€100 Electricity Credit Blind to Income and Need – Tóibín
There is real a crisis in affordability in energy at the moment. Its hitting families hard in a time of crisis. However this crisis is not felt evenly across society. It is hitting low income families disproportionally.
“We welcome supports for hard pressed families but giving €100 to higher earners like Michael O'Leary or JP MacManus has no logic. This fund should be targeted at those who most need it. The Gov is going to take out a loan of €170m to give people €100 off their electricity bill. There is no excuse to increase the burgeoning national debt even in part to give an electricity credit to millionaires. All of that money should be focused on low to middle income families”.
“The ulti annual nature of the carbon tax is an incredibly blunt too. The government is setting the carbon tax on fuel years in advance without knowing the economic circumstance of people or the market price of fuel years in advance. Implementing a multi annual carbon tax so far in advance is guaranteed to cause significant difficulties for families. Aontú has called on the government to put a cap on taxes if the market has already significantly increased the price of fuel. The purpose of the Carbon Tax is to move people from fossil fuels through price. If the market has already achieved that price the addition of the carbon tax is purely punitive. Hundreds of thousands of families are feeling the impact of the government’s punitive policies now”.
This measures is not targeted. Its not the best use of the money and it’s a once off. They government is not fixing the long term problem.
