The Government should use money raised from a windfall tax on energy companies to invest in retrofitting, the Social Democrats have said.
Across the world, energy companies are recording huge profits as energy prices skyrocket and the UN Secretary General has attacked oil companies for their “grotesque greed”.“It is actually obscene that so many energy companies are making huge profits,” Deputy Shortall told“If energy companies are making huge profits as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other reasons, well then there needs to be a windfall tax to claw back some of that.
“But certainly in the short and medium-term at a time when inflation is running so high and there needs to be support provided for Government and a windfall tax would provide those receipts for Government to enable them to invest in measures such as retrofitting.
Where have windfall taxes worked? Does Róisín Shortall know what happened in the UK?
Absolutely, should be investing the windfall to benefit society, helping a just transition to cleaner, greener homes would be a great use. Using our 5 billion surplus would be an option too. Buy some more EV buses, order some more trains , build some more bike lanes.