Fears of spiralling energy costs remain the same

THE Government has failed to grasp a golden opportunity to deliver certainty and peace of mind that so many workers and families across the state desperately need to get through the winter months.

We are facing the worst cost of living crisis in a generation on top of the biggest fall in living standards since the financial crash.

Yet despite all of the uncertainty in the global economy, Ireland’s public finances are in a strong position to give people the support they need for the challenging times ahead.

With yesterday’s Budget, however, the Government demonstrated that they do not understand the realities of the cost of living crisis so many are facing.

Those of you who were worried about energy costs yesterday will have woken up this morning with those exact same fears.

Tackling the cost of living should have been the Government’s number one priority as the explosion in energy prices will prove unmanageable for so many households this winter.

Over the past year alone, energy suppliers have announced more than 35 price increases including scandalous hikes in standing charges, regardless of how much energy a household uses.

But by refusing to reduce and cap electricity prices, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party have left households completely exposed to further price hikes.

As the coldness of the winter months begins to set in, such a cap on the price of electricity is exactly the kind of peace of mind that other EU governments are providing to their citizens.

If Sinn Féin were in government here, we would have brought electricity prices back to pre-crisis levels and capped them until next February. Such a measure would help two million households get through winter. As well as failing to adequately deal with energy costs, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens continue to fail renters and under deliver on housing.

Our younger people, let down and locked out of opportunity for so long, needed assurances that the housing crisis was going to be tackled.

This is a crisis that is crushing the living standards of renters – cutting their disposable income and harming their ability to save for the future.

BUT rather than provide the certainty that a ban on rent increases would have given, the Government has provided a tax credit that will be pocketed by landlords and drive rents up further.

Sinn Féin in government would have put a month’s rent back into renters’ pockets and banned increases for the next three years.

That would be real action that delivers real relief and genuine peace of mind for renters.

Let’s be clear, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael created the housing crisis and their policies are making it worse. Their delivery of social and affordable homes continues to fall short of demand as targets continue to be missed.

Sinn Féin in government would have provided an extra €1.08bn to deliver 20,000 homes.

In contrast, the Government provided just €68m extra and no extra homes.

Another failure is that at a time when so much has been said about the squeezed middle, this Budget’s tax reliefs will be gobbled up by inflation before they can make a difference in the pockets of people who need it the most.

When you cut through the numbers, the frustrating reality for workers on middle and low incomes is that they will see very little real change.

For example, the Government will spend over €1bn on tax measures but these will give someone on €130,000 an additional €830 while someone on €35,000 will receive just €190.

It is simply incredible that 1.8million workers will not get one cent from the Government’s main tax proposal. That will push so many people on low and middle incomes to the bottom of the pile. The likes of cleaners and retail workers – so fed up with pats on the back during the pandemic – being left behind once more.

But it does not have to be this way. Sinn Féin in government would slash the USC and make cost of living payments to middle and low income workers.

The public wanted a Budget that delivered real change. Instead, so many have been left feeling shortchanged. As well as failing to tackle the cost of living and rents, it has also fallen short on tackling the health crisis, with not one single additional acute bed delivered, while it also fails to deliver on climate change.

Sinn Féin would deliver an extra €360m to tackle climate change to include an overhaul of retrofitting, solar panels on schools buildings, fare reductions and expanding rural bus scheme, while investing in our ports to exploit offshore wind.

This Government has failed to grasp a golden opportunity, has the wrong priorities and has made the wrong choices.