Government in ‘doom spiral’ and failing on energy crisis, warn Social Democrats
By Cate McCurry, Press Association
The Government is caught in a “doom spiral” where it is “lurching” from crisis to crisis in its attempt to drive down energy costs, the Social Democrats have said.
The party’s deputy leader, Cian O’Callaghan, said the Government has failed to set out a plan to address the energy crisis, claiming it is instead reacting to the “whims” of US President Donald Trump.
He said further investment is needed in areas such as solar panels, as well as targeted energy supports, and called for a levy to be placed on data centres.
The Dublin TD said such a levy would raise around €85 million, which would part-fund some of his party’s proposed measures.
Unless we see systemic changes that are needed, including long-term solutions, we will see the Government proposing more and more emergency measures every few months
He made the comments ahead of the Dáil being recalled early from the summer recess on Friday to vote through a financial resolution to shelve an increase in fuel excise rates.
An excise cut of 32c on a litre of diesel and 27c for petrol had been due to be phased out from September 1st.
Mr O’Callaghan said: “We are seeing the Government lurching from crisis to crisis in terms of their response without any clear strategy to drive down prices and make things more affordable.
“People need a plan around this. They don’t need panic emergency measures from Government every few months.
“The Dáil is being recalled only for one hour, which doesn’t give time to put forward solutions or scrutinise their proposals.
“We are calling for targeted energy supports for people, a €400 euro target energy credit for households with an income of €70,000 or less, and that should be included in October’s budget.
“To pay for these supports, that can be done by tripling the bank levy and a levy on data centres.
“Unless we see systemic changes that are needed, including long-term solutions, we will see the Government proposing more and more emergency measures every few months.
“We need to invest in long-term measures that we break our dependence on fossil fuels and make the cost of living more affordable.”
Jennifer Whitmore, the party’s energy spokeswoman, said the Government should set out the plan to drive down the cost of energy.
“Our Solar for All plan includes a doubling of grants for solar installation to €3,600, and the inclusion of solar panels in the Warmer Homes Scheme to help families cut electricity costs by an average of €450 a year,” she added.
“Solar is the best way of assisting households to drive their energy costs down.
“It is relatively cheap and easy to get solar panels up.
“On Ireland’s energy wastage, it is a huge problem for us. With renewable energies we need to be able to use them when it’s produced. We don’t have storage capacity to store a lot of renewable energy.
“When the demand is not there, usually overnight, we switch off wind farms and by doing that it is wasting 500 or 600 million euro every year by switching it off. That is crazy.
“While we are very lucky to have the surpluses we have, it has made Government very lazy in their approach and rather than develop policies that are sustainable, that are financially prudent, they are throwing money at problems as they arise and going from crisis to crisis.”
Mr O’Callaghan added: “Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are caught in a doom spiral of haphazard emergency measures, reacting to the whims of Donald Trump without any clear plan to address the root causes of the crisis.
“We want to get out of a situation where these kind of emergency measures are needed because if we invest in things like solar, then we won’t be in a situation where year after year the Government is scrambling around looking for extra resources for emergency measures.
“The more they get caught up in it, the further away we are from meeting where we need to get in terms of reducing emissions.”
