Energy credits next winter cannot be ruled out, Harris says
Vivienne Clarke
Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris has said that energy credits next winter cannot be ruled out.
“I think it would be a foolish and arrogant Government that would rule out anything right now,” he told Newstalk’s Claire Byrne show.
"What I'm saying is we're taking the time to follow the evidence and to work our way through this step by step. Because anybody trying to predict, you know, they used to say a week is a long time in politics.
"By the time I come out of this studio, God knows what could have happened to the world, right? So we've got to take this step by step. We have firepower. We have economic strength here. How we deploy it matters.”
Harris defended the Government’s support package for the sectors impacted by fuel price rises in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East.
“None of this is easy. War is not easy. There's nothing ideal here. The world is going through the largest global energy crisis in decades, if not ever. So none of this is easy.
But it does make sense to target in the first instance the sectors that are most dependent on fuel, not just for those sectors, but actually for the broader benefit of the Irish economy, because there's a huge, huge, huge link between the cost of fuel and the level of inflation. And, of course, the level of inflation affects every family, every business, every person. But this is not the final word.”
While the country was in good economic state, decisions had to be taken step by step as there could not be a budget every week, he added. The Government had announced one of the biggest support packages in the EU and had done so without borrowing.
“If I thought this crisis was going to end today, tomorrow, next week, next month, of course we could have different conversations on what to do in the here and now.
“But I have to be honest with people about the winter. We do just need to try and pull together, though, at this moment, too. This country is going to get through this moment of challenge. We're in a position of relative strength compared to other European countries.”
When asked if the recent fuel price protests had changed the way in which protests were held, Harris said he supported protests, but not blockades.
“Deciding who can and can't move around the country is illegal, and nobody should have a right to do that in a democracy. And I do think there are significant learnings in relation to that, including in relation to security and critical infrastructure. But the broader point I'd make is this.
“We are going to pull through this as a country. We are going to be able to help keep our economy secure. We're going to be able to assist people. We're going to be able to do more in the budget.
"We are going to be able to look at how we can help people with tax. We're going to be able to look at how we can help through public sector pay talks, too.
“But what we can't do, what we can't do is every single week make another intervention. If we do that, we will bring ourselves to a very perilous place as a country. And we've worked too hard as a people to get to this position of relative economic stability.”
People who worked hard yet found they were struggling would be his priority in the budget, he added.
“We cannot approach a cost of living crisis by thinking the only answer is social welfare or subsidisation. One of the things you can do during a cost of living crisis, one of the things you can do anyway to help make sure work pays, is allow people to keep a little bit of their own money.
“So there will be an income tax package, a personal income tax package. The composition of it, what you do with USC, what you do on thresholds, what you do on rates, what you do on tax credits, they're all, as you'd expect, a matter for proper detailed discussion across Government.”
Harris said he would not be “fixating” on which tax he would or could reduce.
“What I am fixated about is how do we help? We call them different things at different times in politics. Sometimes they're called people who get up early in the morning, sometimes they're called the squeezed middle.
"We know who they are. People who are working their backside off and feel they just can't catch a break, they have to be our priority or our focus.”
He said he fully acknowledged the current cost of living crisis, but it was important to now “get ahead” of inflation and the current conflict in the middle east was causing real challenges.
On the issue of energy credits, Harris said Ireland had to become more self-sufficient with regard to energy but that in the meantime if the energy crisis continued next winter then the Government could not rule out further interventions.
“But that shouldn't be the only conversation. We also have to look at energy and the round energy policy from a taxation point of view and from an expenditure point of view.”
