The Green Party has today published its seven key ideas for Budget 2027, calling on the Government to use the surplus to cut household bills this winter and to set money aside so families are protected from future economic shocks.
The submission includes:
– a once-off €2.5bn Fossil Fuel Inflation Fund for targeted energy credits, solar panels and retrofits;
– State funding for childcare wages, passed on to parents as lower fees;
– the phased abolition of the student contribution charge;
– reversal of January’s 15% public transport fare increase;
– a €100m levy on data centres’ energy use to pay for grid improvements;
– Street trees keep our towns cooler and greener, and proper wildfire resources protect our uplands;
– a personal investment account which does not tax losses.
It also calls for the government to stick to the schedule on the carbon tax, to help move Ireland off fossil fuels and fund the transition for households and agriculture.
Green Party Leader Roderic O’Gorman TD said:
“This budget is a chance to allow households to cut energy bills permanently. Yet the Government are directionless: raising public transport fares and continuing our reliance on costly, polluting fuels. This Budget should give people a fair chance: help with bills now, and a move to homegrown, clean energy for the future.”
Green Party Finance spokesperson Cllr Michael Pidgeon said:
“We’re looking at another budget where windfall corporation tax is being spent like it’ll last forever. This leaves our country hostage to the whims of a small number of US firms in just two sectors. It’s McCreevy economics all over again. The postponement of the carbon tax is a classic example of kicking the can down the road.
“Instead, the Greens are proposing to focus taxpayer money on strategic uses which permanently cut costs.”
Green Party Deputy Leader and Public Expenditure Spokesperson Cllr Hazel Chu said:
“Data centres are consuming a quarter of our electricity, and it’s time they paid their fair share. Irish households should not be subsidising the energy use of tech giants. Our levy would raise around €100m a year, ring-fenced for the grid upgrades data centres have made necessary. We cannot keep socialising the costs and privatising the profits.”
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