Energy credits have been essentially ruled out of the upcoming budget by Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, reports The Mirror.
This is in spite of the fact that they would be necessary, according to a briefing document created for new Energy Minister Darragh O’Brien.
“To provide for those least able to pay, to reduce the number of customers in arrears and ensure that the figure does not grow further which would cause the financing of the Green Transition to be spread across a narrower group,” the paper said, reports The Mirror.
While petrol costs have increased by 90% since December 2020, electricity prices have increased by 61%.
This means that “on average, people are paying a whopping €1,779 per year for electricity and €1,503 per year for gas,” according to Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane in the Dáil, reports The Mirror.
Energy payments cannot “become the norm,” Minister Donohoe said. He said: “We have to look at what we can do to prevent the impact of the cost of living on households and business and at the support we can make available in the future.
“Minister [Chambers] and I, and the Government, are very clear on what we can do and what we want to do in relation to this. I cannot stand here in front of the House today and say that the level of payments that we have made available over the last number of years can become the norm. Those payments were made available at a time in which inflation was at 5 per cent, 10 per cent and 15 per cent,” reports The Mirror.
“They were made available across a world that is very different to today. That level of payment is something that, if we begin to normalise it and say it will be available year after year, of itself runs the risk of creating difficulties for our country and economy in the years ahead. “ Mr Donohoe said that the Government would “respond” when the budget was closer, reports The Mirror.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Thursday, meanwhile, Minister Chambers also ruled out energy supports.
He stated that when it comes to energy credits, the Government wants to “move away from a position which we’ve had in recent years of ad-hoc temporary supports”, reports The Mirror.
Mr Chambers also said that fuel poverty can be addressed through social welfare payments in the budget.
He added: “We have moved away from the level of inflation that we’ve seen in recent years and it’s in that context in which we’re setting out Budget 2026 later in the year,” reports The Mirror.
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