Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 22 Feb 2022

Vol. 1018 No. 4

Carbon Tax: Motion [Private Members]

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Tairgim:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that:

— workers and families face a cost-of-living crisis;

— inflation and rising prices disproportionately impact the living standards of lower-income households, with low- and middle-income households spending a higher proportion of their income on food, electricity and home heating than higher-income households;

— in the 12 months to January:

— the price of gas has increased by 28 per cent;

— the price of home heating has increased by 50 per cent;

— the price of petrol has increased by 30 per cent; and

— the price of diesel has increased by 32 per cent;

— increases in the cost of fuel are a cause of financial hardship for many households;

— the planned increase in carbon tax on fuels used to heat homes on 1st May, 2022 and transport fuels on 12th October, 2022 will increase fuel prices even further; and

— the Government has failed to establish an expert advisory group on energy poverty to review the existing data on energy poverty levels, examine research both domestically and internationally on the causes, impacts and remedies to address energy poverty, and propose an appropriate energy poverty measurement and tracking methodology to inform public policy; and

calls on the Government to scrap the planned increase in carbon tax on fuels used to heat homes on 1st May, 2022 and transport fuels on 12th October, 2022.

The Irish people are in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis. It is an issue we have raised time and time again. In past year, prices have risen by 5% with workers and families facing a drop in living standards as they are forced to cut back on spending. Many people are facing very difficult choices. Two weeks ago, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul released a survey which found that two out of five people had to cut back on essential heating and electricity use. By the time many families pay the bills, there is very little left to provide for the essentials. The Irish people needed the Government to act. They needed the Government to have their backs. They needed the Government to protect them from the sharp edge of the cost-of-living crisis, but that did not happen. The Government announced a package that barely scratched the surface, including an energy credit that provided the same level of support to a millionaire as it did to a worker on the minimum wage.

We in Sinn Féin repeat our calls on the Government to act now and implement the proposals we brought forward. As we know, inflation and rising prices have largely been responsible for the spike in energy prices. Households are seeing this in their domestic energy bills. The price of electricity went up by 22%, petrol by 30%, diesel by 32%, gas by 28% and home heating oil by a staggering 50%. These energy prices are reducing living standards. It should be noted that the Government will make matters worse by rising these prices further. Every price rise has a VAT charge attached to it. Therefore, this year's VAT receipts will be higher than expected. Despite these energy price hikes, the Government is determined to plough ahead with carbon tax hikes in May and October, in spite of the reality that hundreds of thousands of hard-pressed families face. This is a Government that is out of touch and out of time, and does not get it. We are asking the Government, at this late stage, to take a common-sense approach, be aware of the financial difficulties people face and scrap the planned carbon tax hikes.

The carbon tax is known to be regressive, hurting low-income, lone parent and rural households hardest. Carbon tax is not progressive but a flat consumption tax. Without alternatives it will not change behaviour but only make people poorer.

The Government has made the carbon tax its silver bullet in response to the climate breakdown. It is time to face some facts. Inflation does not impact everyone equally. Low and middle-income households spend more of their income on energy than the top 10%. Those in the bottom 10% spend three times more of their income on energy than those in the top 10%. In the same way, not everyone bears the same responsibility for carbon emissions. A recent study by the journal Nature Sustainability found that half of the world's carbon footprint is caused by the top 1%. In Ireland, it found that the carbon footprint of the top 10% is eight times greater than that of the bottom 10% and almost twice that of middle-income households. The wealthiest in our society bear the greatest responsibility for climate breakdown but the Government plans to hike the carbon tax, which hits low-income households the hardest. We could not make this up. It does not make sense and it is not a just transition. The Government's climate action policy fails to reflect this. More than this, the unveiled retrofit plans will transfer wealth upstream to the wealthiest in our society. Increasing the carbon tax will make the cost of energy and the cost of heating one's home more expensive. That is the fact of it. At a time when so many families are already stretched at the margins of their pay packets with the rising cost of living, this should not be happening. With the cost of home heating oil already gone up by 50% and still rising, this should not be happening. At a time when there is further risk of energy increases as a result of increased tension in eastern Europe, where is the sense in pushing these prices up further?

