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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 16 Nov 2022

Vol. 1029 No. 4

Energy Regulations: Motion [Private Members]

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that:

— according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI), the rate of inflation illustrates a 9.2 per cent cost of living increase between October 2021 and October 2022;

— inflation is now at its highest level in Ireland since 1984 when it was 9.7 per cent, according to Central Statistics Office data;

— the main drivers of inflation in Ireland are energy costs;

— last month was the thirteenth consecutive month where Ireland's rate of inflation, as measured by the CPI, was greater than 5 per cent;

— in Ireland, the cost of gas has spiked 93.3 per cent in the last 12 months, the cost of electricity by a staggering 71.2 per cent, the cost of home heating oil by 65 per cent, and solid fuels up 47 per cent;

— the cost of heating and keeping the lights lit at home, in small businesses, schools and community facilities are becoming extremely challenging for many and forcing several more into undisputed poverty;

— over the same period, the Government has completely failed to take any steps whatsoever to tackle the root causes of energy-induced inflation; and

— during this energy cost inflation crisis, the Government has allowed energy suppliers in Ireland, including renewable energy producers, to make record financial profits on the back of ordinary Irish consumers;

further notes that:

— within Ireland's Integrated Single Electricity Market (I-SEM), there are markets for energy, generation capacity and system services, and this model includes day-ahead and intraday markets;

— generators bid into these markets based on market rules, which are set by the Government and/or the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU);

— the market price is determined by these market rules and referred to as the marginal cost of generation capacity, therefore, forming a central component of the wholesale electricity price benchmark;

— the average wholesale price for a megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity in August was €387.63, which is the highest monthly figure this year;

— wholesale electricity prices decreased significantly by October in many European countries, including Ireland, due mainly to a temporary fall in the price of natural gas and an increase in wind energy production, yet consumers are not seeing the benefits of this;

— while the market price is reduced when there are greater levels of lower cost generation, such as on windy days, the benefits to the public have been minimal or non-existent;

— the high electricity prices being seen in Ireland are a direct result of the significant increases in natural gas prices but also of the massive profits being made by energy suppliers, including renewable producers, due to the marginal pricing model;

— the price increases have severely impacted gas and electricity consumers nationwide, as the I-SEM in Ireland fails to protect the consumer; and

— European Union (EU) Council Regulation 2022/1854, which entered into force on 8th October, 2022, with direct effect in Ireland, provides for emergency interventions, including a cap on market revenues that certain producers receive from the generation of electricity and lower price setting for supply to households and Small and Medium Enterprises;

calls on the Government to:

— outline the number of occasions over the past year that concerns over marginal pricing and the I-SEM mechanism have been raised with the CRU by the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications; and

— outline the number of occasions over the past year that the CRU, through its Market Monitoring unit which is required to monitor the behaviour of market participants in the I-SEM, have raised formal concerns or made determinations surrounding a lack of openness, transparency, or competition by market participants; and

further calls on the Government to:

— immediately implement, in full, the agreed objectives of EU Council Regulation 2022/1854 to:

— reduce electricity consumption by power-hungry data centres, which now consume more electricity, 14 per cent of national usage, than all rural homes;

— introduce a rigid cap on market revenues that energy producers here receive from the generation of electricity and redistribute those funds to final customers in a targeted manner;

— note that the regulation outlines a maximum cap on market revenues of €180 ($180) per MWh for producers and intermediaries generating electricity from wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, biomass fuel, waste, nuclear energy, lignite, crude petroleum products and peat;

— accept that the cap is one of the best ways to reduce domestic and small business electricity prices, with renewable energy producers still well able to recover their investment and operating costs;

— implement electricity price-setting for the supply of electricity for households and small- and medium-sized enterprises and accept that the current Irish wholesale pricing system is broken, as prices for all market participants are set by the last plant needed to cover the demand, which is the plant with the highest marginal costs when the market clears, and given the unprecedented rise in costs for gas and coal-fired power generation facilities, this generally results in such plants establishing the price and simultaneously results in exceptionally high prices in the day-ahead market, with renewable energy producers experiencing very significant increases in their revenues; and

— immediately seek to implement an excess profit "solidarity tax", as provided for in EU regulation 2022/1854 upon all/any companies and permanent establishments operating within the oil, gas, coal and refinery sectors in Ireland, which include the Corrib gas field, and give these funds back to consumers to help pay for energy bills;

— end the Government practice of having lucrative long-term deals with energy companies that allows them to inflate prices while obtaining Government subsidies, simultaneously burdening working-class consumers with sky-high energy bills; and

— accept that the time for inaction is over, and it is no longer tenable to hide behind EU rules or regulations now that the road is cleared to implement a change of energy pricing policy that will directly benefit consumers.

