“Big Energy And Big Landlords Will Be The Big Winners From Budget 2023” - Fiona Moran
Éirígí’s energy spokesperson, Fiona Moran, has slammed the Dublin government for missing a golden opportunity to introduce meaningful structural changes to the energy and housing sectors. Moran was speaking in response to Budget 2023, which was announced by Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath earlier today.
Speaking from Athlone, Moran said, “It has been forty years since Ireland has seen inflation at the rates of today. Nobody under 55-years-of age has any adult experience of living through a cost of living crisis of the type that is currently unfolding. By definition we are living in extraordinary times.
Such extraordinary times require extraordinary measures. In Budget 2023 the Dublin government had a golden opportunity to introduce extraordinary measures to transform the two sectors that are driving the cost of living crisis — namely energy and housing.
Budget 2023 did nothing to address the key issue of who controls and benefits from Ireland’s vast wind energy resources
That opportunity has been squandered. Instead of introducing structural changes that would have delivered permanently affordable energy and housing, the government has instead chosen to pump even more public money into the hands of Big Energy and private landlords.
The electricity credits and bonus fuel allowance payments that were announced today will effectively hand an additional €1.35bn of public money to the Big Energy corporations — additional to the more than one billion euro of public money that was already channeled to Big Energy over the last twelve months.
Instead of mapping out a route to energy independence based on Ireland’s gas, oil, wind and solar resources, Paschal Donohoe mapped out a route for Big Energy to make bumper profits.
FIona Moran speaking at Ard Fheis Éirígí 2022
It’s the same story with housing where Budget 2023 will do nothing to address the structural flaws within the housing system. Instead Donohoe will channel another €1.5bn of public money to private landlords via schemes like HAP, RAS and the new tax rental credit scheme.
It’s worth noting that Budget 2023 included reference to a possible future windfall tax on Big Energy profits and possible future changes to the rates of tax paid by Vulture Landlords. Reference to future possibilities, but no concrete action.
By any objective measure Big Energy and Big Landlords are going to be the big winners from Budget 2023. This comes as no surprise to anyone who understands the nature of this state where the gombeen political class exists to serve the interest of private capital.
That gombeen class will never deliver the change that is needed to achieve energy and housing justice. That change will only come through the building of new political forces that will initially challenge, and ultimately replace, the gombeen politicians that have controlled this state since the foundation of the state.”