This motion calls on the Government to recognise the financial difficulties that households are facing, particularly with regard to energy prices. We are calling on the Government to take a common-sense position, not to make matters worse or push up the price of oil and gas, which it is planning to do in less than three months. This is the time when the Government can finally say that it understands the concerns, pleas, anguish and anxiety of people out there who have faced skyrocketing energy bills and that it is not going to make things worse for them. This House needs to stand up and say it will not make it harder for people to heat their homes this year as they face these price increases. Now is the time to support this motion.

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I will deal with the issue of the carbon tax as a mechanism for delivering on our climate obligations. Listening to Government spokespersons, we would be led to believe that the carbon tax is the be-all and end-all; no carbon tax, no climate action. However, we have had carbon taxes for 13 years now and emissions have increased year on year. Sinn Féin is firmly of the opinion that tinkering with markets or creating new ones will not deliver the type of systemic change that is needed.

The Government will say that in Ireland the carbon tax is ring-fenced for climate action but that is not really true. In 2021, €652 million was raised in carbon taxes while just €130 million was ring-fenced. Some €77 million of that was for residential and community energy efficiency, about 50% of which is going to retrofit the homes of the better off. It also included €15 million for the agriculture programme which is not being spent yet. There was €37 million spent on social protection but that is not climate action, it is climate mitigation, giving people money to buy fossil fuels because the Government is increasing the price of fossil fuels. Out of every €100 raised in carbon taxes, about €14 is going on actual climate action.

The Government will say carbon taxes are redistributed to protect those on the lowest incomes. In saying this, it very selectively cites an ESRI report from 2020. In fact, the calculations in that report are based solely on increases in carbon tax, nothing beyond that. They do not, for example, take the increased price of oil and gas on the international markets into account. The report does not support the Government's claim. The Government will also say it is a long-term commitment over ten years that will raise €9.5 billion for climate. That is very questionable. Just today at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action we had a response to our reasoned opinion on the EU's Fit for 55 package. The Commission remains absolutely intent on introducing a new emissions trading system for fuels used in transport and buildings. That would equate to around 80% of carbon tax revenue possibly lost. We cannot and should not depend on carbon tax to deliver climate action. The evidence shows it does not work. In the context of rising energy costs and a failure to provide an alternative, it is punitive and unfair.

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin

The carbon tax increase is unjustified. It will increase costs on working people and families at the worst possible time. Some will say during the course of this debate that the increase is modest or that it is not the biggest contributor to fuel and energy cost rises. I have to say that these arguments simply miss the point. It is one of the few factors that the Government can control and any increase in fuel and energy costs at this point is simply wrong.

Defenders will say that an increase in carbon taxes is necessary to combat climate change. This has become one of the most unquestioned dogmas of our time. It is the latest example of a groupthink defence of a policy in the absence of any credible evidence. It is no surprise that right-wing parties would peddle such market-based measures. What is more surprising is for the Green Party to have been so captured by this neoliberal economic orthodoxy. Carbon taxes emerged in the 1980s, as we know, in strong opposition to Government regulation to tackle climate. The claim was that carbon pricing would allow the market to adjust itself but anybody looking at the market knows that it never adjusts itself.

Thankfully, there is now a growing body of independent academic research to prove this key point. The most comprehensive meta-analysis of the existing literature on carbon pricing and emissions trading was published by the University of Toronto in 2020. Its findings are really significant. It states that carbon taxes have little impact on emissions reductions even when they are at their very highest levels such as, for example, in Sweden. In the main they are not behaviour changing and where they are, the change in behaviour is very modest. If we are to meet the scale of emissions reductions required to avoid climate catastrophe, it is clear that they are the wrong tool. They are a distraction from the necessary regulation required to reduce emissions significantly. They impose real financial hardship on struggling workers and families. Crucially, they generate real public resistance to the other more important policies that are going to be required if we are to tackle the challenge of climate change and the biodiversity crisis. On those grounds I am happy to support the motion.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

The charge has been laid that the Government is out of touch and simply does not understand the lived reality for many people. Writing today in the Irish Examiner, Caitriona Redmond, a food blogger, writes:

When you're on a tight budget you juggle your money from one crisis to the next. You allocate set amounts for rent or mortgage, energy, household bills, and then food.

