Workers and families are being “absolutely hammered” by soaring prices while the Government acts as though “everything is rosy in the garden”, Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty has said.
The Donegal TD cited rents, student fees, petrol prices and property prices as big issues and pointed to recent announcements by utility companies that they were raising energy prices.
Mr Doherty said more than 500,000 customers faced price hikes in the coming weeks, but the Government was seeking to make matters worse by refusing to provide energy credits this year, which would further exacerbate matters.
“You’ve sat on your hands and you sit on your hands, all the while energy companies are making massive, massive profits,” he said, accusing them of “squeezing and gouging” their customers as wholesale gas prices fall.
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Tánaiste Simon Harris said the cost of energy was a matter of “real concern” and insisted the Government has taken action to help.
For the next 28 weeks, starting next Monday, he said fuel payments would resume to many households on a weekly or lump-sum basis. He said more people than ever before were set to qualify for these due to decisions taken to adjust the means test eligibility in recent years.
He said the 9 per cent VAT rate for gas and electricity has been extended, which was “lowering the VAT rate ... in the here and now”.
Pointing to the National Development Plan, he said €3.5 billion had been allocated to EirGrid, and that a cross-Government energy affordability taskforce has been established.
Moving to an annual process and away from once offs was “not the same thing” as refusing to take actions to help families, Mr Harris said.
Meanwhile, Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said the genocide taking place in Gaza had reached “intolerable levels” of cruelty over the summer, with children dying of starvation, being orphaned and shot in the street.
“Words fail us all when we hear of the atrocities being committed by Israel,” she said, adding that this week’s report from the UN should mark a turning point.
There was “indifference and indeed encouragement” from Germany and the US, she said, claiming they had “egged on” the Israeli government in its approach to Gaza.
Ms Bacik said she accepted that Ireland had been to the fore in putting pressure on Israel, but that more can and should be done. She called for the Occupied Territories Bill to be implemented without delay.
Mr Harris said the Government is still committed to legislating, the party leaders were committed to progressing the Bill and he was happy to brief Opposition leaders on the matter.
“If we want to make impact here, acting at an EU level is always the best way to do it,” he said, adding that the union’s capacity to exert economic pressure on Israel was hugely significant.
Separately, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it would be a “huge step” to expel any country from the United Nations and it is not something Ireland is contemplating happening right now.
Speaking at the National Ploughing Championship in Co Offaly, Mr Martin responded to remarks made by President Michael D Higgins when he visited the event earlier this week. He said Israel, and countries that provide it with arms, should be excluded from the UN.
“Ireland is committed to multilateralism,” said Mr Martin.
“It’s a huge step to expel someone from the United Nations ... Israel has been very critical of the United Nations and has sought to undermine the United Nations at every turn, particularly UN agencies that operate in the Middle East and do such incredible work from a humanitarian perspective…
“It’s something to which we would have to give careful deliberation. Our multilateral impulse is such that it’s not something we’re contemplating right now. Our focus, rather, is trying to put pressure on Israel to stop the carnage and stop the slaughter of innocent civilians.”
Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin, who was also at the ploughing championships, was asked if he believed the president of the day should become involved in Irish foreign policy issues.
He replied: “The Constitution is very clear on where the responsibilities lie in terms of foreign policy. President Higgins has obviously had his personal opinion. For my part, the presidency is non partisan. It’s not political.”
