Dublin Government Will Give More Than ONE BILLION EURO To Big Energy Corporations This Year
Ireland is now in the midst of the worst inflationary cost-of-living crisis in decades — a crisis which is being primarily driven by dramatic increases in the prices of natural gas, oil, petrol, diesel, coal and electricity.
The knock-on effect of these high energy prices is pushing up the prices of products which require a lot of energy to produce and/or transport, including the prices of foodstuffs and drinks.
As a result of these skyrocketing prices many Irish households, particularly those on lower incomes, are being forced to make impossible choices between paying for heat, light, food, transport and other essentials which have all become much more expensive.
Research has long-since established that people who suffer from fuel poverty and/or food poverty are more likely to also suffer from ill-health and to die younger than the rest of the population. It is therefore no exaggeration to describe the current cost-of-living crisis as a matter of life and death for many.
Those who suffer from fuel and food poverty also suffer higher rates of illness and premature avoidable deaths that the rest of the population
A visitor to Ireland, who knows nothing of how the Irish political establishment operates, might logically expect the Dublin government to come up with some new ideas and to take some new actions to deal with this new cost-of-living crisis.
Those of us who live in Ireland, however, suffer no such delusions. From bitter experience we all knew that that the Dublin government would respond to this new crisis in exactly the same way that they responded to previous crises in banking and in housing - by transferring vast amounts of public money to the private sector.
And so it has come to pass. Just as they pumped public money to private banks and private landlords to ‘solve’ the banking and housing crises, they are now pumping public money to Big Energy corporations to ‘solve’ the energy and cost-of-living crisis.
This mass transfer of public money to Big Energy is being carried out through the three main schemes listed below. These three schemes will collectively transfer €1,010,000,000 of public money to Big Energy corporations during the current budgetary year.
Fuel Allowance: An indirect payment to Big Energy which saw €415,000,000 paid to lower income households to help them cover their energy bills during the winter of 2021/2022.
Households Benefit: An indirect payment to Big Energy which will see €195,000,000 transferred to (mainly older) qualifying households to help them cover their energy bills in the current budgetary year.
Electricity Costs Emergency Benefits Scheme: A new ’one-off’ direct payment that will see €400,000,000 of public money paid directly to Big Energy corporations, which will pass on a €200 ‘discount’ from the electricity bill of every home (including holiday homes) in the state.
In addition to the three schemes above, the other cost-of-living measures that the government has introduced in relation to VAT rates, public transport, schools transport and the Working Family Payment will cost the public tens of millions of euro and Big Energy nothing.
Paschal Donohoe’s cost-of-living measures continue in the long tradition of using a national crisis to pump public money into private hands
The entire government response to the energy and cost-of-living crisis amounts to nothing more than a conman’s three card trick. It might look good but no matter how you play it the citizen loses and Big Energy wins.
The citizen is expected to directly pay higher prices for many products AND (through taxation) to indirectly pay for the government’s cost-of-living measures. And Big Energy pays nothing.
No windfall tax for the Big Energy corporations that are making hyper-profits by selling us, the people of Ireland, our own gas from the Corrib Gas Field. And no windfall tax for the Big Energy corporations that are selling us electricity that is generated by Irish wind farms.
No windfall tax and most certainly no public conversation about Big Energy’s ownership and control of Ireland’s energy resources. The political establishment does not want that conversation to start because they are afraid of where it might end.
Éirígí knows exactly where that conversation needs to end, and that’s with the full public ownership of Ireland’s fossil fuel and renewable energy resources and energy infrastructure. This is the only way to guarantee Ireland’s energy security and to ensure stable, affordable energy prices for Irish homes and businesses in the future.
Cathaoirleach Éirígí, Brian Leeson in 2006 taking part in a ‘sit down protest’ to prevent the construction of the Corrib Gas refinery at Ballinaboy, County Mayo
The billions of euro that have been squandered by successive governments buying energy from private corporations should have been used to bring the Corrib Gas ashore, to build publicly-owned wind and solar farms and to modernise Ireland’s energy infrastructure.
Instead of learning from their past mistakes, the government is now doubling down on them with their cost-of-living measures and their longer-term energy policies. If they succeed in their plans, Ireland’s vast renewable energy potential will be handed to Big Energy and the Irish people will be left with nothing.
Éirígí has been campaigning for public control of Ireland’s energy resources since the party was founded in 2006. Back then the battleground was on the Mullet peninsula in West Mayo where Shell and Statoil were trying to bring Corrib Gas ashore. Today the battlefield is focused on Ireland’s renewable energy resources and the infrastructure that will turn those resources into green electricity.
Éirígí’s Power To The People campaign is calling for public ownership and control of Ireland’s renewable energy resources and infrastructure. Renewable energy - wind, solar and wave - offer Ireland a route to greater energy security and independence as well as stable, affordable energy prices for domestic and business users.
If you’re ready to join the fight for energy justice, for public ownership of Ireland’s natural resource and For A New Republic, join Éirígí today.