I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — Budget 2026 failed to provide for indexation of income tax credits and bands, providing instead untargeted Value-Added Tax (VAT) cuts for the hospitality and construction sector; — despite clear evidence of an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the Government withdrew energy credits and cut pre-election once-off payments, that in recent years had cloaked the inadequacy of existing social welfare payment rates; — the analysis by the Economic and Social Research Institute of Budget 2026 measures, shows that it resulted in household income losses averaging 2 per cent of disposable income, with low-income households hit hardest; — the illegal war launched by the United States of America and Israel against Iran, has created an energy crisis that has already led to increased inflation, with further price rises still to come on energy, food and other commodities; — the energy sector is reaping windfall gains, with British Petroleum reporting more than a doubling of profits in the first three months of 2026; — last year, in advance of Budget 2026, Department of Finance officials warned that the hospitality VAT cut was a blunt measure, would be poorly targeted, and comes with a significant amount of deadweight, while Bord Bia consumer spending in food services data shows that 60 per cent of the benefit goes to fast food outlets and hotels; — sectoral fuel supports and cuts to Excise Duty have been introduced by the Government, which includes changes to the Diesel Rebate Scheme that were backdated to January 2026; — struggling households will have to wait over five months, until October, to find out what supports may be introduced to ease the increase in the cost of living; and — the State has yet to deploy the Apple windfall funds, and carries significant cash balances; recognises that: — Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and self-employed workers have received no targeted support in the cost-of-living crisis, and are now subject to effective cuts in their disposable incomes due to Government budget decisions; — rising grocery prices continue to impact on household budgets, as 14 per cent of households can't afford to warm their home, and nearly half a million households are in arrears on their energy bills; — those most at risk of energy poverty, and reliant on fossil fuels, will continue to be hit hardest by further increases in energy prices; — Ireland has the highest energy prices in Europe, due to an overreliance on natural gas for electricity generation leaving us exposed to geopolitical shocks and international market prices; and — only by rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels through faster rollout of renewables, and electrification of transport and heating, can prices be permanently reduced; calls on the Government to immediately introduce a Cost of Living mini-Budget that will: — reverse the VAT reductions and use the savings to provide for indexation of income tax bands and credits, backdated to January 2026; — introduce a windfall tax on energy profits to fund targeted energy credits and social welfare supports, including a summer bonus double payment; — provide a one-off €100 grocery supplement to Child Benefit, restore the €100 previously cut from the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, and remove State exam fees; — increase the bank levy to €500 million, and provide targeted energy grants for small businesses, and tailored supports to increase uptake of Electric Vehicles for households and businesses; — introduce pilot trials of free public transport, to reduce fuel use and cut school transport fees; and — deploy the windfall Apple funds to turbocharge retrofitting, the installation of solar photovoltaic and offshore wind, and the electrification of heating and transport, to bring down the cost of bills; and further calls on the Government to introduce a Budget in October that puts the interests of middle- and low-income households first. I will be sharing time with colleagues. I am pleased to move the Labour Party motion which calls for the introduction of a mini-budget targeted unashamedly at Ireland's 3.5 million PAYE workers. Working households are bearing the brunt of the cost-of-living permacrisis. This is no longer a fleeting problem. We have the highest energy costs in the EU; childcare which is a veritable second mortgage; rising college costs which Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil would rather have a public fight over than sort out; workers paying more income tax this year than last; extortionate housing costs; and the long-fingering of a living wage. I could go on. The Government made choices in last year's budget that are now coming home to roost. For example, it went all in on plain silly VAT cuts for a hospitality sector that is adding jobs by the day instead of easing income tax for workers. The Minister of State's own party, Fianna Fáil, clearly still has the hots for big builders as is shown by the dopey decision to transfer a few hundred million euro to apartment developers to boost their bottom lines on homes, many of which were already under construction. The ESRI and others set out how decisions made last October which came into effect on 1 January of this year would leave working families worse off. They did so and then some. The Government has to own those decisions. Those choices are now coming home to roost. All of this was before Trump's and Israel's misadventure in Iran. While the situation is worse now than could have been envisaged by anybody last October, it will get worse still. All the while, the cost of energy has gone up to the tune of well over one week's wages for a worker on the national minimum wage. I thought it was tone deaf of the Taoiseach, Monty Martin, and his sidekick, Waylon Smithers O'Connor, to be extolling the virtues of a shift to nuclear when this Government has proved itself completely incapable of developing the offshore wind we need to decarbonise to make our bills cheaper and secure our economy's future by ensuring that Ireland becomes a net energy exporter. What kind of message does this send to possible wind farm developers who have enough to contend with from a Government that has not been exactly all in on wind and solar? Are they being given the message now that Ireland is taking another look at renewables like offshore wind and will instead focus on nuclear? This is the distraction of the decade. By all means, let us have the debate but the Government's timing is badly off and quite frankly it is an insult to the intelligence of the Irish people. It is also quite something to think that the Tánaiste's signature contribution to the debate on household finances since he took office has been the 563rd announcement of a proposed new retail savings and investment scheme, which, while it has merits, will do absolutely zero to help working families who are not worried about savings and investment schemes, but rather are concerned about the day-to-day problems of keeping the fridge and the presses stocked with food. As for the Taoiseach's musings to the Sunday newspapers on inheritance tax changes, I think we should leave that argument to another day. What the Labour Party is proposing today is simple, straightforward and impactful. If adopted, it would make a real difference to the lives of working people now. The Labour Party's mini-budget would provide almost €1,000 in income supports