regard to the £200 million oil bill about which we hear so much. The Government have done absolutely nothing to balance the economic effect of these increases. They have done nothing to cut State expenditure so that we might be able to come to grips with the problems facing us. Those are the effects as seen by most people here today. The Government have increased the burden on productive industry with every taxation increase and the increases in insurance stamp contributions thereby starving small businesses of vital capital with which to finance increasing stocks and meet labour costs.
This is the reason also we are now approaching something in the region of 105,000 persons unemployed at present. We maintatin it is deceitful of the Government to say that our priority must now be employment, even bearing in mind the present 28 per cent inflation rate. Had the Government come to grips with the situation much earlier they would not now be trying to cope with the irreconcilable problems they have created. Such a substantial employer as CIE where 75 per cent of its revenue is absorbed by the wage bill must be one of the greatest sufferers in the circumstances. Eventually the Government must take a stand somewhere and nowhere better than at present with regard to CIE and the ESB, two of our major semi-State bodies. If the budget policy for 1974 had proved correct, the solvency of those semi-State bodies could have been maintained without resort to these new massive increases as can be seen from the report of the National Prices Commission. Not once since October, 1973 have we seen any evidence whatsoever that the Government even appreciate the reality of that lack of policy. October 1973 saw the commencement of our energy problems, what has become to be known as the energy crisis but there has been no leadership from the Government in this respect. Surely the nation is entitled to guidance and a responsible approach from any Government elected? This is our people's entitlement no matter what Government may be in power. They are entitled also to something better than the efforts the Government have been making, which seem now farcical to everyone—complete lack of action in regard to the energy crisis which has been debated over the past two years and particularly during the last 18 months.
We are now entitled at least to ask some questions. Why, for instance, are there increases granted now? Why are they so massive? If we fail to receive a suitable or acceptable explanation, surely we and the people are entitled to conclude that the economic and financial affairs of the country are beyond the control of responsible Government Ministers and beyond the understanding of the Government of the day. Each week we witness some further proof of increases following increases.
A few months ago this House approved a £14 million subsidy for CIE when there was a long debate on the matter. We thought then, and were entitled to conclude, that the principle at least involved in such a massive subsidy would prove to be of some assurance that the Government had a realisation of the seriousness of the problem or had come to grips with the economic and social necessity of ensuring that CIE be permitted to continue its operations through the difficult period then being experienced and which has continued. Are the increases now being levied on the already over-burdened fare-paying public—and the increased freight rates—proof that the Exchequer is bankrupt? That is the only conclusion to which we can come.
When the Minister for Finance introduced the famous 15p taxation on the gallon of petrol last December one of his statements then was to the effect that public transport would not be affected thereby. That has not proved to be a very correct forecast, no more than have some of his other excuses given at that time. We remember only too well all the other reasons he advanced at that time which were without foundation. Now there is the final insult that every fare-paying passenger using public transport, every manufacturer and supplier using CIE for the carriage of their goods are being asked to carry this additional burden. We wonder if the Government realise the effect these increases will have on the economy or is their need for money so great at present that the Exchequer can no longer meet its budget subsidies, placing CIE in the position where such increases are absolutely necessary, because that is what they are doing? The urgency of these increases sanctioned by the Minister for Industry and Commerce appears to be for the purpose of increasing CIE's cash flow. I wonder if the Government realise that the minimum fare they are permitting to be applied in Dublin city is the exact equivalent of 1s. 7d. in old money? The Government must be completely insensitive if they think that will appear to the public as just another rise among the many we endure week after week. This latest one will have a most serious effect on the less well off people who use the Dublin public transport system and, indeed, people who use the system all over the country, people who have to use the public transport system to commute to their place of work whether it be in Dublin, Clare, Limerick or anywhere else. These are the people who will be hit by these increases. Fare-paying passengers are less well off but they will have to suffer. They cannot afford cars, not to talk of affording petrol at the price it is. They have no alternative but to use public transport.
Fares have increased 25 per cent and that increase will have very serious economic repercussions. Freight charges will inevitably result in price increases and those price increases will have to be met by the fare-paying passegers of CIE.
It cannot be argued that these increases are necessary in order to reduce the utilisation of CIE. That argument was advanced in regard to the petrol increases and electricity increases in the past. That argument can no longer be advanced to justify the present massive increases. Neither can we be told that there is need to dress up our statistics for the benefit of those lending us money from abroad. That argument no longer holds good. We have reached the stage at which the economic mess is so great the Government are forced to increase indirect State revenue hour by hour. That is what is being done in the case of the ESB and CIE charges and in the case of other State and semi-State bodies.