People on a tight budget are already juggling.

I will talk briefly about Geraldine, a woman who lives in my constituency. That is not her name because, frankly, she is ashamed of what is happening at the moment. She has worked for 65 and a half years. When she is not in work, she goes to her local shopping centre so that she might be able to keep herself warm because she cannot afford to heat her home. She has juggled, saved and tried her very best. She works damn hard but she cannot afford to heat her home all day when she is on a day off, so she walks around her local shopping centre just to keep warm. To Geraldine and others who are juggling and struggling and who really cannot face a hike in the cost of heating their home, Sinn Féin says the Government should adopt a common-sense approach. It must acknowledge that carbon tax increases where there are no alternatives are unfair. This woman has no alternative and all the carbon tax increases do is make sure she will be cold or she will go to her local shopping centre just to stay warm. What we are asking for with this motion is that the Government is fair to people who simply cannot afford another increase in the cost of heating their home because people will be cold.

It is an issue of fairness; this is not about climate change. The Minister of State knows it is not about climate change because Geraldine, just like everybody else, wants to play her part and do her bit, but she does not want to be cold. Therefore, we are asking the Minister of State to defer yet another increase because she is already struggling.

Deputy Imelda Munster

We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. The costs of energy and fuel have been front and centre of the spiralling price increases in the past year or so. The Government is giving the energy companies a payment on behalf of all households in the State but it is not addressing the root cause of the price increases. Given the scale of the price hikes, it will not be enough.

Carbon tax is a regressive and unfair tax. The Government claims it will encourage people to change their behaviours but we all know that this is not the case for so many people. Many are not in a position to change their behaviours no matter how much they would like to. People living in rural areas with little or no public transport cannot choose the bus over the car. People who cannot afford to choose cleaner ways to heat their homes are stuck with oil and gas. Most people cannot afford to retrofit their homes, even with the Government's new plan. These measures are just so out of reach for so many people. It is not the carbon tax that will change behaviour but the huge increases in the cost of fuel. People will not be able to afford to heat their homes. Everyone is seeing their bills increase and people are paying more and more for energy in their homes and also at the petrol pump.

The cost of home heating oil has increased by 50% in the past 12 months. In May, the Government will increase the carbon tax on fuels to heat homes. The price of gas has increased by 28%, petrol by 30%, and diesel by 32%. The plan is to hike up the carbon tax on transport fuels in October.

We urgently need to see the establishment of an expert advisory group on energy poverty. We need to consider current and projected energy poverty levels, address the causes, both in Ireland and internationally, and find remedies to address energy poverty and onerous energy bills. We need the Government to acknowledge that the research behind its carbon tax regime does not take these huge price hikes into account and that the tax needs to be revised to reflect the reality on the ground. In the meantime, we need to scrap the planned carbon tax increases immediately.

Deputy Réada Cronin

In north Kildare, too many people are being put to the pin of their collar to pay the rent if they can find somewhere, pay for childcare if they can manage to get a place, pay to fill the car to go to work because the only area they can find work has no public transport, keep the family warm and put food on the table, all with wages worth less with everything costing more. My niece, who works at a supermarket till, tells me people are lining up the very basics at the front of the row and asking her to remind them when the cost reaches €50, €70 or whatever their budget is. They leave the rest if the budget is exceeded. A mother in the north Kildare town of Prosperous - forgive the irony - is going without a meal herself in order to feed her children. People have no more to give. They are on the floor because of the cost-of-living emergency.

The Government talks about ring-fencing the carbon tax, which sounds like a great idea. Regardless of the fact that it is not doing so, it has come up with a retrofit plan that sounds more like the SSIA scheme in that the more money you have, the more money the Government will give you. The Government is lashing out money on the wealthy so they can retrofit their first home and the holiday home they drive to in their electric SUV, while leaving ordinary people literally in the cold.

The Government talks about carbon taxes as if they are going to save the planet, yet there is no offer of an alternative for people. For example, there is no strategy for green hydrogen. The reality is that people on ordinary incomes have no choice as to how to heat their homes, cook their dinners or get to work or school. The tax is unethical because all that the Government is ring-fencing is hot air. When the Government was introducing property tax, it said it would be ring-fenced for libraries, parks and amenities. Any councillor who has worked in a local authority will state the vast majority has been used for roads and footpaths because the Government has cut local authority funding. Ring-fenced, my eye.

