The Government has “allocated diddly squat, sweet feck all” to help families under pressure due to electricity arrears and the energy crisis, the Sinn Féin leader has claimed.
Mary Lou McDonald and Taoiseach Micheál Martin again clashed in the Dáil on Wednesday in their ongoing row over Sinn Féin’s call for an emergency budget to support households.
She said the number of households in electricity arrears “has shot up again”, with 316,838 behind in February, more than half of which were in arrears for more than 90 days.
“These are families who do everything and are desperate to keep up,” McDonald said.
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She said “the crisis didn’t fall out of the sky” and was getting worse, with many unable to wait until next year’s budget for assistance. She renewed her call for an emergency budget.
Responding, the Taoiseach claimed Sinn Féin’s proposals, including cuts to the Universal Social Charge, would cost up to €6 billion and increase inflation by 2 to 2.5 per cent.
“And we know who suffers most when inflation goes up, lowest income groups,” he said.
McDonald said “197 households have already been disconnected this year” and many more had been forced to switch to pay as you go accounts, which involve higher tariffs.
She said the energy regulator had warned even more households would struggle to pay their bills “but you ignored those warnings”.
She said the decision to discontinue energy credits had “left households terribly exposed”.
“Families are now asking how bad do things have to get before you wake up? How many families have to fall behind in their electricity bills before you act?” she said.
The Taoiseach stressed the budget was not next year but in October and “we know we have to help people over next winter”. He said the Government would do so in a “measured way”.
He accused McDonald of ignoring the fact “we’re facing a major dislocation of oil supply and disruption because of a war in the Middle East” and of living “in a parallel universe”.
He noted there are byelections coming and that Sinn Féin wanted to “win as many votes as you can” by saying “let’s spend €4 billion and give something to everybody”.
He said the Coalition had allocated €750 million in supports since the fuel crisis began, which was one of the largest packages in the European Union.
“So we’re not ignoring anybody. We’re not holding back,” he added.
