Cost of Living: Labour Party calls for energy credits and social welfare increases
The party’s finance spokesman Ged Nash also said that Labour would reduce electricity prices in Ireland to the European average but admitted to the Irish Mirror that he did not know how this could be done.
The Labour Party has called for energy credits, indexed increases to tax credits and social welfare payments and a minimum wage hike to be rolled out.
The party’s finance spokesman Ged Nash also said that Labour would reduce electricity prices in Ireland to the European average but admitted to the Irish Mirror that he did not know how this could be done.
The party launched its “Cost of Living Action Plan” in Leinster House on Tuesday. It called for a minimum 4.5% increase in tax credits and social welfare rates, as well as a €1 increase in the minimum wage from €12.70 to €13.70. They also called for an end to automatic annual increases in service contracts, like phone bills, and the end of “loyalty penalties” that see new customers offered better deals than existing customers.
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Deputy Nash also said the party would provide energy credits of at least €300, but only to households with an income of less than €1000,000. Another proposal stated that the Labour Party would “reduce electricity prices to the European average”.
“If Irish electricity prices fell to the EU Everarage, it would save the average household a third of their annual will and be worth around €500,” the document said.
When asked by the Irish Mirror how the Labour Party would reduce the cost of energy, Mr Nash said that an independent report would have to be commissioned to look at options.
“What we want to do, in the first instance, if Labour is a government, which we want to be, is to carry out an independent examination of the reasons why energy costs in Ireland are so high,” he said.
“We know that there is very limited competition. There are many reasons why Irish energy is so expensive, but one way that we can assist businesses with the high cost they have at the moment and households is to see energy costs in this country incrementally reduced over the next period of time to the European average for an average.”
Pushed again on how Labour would do this, Mr Nash said he did not “claim to be an engineer” or “expert in the energy market” and would need to commission a report.
Other proposals in the Labour document called for stronger powers for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to investigate price gouging.
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