In December, 1973, we warned the Government of the consequences of the oil crisis. We are now paying the price of the Government's inactivity in the interim. It is regrettable that that should be the situation our citizens are facing. In October, 1973, and on various occasions since, we highlighted what the consequences would be if adequate steps were not taken. We spelled out the effects on our economy, on the people themselves and on the State and semi-State bodies.
The Minister for Industry and Commerce assured us more than 18 months ago, that all the problems relating to the energy and oil crisis were the subject of ongoing study and the Government would ensure everything would be done to relieve the burdens that might be caused because of the oil and energy position. No results have been forthcoming. There have been no reports. No solutions have been advanced. No solutions seem to be even contemplated. Nothing has happened. We are still waiting for the results of the ongoing study and for the solutions.
As we have said on numerous occasions, the first essential is to become self-sufficient in refining capacity. By being self-sufficient we will have control over stocks and profits. We said three years ago it would take three years to become self-sufficient in refining capacity, whether that selfsufficiency is brought about by an extension of Whitegate or by building a new refinery. There is no evidence of anything like that. We have not as yet any natural oil resources. We all hope we will reap some benefit from any oil that may result from exploration off the south coast but, even if oil is found there, we simply do not have the capacity to refine it and the possibility is that we will find ourselves exporting crude oil to foreign refineries and shipping the finished product back again.
We are in exactly the same position now as we were in October, 1973. We are three years away from exercising any control over our stocks and over the profit margins the multi-national companies have been mulcting us with for the last year and a half. The ESB are paying something in the region of £40 a ton for oil—hence the fuel surcharge on every ESB bill. Nothing has been done to relieve the people of this surcharge. While the ESB are paying £40 a ton for oil Whitegate is exporting oil at £8 a ton. Surely this is an indefensible position. Some action could have been taken.
The Dublin Gas Company had a contract for naphtha. That contract started in 1967-68. It appeared to be a very good contract from the point of view of the multi-national oil companies. When the oil crisis occurred it became a good contract for the Dublin Gas Company and a bad one for the multi-nationals. The latter were not long in putting in the boot to ensure they would get an increased price for the naphtha. Surely we could have done something about the situation in which we were exporting oil at £8 a ton and the ESB were importing oil at £40 a ton. Had some action been taken there would have been some relief of the burden of charges with which electricity consumers are now faced. Nothing has happened. We believe the ESB, Aer Lingus and other big oil users should get encouragement from the Government to do something about it themselves. It is possible for the Government and also for the ESB to go out and buy crude oil on the open market far cheaper than the price they are being charged now. It is also possible for the ESB to hire a tanker. Tankers are so plentiful nowa-days that the owners of tanker fleets would nearly pay you to charter one of them. They are left idle all over the Mediterranean, Britain and the Continent.
Oil is not scarce so the ESB could buy oil far cheaper than the price they are paying to the multi-national oil companies. They could transport the crude oil to the Continent and make contract arrangements to have it refined to their own needs. This would cost far less than the £40 per ton which they are paying now for this oil, which is supposed to be Russian oil. It is not Russian oil most of the time. The Russians are good brokers and they buy the oil in the Gulf and sell it to the ESB.
The Government should go out and do something about getting supplies of oil instead of talking about the £200 million oil bill. The crude oil could be refined on the Continent at a reasonable price. There are many refineries there which are not working to full capacity. The oil refinery is the real solution to the oil problem. We could then become self-sufficient in relation to oil refining even if we are still forced to go out and but oil in the Gulf. We could control the stocks and the profits. We should be well ahead with the construction of a refinery in view of the chance of finding oil off the south coast. We are in the same position as we were in October, 1973, and it looks as if we will go on in that position. We will continue to be at the mercy of the multi-national oil concerns because the Government are not facing up to the oil problem.
We have heard nothing whatsoever about an energy policy for the ESB. We have only seen references to the burning of pound notes on television and people being asked to use less and less current. People did this and now the prices report has given this as one of the reasons for the massive increase in charges. The people will be paying more for using less and there will be more people unemployed.
The Government should face up to the realities facing the country. They should do something realistic about them. They should cut down the £200 million fuel bill instead of acceding to price increases as they did in the past week in relation to two of our large State bodies. People had enough worries about ESB bills up to now but they will be far greater in the future. The people are also faced with the prospect of increased unemployment and a decreasing amount of money going into households. The Government are doing nothing to relieve the situation. We have made suggestions about how the Government can eliminate the high costs in relation to the ESB and oil prices. It is time the Government did something. We find it difficult to believe that we have Ministers from the Labour Party who are permitting a minimum charge of 1s 7d in old money on buses in this city. There should be a full inquiry into the cause of these massive increases instead of just a report from the prices commission. The increases should be suspended until such an inquiry is completed. The Government may well know the causes of these increases but the ordinary people have no idea of them but they certainly know what the effects will be.