People are being hammered. In 12 months, the price of gas has risen by 28%, home heating oil by 50%, petrol by 30% and diesel by 32%. People need to take a breath. The Government's job is to protect the people. They need a hand from the Government, not a beating. The hike is due in May. The Government should not let it become a Mayday for people, including workers and families, across the State.

Deputy Matt Carthy

Workers and families are facing a cost-of-living crisis. As people in this State face what are among the highest rents, mortgage interest rates, insurance costs and childcare costs in Europe, they are also burdened with ever-increasing electricity, heating and fuel costs. Rather than supporting families to meet these burdens, the Government has responded by increasing them further through the imposition of carbon taxes. Bizarrely, the package to address the cost-of-living crisis - a package that was discussed for months but fell far short of what is required - will be followed by a Government-imposed hike in home heating costs in the next few weeks. It is madness and maddening. This is an action of a Government that is completely out of touch with the lived reality of those it is supposed to represent. It is as if there is no understanding that this is not simply a case of people not wanting to pay additional carbon taxes. They cannot afford further price hikes.

What is worse, Ministers will stand in this Chamber and try to defend these price hikes. They will actually go so far as to patronisingly claim the increased costs are in people's best interest. For example, we will hear Ministers repeat the lie that farmers are going to receive €1.5 billion in carbon tax receipts. What they will not say is that this is actually a three-card trick because the €1.5 billion is actually less than what the Government negotiated away from farmers in an EU budget. Farmers will actually be asked to pay more in carbon tax while getting less in supports and being asked to do more for the environment. How is that for a just transition? The same is true for all other families and workers. Carbon taxes simply penalise those who have no option but to drive their own cars and who cannot afford to retrofit their homes. They are unfair at the best of times. However, to increase them right now is simply an attack. There is no other word for it. It is an attack by parties and Deputies who are blind to the struggles faced by those who simply cannot make ends meet.

I commend this motion to the House. History will judge very harshly those Deputies who reject it because the carbon tax increase must be scrapped in recognition of the hardship that too many citizens of this State are going through.

Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (Deputy Ossian Smyth)

I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes that:

— the annual rate of consumer price inflation, as measured by the European Union's (EU) harmonised index of consumer prices, has picked up sharply in recent months, reaching a multi-decade high of 5.7 per cent in December before moderating somewhat to 5 per cent in January;

— the recent increase in inflation is partly a result of temporary factors related to the pandemic, which are expected to ease gradually over time;

— the key drivers of inflation in recent months are 'base effects', the imbalance between global demand and supply that has emerged as economies re-opened, and increases in global energy prices;

— Budget 2022 contained a large range of measures to protect households from the rising cost of living, including a personal income tax package worth €520 million and a social welfare package of over €550 million;

— the fuel allowance was increased by €5 per week to compensate lower income households for the additional energy costs they are likely to incur;

— in addition to the Budget 2022 measures announced in October last, the Government has this month approved a further package of measures to the value of €505 million to mitigate the cost of living, including an increase in the energy credit to €200 including VAT, estimated to impact just over 2 million households;

— a lump sum payment of €125 on the fuel allowance will be paid to 390,000 recipients;

— there will be a temporary reduction in public transport fares of 20 per cent from the end of April to the end of the year, and this will impact approximately 800,000 daily users of Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann, Dublin Bus, Go Ahead, Luas, Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Local Link services;

— the reduction of the Drugs Payment Scheme from €144 to €80 will benefit just over 70,000 families;

— the Budget increase to the Working Family Payment will be brought forward from 1st June to 1st April; and

— there are reduced caps for multiple children on school transport fees to €500 per family post primary and €150 for primary school children; and

recognises that:

— carbon tax is a key pillar underpinning the Government's Climate Action Plan 2021 to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net zero no later than 2050;

— the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future committed to increasing carbon tax and the Finance Act 2020 provides for a 10-year trajectory for carbon tax increases to reach €100 per tonne of carbon dioxide by 2030;

