Government ignoring ‘populist outrage’ ahead of Budget, says minister

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

The Government will ignore “populist outrage” in opposition Budget submissions, a minister has said, amid criticism of its response to the cost of living.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan defended the Government’s record on supporting households with living costs as he answered Leaders’ Questions on Tuesday.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald had accused the Government of withdrawing bill relief for consumers as four energy companies are preparing hikes in electricity prices.

Senior Government figures have signalled one-off cost-of-living reliefs seen in previous Budgets will not be part of the ongoing approach by the Government.

The Budget is due to be announced on October 7th.

Ms McDonald said: “Hundreds of thousands of households will be forced to pay out even more for their electricity.

“Some 300,000 households, remember, are already unable to afford their electricity bills and these are working people who just cannot keep up.

“Yet, the Government waltzes in to withdraw energy credits when they will be so desperately needed.”

Speaking in the Dáil, she accused the Government of being “out of touch” and said the Budget must be about “ending the rip-off, getting costs under control and supporting workers and families”.

She said households are struggling to make ends meet as families are “hammered by soaring prices at every turn”.

Ms McDonald added: “Under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, living costs have become unaffordable and people cannot believe their ears when they hear the Government dig in and insist it will not take action to tackle the crisis.”

She urged the Government to protect households from price hikes by continuing to provide energy credits.

In response, Mr O’Callaghan said the Government had done a “huge amount” to respond to cost-of-living pressures.

The minister said previous budgets had included energy credits and other one-off payments which he claimed were not supported by Sinn Féin at the time.

“If you look at Budget 2025 you can see that there is a whole wide range of measures that were introduced which had the effect of protecting members of the public from the excessive costs that were rising as a result of inflation,” he said.

“You can see that we introduced an increased payment in respect of the rent tax credit from 1,000 to 2,000 euro. There was the extension of the 9% reduced VAT rate for gas and electricity. And that was a very real measure that was introduced for the purpose of ensuring that we did reduce the cost of energy for householders.

“We also saw the extension of the mortgage interest relief until the end of 2025 and the 300 euro lump sum payment in respect of the fuel allowance, and that’s not even getting to the double month child benefit payment.”

Mr O’Callaghan said electricity credits for households were very effective but came at a time when inflation “was out of control”.

He said inflation has now moderated.

“When the Government comes to announce the Budget in two weeks from now, there will be measures in that that will have hard-pressed families at the centre of considerations,” he said.

“What I’m not going to do, however, is pre-announce the Budget here today.”

He said Finance and Public Expenditure Ministers Paschal Donohoe and Jack Chambers will “read carefully” opposition Budget submissions.

“If there are good proposals in it, they’ll give them consideration,” he said. “If there aren’t, and it’s just populist outrage, they’ll ignore them.”