Danny Healy-Rae
Question:57. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will introduce an emergency mini supplementary budget without delay aimed at tackling the cost of living crisis. [11766/22]
View answerTuesday, 1 March 2022
Questions (57)
Oral answers (6 contributions)
I am asking the Minister to do something about the escalating cost of fuel and energy that people must now bear. I am asking for a mini-budget or for the Minister to do something to give back some of the extra tax that has been accrued as a result of the increase in the base cost of the fuel that is coming into the country. The Government is taking in a greater amount of tax so I am asking the Minister to give back some of that extra tax.
I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue for many people across the country. As we emerge from the pandemic and the economy recovers, we are faced with a new set of challenges, including rising energy prices and transitory supply issues that are causing prices to increase. In that context, last October's budget included a range of measures to support citizens with the rising cost of living, including increases to weekly social welfare rates. Targeted measures included increases in the living alone allowance, the qualified child allowance and the weekly rate of fuel allowance. The latter increase, which was implemented immediately on budget night in October, was an exceptional measure and is not what normally occurs.
However, the Government is acutely conscious of the challenges still facing households, in particular relating to energy bills and especially for those on lower incomes. In recognition of those challenges, the Government has in recent weeks set out a series of measures aimed at further mitigating the cost of living pressures people are facing. These measures, as the Deputy knows, add up to over €500 million. The Deputy is also well aware of what they are so I do not need to go through them in detail. We anticipate that the electricity credit will be applied to over 2 million domestic electricity accounts in the March and April billing cycle. We will see a one-off payment of €125 for fuel allowance recipients in the first half of this month, I anticipate. The reduction in the drugs payment scheme threshold kicked in today. That threshold is now €80. We have brought forward improvements in the working family payment. We have announced a reduction in fares for public transport users and reductions in the family caps that apply to school transport scheme payments. The Government is making a contribution to addressing the cost of living pressures but we acknowledge they are particularly acute at this time.
I appreciate all the measures the Government has taken. However, many people have not benefited from those gestures from the Government. That is especially the case for people who are on the road and going to work, and families who are taking children to school. The costs for commercial lorries and others in the transport industry have gone up steeply. I am also talking about industrial contractors who are transporting materials for roads and building houses. School buses are tied into contracts. It may be construed that I have a conflict of interest in that regard but school bus operators are tied into contracts they must honour. They are suffering now. Taxi and hackney drivers are also affected. People who work as home helps were on to me in recent days and telling me that their work hardly pays them enough to justify going to mind old people.
We acknowledge that the current level of inflation is causing real problems for people in their day-to-day lives. We absolutely acknowledge that. When the budget was prepared last October, the forecast for inflation across this year was that it would average about 2.25%. It is now running, as the Deputy knows, at approximately 5% and it is much higher than that for some of the costs that people have to pay every day. That is particularly the case for domestic energy bills and the price at the pumps that the Deputy has rightly highlighted. That is placing cost pressures in particular on people who are regular road users, for whom alternatives may not be readily available.
As the Deputy knows, we are investing through Our Rural Future and local transport schemes to expand Local Link services as part of the Connecting Ireland plan. There is a commitment to develop a grant-aided community transport service scheme through Local Link. I am sure the Deputy will acknowledge that the plan we have brought forward for retrofitting will make a real difference for people. We acknowledge the pressures people are under. We think they will pass. We think the situation is temporary and will moderate over time but we cannot be certain at this stage as to when we will see a reduction in those prices.
I thank the Minister. I appreciate all the things the Government has done but it must do more to help people. The Minister has vast experience. I know the Government wants to create employment. However, we must protect the employment we have. We must protect people who are going to work. We must protect the farmers who are suffering. It is the domestic users who will suffer in the end. Perhaps food will become unavailable. Perhaps it will become too costly. We must ensure that life goes on.
As the Minister said, people have a right to make a living but they are not doing so at the moment. I am asking the Minister to give back some of the tax the Government has accrued. It is being asked of me every day I am out on the road, whether I go to the pub, the supermarket or wherever else I go. People are asking me why the Government is not doing what is being done in other countries and giving back some of the tax it has accrued. The Government is accruing extra tax. The people who are paying it are suffering. Those are the people to whom we need to give something back.
I would make the case that an intervention of more than €500 million outside the budgetary context is not insignificant. That is an important intervention by the Government and almost €400 million of that is going to everyone, in a universal sense, through the electricity credit. Many people are badly in need of that and want to see it applied to their electricity accounts as quickly as possible.
We are seeing a strong rebound in the economy. Almost 2.5 million people are now at work in Ireland, which is more than ever before. We are seeing a recovery that is accelerating faster than many people predicted. That is not to understate the challenges that are there. The Government is continuing to monitor the situation. We acknowledge the pressures people are under but some of the measures we have announced have yet to take effect. Some of the measures in the budget we announced last October, such as the improvement to childcare provision and childcare fees, the improvements in third level grants and SUSI grants, and measures to improve the eligibility thresholds, have yet to kick in.