for working families and make a real difference in helping them to cope with the escalating cost of living. Our proposals would transfer profits from the big energy companies, big tech, the infamous burger barons and the banks to the pockets of PAYE workers and the self-employed who are struggling to make it to the end of week three of the month. Our proposals would reverse the indefensible decision to give a VAT cut to fast-food chains and instead give workers a break. The Labour Party is calling for the indexation of tax credits and bands to allow workers to hold on to more of their wages. This would be worth €400 to someone earning €50,000 and ensure the real value of their pay is not reduced due to rising prices and wage increases. We want to see this backdated to January, just as the diesel rebate scheme changes were backdated by several weeks. We want to see targeted energy income tax credits worth €400 for working households with incomes of less than €80,000. We would also introduce a double social welfare payment just like the Christmas bonus. The Minister of State will know that hot school meals are a real help for families but they end when the summer holidays start and grocery prices continue to climb. That is why we would provide a one-off summer grocery supplement of €100 for each child through the child benefit system, giving real help to families. We would cut school transport fees, which are due to rise sharply in September, and we would scrap the reimposed €116 charge on students to take the leaving cert and €109 for the junior cert. We would reduce public transport costs in a really targeted way and include a trial of free public transport that would cost an average of €90 million a month. A number of cities and countries around the world have made public transport free as part of their response to the energy shock and there is no reason we cannot do it here. For the longer term, we would increase investment in retrofitting and renewable energy. Colleagues will expand on this later in their contributions. We want to turbocharge the retrofitting process across the country and use the profits of big tech in the form of the Apple tax windfall to fund it. The Labour Party is always careful with the public finances and we have set out precisely how this package is to be funded in a responsible way. We propose €1.3 billion in revenue-raising measures to cover the cost of these measures to help working families to make ends meet. The increased revenue will be drawn from a windfall tax on energy companies, which seem enjoy record profits every time there is an oil crisis. The rest of the money will come from a reversal of the VAT reduction due to come in in July as well as an increase in the bank levy. In short, this is an old-fashioned transfer of wealth from big business to the pockets of working people who keep this country going day in, day out but are far too often absent from the thinking and considerations of this conservative coalition. It is quite extraordinary that the Government has chosen to oppose this modest motion. Before the last election, Government parties bought voters' support with their own money. There was no shortage of hare-brained wheezes that Jack and Paschal were happy to fund. What we are proposing now is a fiscally and socially responsible initiative to assist households that need extra help today. This would be done in a focused way and before the benefits of October's budget are seen next January. Working people simply cannot wait until October for a signal that they will receive some respite through the budget process. They need support now and I am happy to propose our motion.
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It is a jammy Government.
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Hear, hear.
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When push comes to shove.
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In my concluding remarks I will counter one or two of the points the Minister of State made, the first being his claim that nobody likes talking about fiscal responsibility and that it is not sexy. Well, it is the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night, and the Minister of State touched on one of the reasons. In an economy that is not managed responsibly, we know there is no future for working people and there is no future for small businesses. This is why it is very difficult to sit here, take lectures and be sermonised about fiscal responsibility by the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, and by Fianna Fáil. We all know the impacts of the irresponsibility they showed 20 years ago, and the impacts this had on working families in this country. We all know the impact that their destructive policies are still having on our dysfunctional housing system today, which goes to the root of the economic and social problems we have. We in the Labour Party will not be taking lectures from the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, or anybody else in his party about fiscal responsibility. By the way, fiscal responsibility does not mean austerity, cutbacks or anything of the sort. Fiscal responsibility means good economic management allied with imaginative economic management and social initiatives that allow Governments to address the real problems society is encountering. In the last budget we saw the Government make choices that we fundamentally disagree with, and the Minister of State accepted that in his remarks. We can, thankfully, respectfully disagree. I have the height of respect for the Minister of State and the way in which he practises his politics and the way in which he represents his constituents and the country. We can, however, respectfully disagree. We fundamentally disagree with the choices that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael made in the last election. There was no argument, for example, for a tax cut for the hospitality sector, which was adding jobs by the week. There was an even smaller argument, if one existed at all, for tax cuts for the development sector to supplement the bottom line of builders who were building apartments already. There was no argument whatsoever. That was done at the expense of tax indexation for PAYE workers. That is acknowledged by representatives on the Government side and is something we are seeking to address in a motion that is put forward in good faith to try to address the real concerns of working people in this country, who simply have had enough. They can no longer manage and they cannot, as colleagues have said, wait until a signal is sent in October that things might improve come 1 January when the Finance Bill is enacted. I ask the Minister of State and his colleagues to reflect on the decision to introduce an amendment to the Labour Party motion. I ask the Government to send a signal to working people in this country that it is on their side. In particular, PAYE workers rightly feel abandoned by this Government. What we are arguing for is the definition of fiscal responsibility, namely, a properly framed mini-budget rather than a drip feed of interventions worth hundreds of millions of euro based on who shouts the loudest. That is no way to manage an economy. That is not fiscal responsibility or prudence. I would ask Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents to reflect on the position they have adopted here today.
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