I thank my colleagues in Aontú for their work on this motion and thank the Deputies for their contributions today. The fact is that the point raised by the Minister of State a few moments ago is actually untrue. This Government has a policy of increasing the number of data centres. For every new wind or solar development the vast majority of that additional capacity is going to data centres.

Sentiment score: 0.17

Let us not mislead the House here. It is important that we say that from the outset. The truth is that Ireland is an outlier in terms of the cost of living in the country at the moment. We are the most expensive country in Europe for housing, health, energy and alcohol. Is the Minister of State going to blame the Opposition for the disasters of health and the cost of housing? The Government has presided over this. It is time the Minister of State owned this. Overall prices are 36% higher in Ireland than in the rest of the European Union. Health costs are about 85% higher in Ireland than they are elsewhere in the European Union. One third of households went into arrears in the past 12 months. That equates to more than 300,000 people. Since 2021, energy is up 57%. During that time there has been an increase in renewables. Can the Minister of State explain that? Diesel is up 60%. Much of that increase is due to geopolitics but there is also the fact that the Government is gouging in terms of taxation, which accounts for the majority of what we pay at the pump. That is the truth. We are being overcharged. A significant amount of what we are being overcharged is as a result of Government policy on the high cost of energy. Built into the carbon tax is that very policy. The Government wants to increase the cost of fuel, increase the cost of diesel and petrol, irrespective of the cost at the pump. That is what the Government voted for. We in Aontú did not. In 2021 we did not support the climate action Bill because we knew what it would lead to. In relation to carbon tax, last year the Government collected €1.1 billion in carbon tax, the highest tax on record. This year the Government is on track to take in €200 million more in carbon tax, despite the fact that there has been a reduction in tax due based on the price increases that were due to take place. The Taoiseach constantly outlines that we need this tax for retrofitting and for climate measures. However, the numbers state that between 2020 and 2023 half a billion euro in carbon tax was unspent. It was returned to the Exchequer. Meanwhile, the Government is continually increasing the carbon tax, despite the fact it cannot be spent. I have spoken to so many families who applied for and were approved for SEAI grants but because there is such a constraint in terms of labour, they are waiting for two or three years for that work to take place. A significant conversation needs to be had in relation to the constraints in terms of the labour force and the effect it is also having in terms of the development of homes. The National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy is another tax on fuel and it goes into the climate action fund. Since 2020, the climate action fund has been in surplus by almost €300 million. Since the start of this crisis the Government has been misleading us all. It is time it was called out on this. When it was first announced, the Government rolled out a package. At first, it was a €500 million package, then it was a €700 million package. The cost of this was not cost in terms of income forgone. It was a hypothetical figure. All the additional costs being brought forward, the increases in carbon tax, were added to it. Then the Government went to the people and said we are great and wanted a clap on the back.

Sentiment score: 0.05