Mary Lou McDonald calls for cash payments based on earnings to help people pay energy bills
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Cash payments to people based on their earnings to help pay for energy bills along with a subvention for energy companies to cap prices should be introduced, Mary Lou McDonald has said.
Energy prices should be capped at June 2021 levels, the Sinn Féin leader added.
Ms McDonald said the move would give "certainty" to households and was part of a "multi-pronged" approach to a cost of living package. She said the moves would cost €1.7bn up to the end of February.
Ms McDonald said it was "not fair" that homeowners live in fear of increasing fuel and energy prices. She said Sinn Féin would remove excise from solid fuels and continue the excise cut on diesel and petrol.
She told RTÉ's electricity was a key point because "every household uses electricity".
Earlier, speaking to , Ms McDonald said the Government must respond in a way that "reflects how deep the cost of living crisis" is.
The Dublin Central TD said her party finance spokesman Pearse Doherty is finalising his budget proposal for business supports, but said that the party supports restarting or repurposing Covid-era programmes for the support of businesses.
Ms McDonald has recently returned to Ireland from a US tour, where she met with a number of tech firms as well as US speaker Nancy Pelosi. She said that her party does not object to data centres in isolation, but said there had to be the requisite power supply.
"I want to attract and keep as many high-quality jobs as we can. But that can only happen with transparency and rationality. The Irish energy security situation is not some well-kept secret on this island," she said, criticising the Government's approach to planning in the sector.
Asked about a letter sent by her party TD for Kildare South Patricia Ryan which warned of "significant conflict" between locals and Ukrainian refugees, Ms McDonald said it was a responsible move because it highlighted the reality of a lack of provision of services.
She said Ms Ryan was asking for a "civil, civilised conversation" on the issue and that her party would not support capping the number of people coming to Ireland from the war in Ukraine.