Government branded ‘epic wasters’ amid cost of living concerns

By Cate McCurry, PA

The Government has been branded “epic wasters” and accused of throwing public money around like “snuff at a wake”, as the opposition hit out over escalating energy bills and the cost of living.

Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore told the Dáil on Thursday that there is a growing sense of concern about the future, describing it as “economic clouds” on the horizon.

She accused the Government of attempting to buy votes last year in its one-off budget payouts just weeks before the general election.

“The reality, Tánaiste (Simon Harris), is that you’ve been throwing public money around like snuff at a wake,” she said.

She said that Government spending has increased by 50 per cent in recent years.

“In 2020 it cost 70 billion to run the country. We’ve gone from spending 70 billion to nearly 110 billion this year, 40 billion more in the budget, Tánaiste,” she added.

“But what do we have to show for it? We have a housing crisis that’s spiralling out of control. We have record homelessness. We have disability services that are threadbare. We have soaring levels of child poverty.

“We have a cost of living crisis that is escalating, and we have energy and water infrastructure that is crumbling.

“But coupled with that, there is a lot of frustration with the Government’s moralising about this budget. Having splashed the cash in an attempt to buy votes last year, your message has suddenly changed now that an election is no longer on the cards.”

She continued: “Tanaiste, the reality is this Government, you’re epic wasters, you’ve wasted time, you have wasted opportunity, and you have wasted generational opportunity to invest in a better future, and you’ve wasted our money.

“That is why people feel so let down. They feel disillusioned.

“They listen to you pat yourself on the back for your prudent financial management while they struggle with the very basics, they struggle to keep roof over their head, to keep their electricity on and food on their table.”

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty said that figures published by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) show that there are hundreds of thousands of households of people behind in arrears on their electric and gas bills.

He criticised the Government’s refusal to commit to another round of energy credits in the October budget.

Mr Doherty said: “The number of households in arrears on their electricity and gas bills have jumped by 70,000 households in the last year.

“That means that there are now over 300,000 households behind on their electricity bills, and over 175,000 households behind on their gas bills. Just let that sink in for a moment Tanaiste.

“Because today, as the Dáil breaks up for the summer, hundreds of thousands of working families can’t meet their bills for heating and lighting their home. That is disgraceful.

“Is it any wonder, when we’ve seen their bills shoot up by hundreds of euros over the last number of years, and families simply can’t absorb this type of shock to their finances, and now your plan is to cancel the energy credits that they so desperately need and relied on.

“You dig in and you continue to refuse to agree for a cost of living package in October’s budget. And of course, there’s those on fixed incomes who are at greater risk of poverty and they need greater support.

“But this ever worsening cost of living crisis is widening and has widened significantly more and more families, more and more working people, are struggling to get by, and even families with two incomes coming into the house find it harder than ever to keep up with the bills.”

Mr Harris told the Dáil that there is a “real problem” regarding energy prices in Ireland.

He said he acknowledges the pressure which increased energy costs are putting on families, households and businesses.

The Fine Gael leader said the Government is “seeking” ways to lower the prices and speed up the pace of renewable development.

“That’s why we’ve established a new National Energy Affordability Taskforce (NEAT) to look at the structural reforms which we can undertake in this country to reduce the cost of energy and to reduce the cost of electricity.

“It’s expected to come back with an interim plan to look at issues around energy efficiency, upgrade the social protection supports we have in place, the CRU customer protection measures, and indeed, further efforts that we can provide to incentivise tariff switching and the savings that we can make for households and for consumers in relation to that.

“We are taking measures in the here and now to assist people with the cost of living.”