— a significant portion of carbon tax revenue is allocated for expenditure on targeted welfare measures and energy efficiency measures, which not only support the most vulnerable households in society but also in the long term provide support against fuel price impacts by reducing our reliance on fossil fuels;

— analysis undertaken using SWITCH - the ESRI tax and benefit model, to simulate the impact of the carbon tax increase and the compensatory welfare package, has confirmed that the net impact of the combined measures is progressive and households in the bottom four income deciles will see all of the cost of the carbon tax increase offset, with the bottom three deciles being better off as a result of these measures; and

— in the long run, the best way to protect Ireland from the impact of international fossil fuel prices is to reduce our dependence on them, and we will achieve this through the progressive decarbonisation of Irish society and through the steps that will be taken to meet the Government's commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050."

I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter in the House. Last year, most parties in the House, including Sinn Féin, voted for the historic Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 with the objective of reducing emissions by 51% over a decade. I am grateful that everybody came together because this is not something we can do in a divisive or polarised way; it is something we must do together. We must work with everybody to do it. Most members of the public agree with that.

Last year, Sinn Féin produced an alternative budget while the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, was producing his mainstream budget. I read Sinn Féin's budget, just as I read the budget from the year before, and was glad to note the party was not proposing to abolish carbon tax in it. It was proposing to retain it and use it to fund its programme. I know that is what is going to happen in the future.

This motion calls out a 50% increase in the price of home heating oil. This increase is really shocking. The motion also proposes to remedy that with a 2% cut from the carbon tax. How can an increase of 50% be remedied with a 2% cut? That does not add up, and it is not something that will help people.

Deputy Matt Carthy

It will not make it worse.

Deputy Ossian Smyth

The answer to a 50% increase is not a 2% cut.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

It is definitely not a 2% increase.

Deputy Ossian Smyth

Deputy Doherty said the retrofit scheme is a transfer of money to the rich. I heard that from another Deputy also. I really take issue with this. Our scheme will see an historic amount, €352 million, being spent to make people's homes warmer. That will reach nearly 30,000 families. Of the €352 million, €203 million is being given to families who are either living on welfare or in local authority housing.

It is directly targeting people living in energy poverty. Indeed, 58% of the money is going to people who are in energy poverty. That is coming from general taxation. How is that a transfer to the rich? I cannot see how that statement is being made again and again.

Carbon tax alone is not the answer. It has to be done in co-operation with other policies. The Deputy knows that there are many other policies. He knows that we have a massive retrofit programme. He is aware that we have cut the price of public transport fares and there is significant investment in public transport. He knows that there is massive investment to provide people with the alternatives of walking and cycling. The Deputy knows that there have been significant increases in welfare-----

Deputy Matt Carthy

There are no alternatives in County Monaghan. There is no public transport-----

Deputy Ossian Smyth

-----and massive increases including in the fuel allowance and the living alone allowance, and so on. He knows that those payments have been introduced. He knows that it is part of a package. He is also aware that carbon tax has to be there. He shows that in the purest way that he can, by retaining it in his party's alternative budget and paying for its programme with carbon tax. I am glad to see that.

