Sinn Féin has hit out at the Government for failing to cut excise duty on home heating oil as the fuel crisis again dominated Dáil Leaders’ Questions on Thursday.
People Before Profit called for a new phase of militant action through strikes.
Labour said Government could “splash the cash” for developers and big landlords but there was no bailout for PAYE workers to protect their incomes and reduce their bills.
However, Tánaiste Simon Harris insisted the Government package, though helping specific sectors, would benefit everyone.
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Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said 750,000 households were dependent on home heating oil as he accused the Coalition of continually failing to listen.
“Despite the protests, despite the pressure, despite the clear message from workers and families right across the State – you still haven’t reduced excise on home heating oil by a single cent.”
He also told Tánaiste Simon Harris the Coalition was “adding insult to injury” because parking fines were now landing through the letterboxes of those who protested last week.
“This is a response that punishes people who were already pushed to the brink.”
The Tánaiste said, however, the Government was working “to endeavour as best we can to assist people at a time of huge global turmoil”.
“Everybody will benefit from the energy package that we have put in place.”
He also said he had asked Revenue officials to look at Sinn Féin’s proposals and concluded they “could result in an unjust enrichment of suppliers”.
Harris said it was not a lack of empathy but of “making sure that the solution we come up with together are practical and are workable”.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy called for a new phase of protest through strikes.
He said last week’s demonstrations had led to the resignation of a minister of state, reducing the Government’s majority and destabilising it.
The Dublin South-West TD said the message people got from the Government’s response was “if you don’t take militant protest action, and if you aren’t representing landlords or big business, the Government will ignore your demands, no matter how reasonable or how justified they are”.
[ Micheál Martin probably wasn’t anticipating a second surprise attack from withinOpens in new window ]
He said “the most effective form of disruptive protest is the strike, a power that all workers have” because the Government will only take emergency measures when it wants to or when it is under pressure to do so.
Murphy said the Government had refused a €400 emergency payment for disabled people to help with winter heating costs.
He called for a cap on fuel prices, free public transport and a €500 energy credit for every household, paid for by a levy on data centres and a levy on private jet operators.
In response, the Tánaiste said price caps do not work but just transfer the cost from the forecourt to the taxpayer. The Government package had benefits for some sectors but also an “economic benefit that helps everybody”.
There was significant investment in disability and “real wages” were rising, with the average weekly wage now over €1,000, he said.
Labour’s Ciarán Ahern said public protests showed “even with the vast resources at your disposal, you’re clearly not getting it right”.
The Government could “splash the cash” with tax breaks for big developers in the last budget but no bailout package “for PAYE workers to protect their incomes, to reduce their bills with targeted energy credits and measures to adopt solar and retrofitting at scale”.
“If successive governments had taken our climate commitment seriously, we wouldn’t be in the cost-of-living crisis that we are now, with some of the highest energy prices in Europe.”
He also hit out at the decision to exempt critical infrastructure projects from being subject to the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021. ]
Ahern said “this Government has consistently scapegoated environmental concerns”; citing the national children’s hospital, he said none of its delays were around environmental objections and that “dumping on environmentalists and environmental law is just dishonest”.
The Tánaiste insisted the package of measures “supports everyone”, adding that PAYE workers and everyone else needed food on the shelves and “need the ports operating, not blockaded”.
He added that 49 per cent of the State’s energy requirement had been generated through renewables.
