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COALITION LEADERS WILL meet tomorrow to discuss options for the budget on energy security and energy consumption in Ireland for the winter months.
Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan will bring a memo to Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting setting out a series of actions to shore up energy supply.
Looking at actions the public sector can take to reduce consumption, it is understood the likes of turning off public lighting of state buildings, similar to what Germany has already done, is one option being considered.
A windfall tax on any energy companies is expected to be part of the strategy.
Ryan, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste will also discuss the supports businesses might need to deal with sky-high gas and electricity bills.
Initiatives that are described as similar to Covid supports, such as tax warehousing, are understood to be on the table, as well as energy credits for businesses and households.
It is understood Government is very aware of the threat rising costs are having on businesses around the country and ministers do not want businesses to close down.
The meeting tomorrow comes ahead of Europe energy ministers also meeting this week where they will discuss expediting the delivery of alternative energies such as solar and wind.
Speaking to The Journal in Drogheda this morning, Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said “we’re going to need a plan for our country in relation to this and indeed a plan at a European level”.
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The minister said he spoke to a number of businesses in his Wicklow constituency over the weekend, stating:
There is a real concern and real worry there, perfectly viable businesses, businesses that are beginning to do well again after the Covid pandemic and they are genuinely fearful about opening the envelope with the electricity balance.
“It is very clear that there is going to need to be an intervention – a significant intervention – in the budget to help people with the cost, both homeowners and businesses.”
Up to now, the Government has provided some assistance to homeowners, he said.
“We need to do more. We haven’t provided assistance to business and what is absolutely crystal clear, abundantly clear to me, and even more so after engaging with small and medium businesses in my constituency, is this is going to be really important to ensure businesses remain viable,” said Harris.
“The energy crisis won’t last forever. And there is an absolute onus on us as a Government to do everything we can to make sure we get people through that period of time,” he added.
“I think we showed a willingness and ability to do that during Covid. We’re going to have to look at how we can do that now as well,” said the minister.
Harris’ comments come as the Small Firms Association (SFA) launched a cost of doing business report today, which examines the cost of doing business in Ireland.
Director Sven Spollen-Behrens said the SFA is calling for measures to support the retention and upskilling of staff to help small businesses survive.
Student grants and college fees
Speaking about what his own department, Harris said today he published an options paper which examines the costs associated with a range of options available to support students with the cost and accessibility of higher education.
A 25% increase in student grants and a considerable reduction in third-level fees are among the measures being considered.
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A cut in the €3,000 college contribution charge under consideration.
“You can improve the student grants system, both in terms of the amount and making sure more families qualify. And you can also look at the registration fee,” said Harris, stating those are two levers at his disposal.
“We definitely will be doing more in the budget to help students, to help families with the cost of living,” he said, adding that there are two elements of this year’s budget – measures that kick in immediately and measures that won’t take effect until next year.
“I’m very clear about my view that students, third level students, their families, parents need to be a part of both elements of that budget,” he said.
The paper published by his department today outlines options of adjusting income thresholds to qualify for the standard rate of student grant, stating that increasing the threshold by €250 would cost the State €0.9 million while on the upper limit a increase of €1,000 in the threshold would cost €3.7 million and would see 4,700 extra students qualify for supports.
The paper also sets out what reducing the qualifying distance to avail of the non-adjacent maintenance grant from 30km to 24km would entail, as well as increasing the postgraduate maintenance grant rates.
Separately today, ALONE, a charity that supports older people, has also released itsBudget 2023 submission, calling for an increase the State Pension by at least €20 this year and next year.
It also wants the Fuel Allowance season to be set at 35-weeks and increase by €20 per week to minimise the impact of energy inflation and repeated energy supplier increases.
A number of other commitments are also called for, such as benchmarking the Living Alone Allowance to one quarter of the State Pension, as well as an increase in funding of Housing Adaptation Grants for older people to €84.5 million annually and commit to multi-annual increases.
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@Celtic Eagle: you are wrong. A demographic society is not based on lies or instilling fear. It’s not a green light to be aggressive. It’s about having the freedom to be safe, make your own choices and be respectful about differing opinions.
@Damien Leahy: I am trying to make sense of your post.
I am not a big fan of Hillary Clinton and I voted for Bernie in the Democratic primaries. But it’s not correct to say that “she lost every vote to Bernie Saunders”. It was obvious the DNC favored Clinton but on the whole she won based on the same rules that Democratic Primaries had been run on for decades.
The superdelegate vote system and rules have since been changed. I wish the rules on the electoral college system could be changed so a candidate like Trump in 2016 couldn’t be elected President after getting less votes overall than Clinton did
“Prime time speech” that wasn’t carried live by any of the top 3 networks in the states. He also has to speak over protestors, why isn’t that mentioned in the article?
He used the words maga, threat and violence so many times in this speech. It was a platform to allocate blame and not take personal responsibility. Maga = boogieman. He’s attempting a bit of brainwashing for his own cult. How can a political leader condemn 70+ million residents of his country as a dangerous, fascist threat? What about the literal dangerous, fascist threat of BLM and Antifa who his party support in their violence and destruction? He’s playing make believe
@Kevin McCourt: its not 70 million though is it, there are probably plenty of normal well adjusted americans who vote republican because they always have, akin to people with ff and fg here. Then there is a sizable minoroty ofnutjobs who hang on his every word, and to who he can do no wrong even in the face of overwhelming evidence. They are the ones who biden is referring to.
@Con Cussed: The BLM and Antifa riots caused untold damage to property and businesses. They declared autonomous zones in major cities, the very definition of sedition. Dozens of people were murdered during these riots.
Yet we are to believe that Jan 6 was the real threat.
Americans are waking up to this hypocrisy and Biden’s divisive speech will not have helped the Democrats one bit come November.
@Will: The BLM movement didn’t attempt to stop the transfer of power, Trump’s MAGA rally rioters on January 6th did. And yes, anyone of any political identity should be jailed when committing crimes.
@Kevin McCourt: clearly you did not listen to the entire speech. He talked about working together, and unity. The maggots were only mentioned briefly. Did it trigger you?
@The Ghost of Dublin: You sound a touch triggered yourself. He mentioned a lot, a contradicting politician is nothing new. I care less about who they want to persecute on their own soil, I find the whole thing to be akin to a soap opera. It’s the confession through projection and theatre of it that amaze me. It’s interesting to see what happens when domestic policy is high priority. Similar disaster and as many lies as when foreign policy was king.
While he may be 100% right, don’t think it’s going to have any benefit to calling it out. The MAGA heads are just going to use his speech to keep pushing their agenda. It’s going to polarise opinion and Republicans who may have voted Democrats are going to be turned off
@John Quill: I never understand the implications that Trump supporters are all just racist. It’s provably false as statistically Trump could not have won in 2016 without a large number of voters who previously voted for Obama.
@Podge: in 2016 you can give voters the benefit of the doubt.
Anyone who voted a 2nd time for Trump you cannot.
It basically endorsed his ideas and behaviour.
Fair play to Trump. Like him or dislike him, he has rattled the cages of those in power. He has upset their cosy cartel a little and they don’t like it.
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