I want to stress that the Government is acutely aware of the pressures being faced by households in light of the inflationary trend in energy prices. The current trend in energy prices are not unique to Ireland. They are, in fact, part of the global trend. The final retail price of fuel is determined by a number of factors, including the cost of production, distribution, global market factors, international exchange rates, taxation, wholesale market contracts, as well as individual retail pricing policies. If the price of home heating oil has gone up by 50%, is the Deputy really putting forward the idea that that is the result of carbon tax? It is not. His solution of cutting carbon tax by 2% is not going to work; it is not the answer. Demand for oil and other energy products, such as natural gas, has increased sharply following the reopening of many economies in the second half of last year. Currently, the wholesale price of oil is broadly in line with average pre-pandemic prices. However, the level is much higher than the abnormal levels that prevailed during the first wave of the pandemic. That boosted the annual comparison. Additionally, the increase in international gas prices is more complex and relates to increased demand from certain parts of the world, in part as a result of extreme weather events, lower than expected gas supply and low gas reserves. Unfortunately, Ireland, along with the rest of the EU, is a net importer of gas, and as a result, is a price-taker on international markets. More broadly, energy prices globally have also risen due to rising geopolitical tensions. I do not need to explain to the House the fragile political situation that exists to the east of us. That has had, and is having, an impact on prices paid by consumers in Ireland. However, while this is a global issue, the Government is very aware that this is of little consolation to Irish businesses and households who are feeling the financial impacts of rising prices. In the long run, the best way to protect Ireland from the impact of international fossil fuel prices is to reduce our dependence on them. We will achieve this through the progressive decarbonisation of society and through the steps that will be taken to meet the Government commitment to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Ireland's taxation of fuel is based on EU law, as set out in the European tax directive, ETD. The ETD prescribes minimum tax rates for fuel which all member states must comply with. Ireland applies excise duty in the form of mineral oil tax to fuels used for motor or heating purposes. Mineral oil tax comprises a non-carbon and a carbon component. The carbon component is also referred to as the carbon tax. Deputies will be aware that the 2020 programme for Government committed to increasing the amount that is charged per tonne of CO2 to €100 by 2030. The Minister for Finance followed through on this commitment by introducing a measure in the Finance Act 2020 to provide for a ten-year trajectory for carbon tax increases to reach €100 per tonne of CO2 by 2030. This measure is a key pillar underpinning the Government climate action plan to halve emissions by 2030 and to reach net zero by no later than 2050. For context, it must also be noted that changes to carbon tax rates are having a relatively small impact on current energy prices. The budget 2022 carbon tax increase, which came into effect in October 2021, added approximately 2 cent per litre in tax to petrol and 2.5 cent per litre to diesel. The increase in rates for home heating fuels, such as kerosene, gas and solid fuels, was delayed until 1 May 2022 to mitigate against the impact during the winter heating season. It is clear that the carbon tax is not the cause of the current energy price inflation. Delaying the carbon tax increase will do little to ease the pressure that people are under. It is important to point out that a key element of the Government's carbon taxation policy is the hypothecation, or ring-fencing, of revenues. This is to put the funds that have been raised into just transition measures. The money raised is ring-fenced so that it goes back into people's pockets to help them reduce their fuel bills. This is done through compensating those on low incomes to prevent fuel poverty and to ensure a just transition for displaced workers and through financing climate-related investment, particularly in the area of agriculture and supporting farm families.

A specific portion of carbon tax revenue is allocated for expenditure on targeted welfare measures and energy efficiency measures that not only support the most vulnerable households in society, but also, in the long term, provide support against fuel price impacts by reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. To this end, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications recently announced an ambitious national retrofitting programme that will slash the cost of energy-proofing people's homes. This is the type of long-term solution we need. It will result in warmer homes and lower bills for 40 years, not just the year ahead. However, people also need support now.

I will turn to the Government's response to the recent spike in energy prices. Of course, the Government is acutely aware of the increase in consumer prices in recent months, especially the increase in fuel and other energy prices. For this reason, we designed a package of measures to alleviate the impact of increased energy prices on households. In designing a support package, the Government was conscious of the need to target high energy prices as the main underlying programme while operating within the fiscal framework set out in the summer economic statement of 2021. The suite of measures was announced this month, and strikes the appropriate balance. This package provides support for every household via the electricity credit, but also provides specific supports for more vulnerable households through targeted welfare measures. The package of measures worth €505 million includes an increase in the energy credit of €200, including VAT, estimated to impact just over 2 million households. That will be paid in April. A lump-sum payment of €125 on the fuel allowance will be paid in early March to 390,000 recipients. To reduce the burden on people returning to the workplace and people using public transport, there will be a temporary reduction in fares of 20% from the end of April until the end of the year. This will impact approximately 800,000 daily users. The original Sláintecare report proposed a reduction in the monthly threshold for the drugs payment scheme from €144 to €100. The Government has decided to reduce this further from €100 to €80. This will benefit just over 70,000 families. The working family payment budget increase announced on budget day will be brought forward from 1 June to 1 April, and there are reduced caps for multiple children on school transport fees to €500 per family at post-primary level and €150 for primary school children. The package of measures comes on top of measures announced in budget 2022. In formulating budget 2022, the Government carefully considered the cost-of-living pressures confronting households. For this reason, it contained a large range of measures to protect households from the rising cost of living.

Debate adjourned.