Everywhere I go, I am asked why energy prices are going up so much given we are using renewable energy sources, which all consumers can see on their electricity bills. These show that renewables account for more than 60% of our bill. The Rural Independent Group and I have made it our mission to find out about fuel costs. We have been shut down many times in this House over continuing to ask questions. Why is the production of wind energy costing the same as that of gas, oil, coal and peat? Gas, oil, coal, peat and renewables are all commodities for sale in the market. Gas is the most expensive commodity currently, so energy sold in the market will be sold to all the energy companies at this highest price. Some 96% of all wind energy produced in Ireland is priced at the same rate as gas, even though the production costs may be a fraction of the price charged. In layman's terms, if gas costs €1,000 per kWh and generating electricity via wind costs €10 per kWh, then the producer will sell to the providers at the highest component price, that is, at €1,000 per kWh.

What is going on here? This is wrong. This is unlawful. Does the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, know this? Alternatively, does he know this and has he decided to ignore it? This is the Minister who went on Twitter last week and stated it was great that Ireland was producing all its wind energy cheaper than gas. We are, however, paying for wind energy at the same price as gas. Does the Minister of State get this? We are paying for wind energy, which accounts for 60% of our electricity bills, at the same price as gas because of an outdated regulation. There is no benefit to Irish consumers because we are paying the marginal cost, that is, the highest provider cost, of energy and this sets the parameter for all suppliers.

This motion from the Rural Independent Group seeks to decouple the price of renewables from the marginal cost system, separate the pricing of renewables from that of fossil fuels, compare both and see where value lies. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has stated that the renewable suppliers, such as those producing wind energy, are being paid 600% more than the predicted price over 12 months. The predicted price at that stage was €50 per MWh. What are these suppliers getting today? They are getting €370 per MWh. This is the great wind farm rip-off, where greedy energy giants are selling us wind-generated electricity at sky-high wholesale gas prices. The massive wind energy generation companies operating here are making record profits by selling the energy generated by wind.

We just want the Minister of State to get this part. On top of the energy costs we are paying, we have seen the ESB receive record prices and make €1.063 billion in profits last year. This company is 96% State-owned. At a meeting the Rural Independent Group had last week, it was explained to us that this has come about because of a regulation that must be changed. The benchmark for supplying energy in this country is based on the highest marginal cost, which at the moment is that for gas. For example, therefore, if we are producing wind energy at €10 per kWh while gas is costing €100 per kWh, this will mean we are paying €100 per kWh for wind energy. Again, this is wrong. This also includes the VAT receipts the Government takes back on energy. It is putting businesses out of business.

On top of this, the Government is about to give €12.5 billion to green power and to these self-same wind farms under the renewable electricity support scheme, RESS. Our motion aims to implement European Council Regulation 2022/1854, that came into effect on 8 October 2022 and forces all member states to implement numerous measures to protect consumers, notably by capping the profits of wind energy producers and reducing energy consumption by sectors, such as data centres. The fundamental problem is not being looked at. I will say this again to the Minister of State to make him get this point. The fundamental problem is that all the energy sources contributing to the cost of our bills are being charged at the same high price as that of gas, even though we are producing wind energy at a low cost. These companies have all shown billions of euro in profits because of the regulation in place and now the Government wants to give them another €12.5 billion, despite these companies having absolutely cleaned out this country by charging us extortionate prices under a law that can be changed and in the context of an EU directive, which allows capping. The Government, however, has sat on the fence and done nothing to help people. Businesses are closing day in and day out because of energy costs.

Inflation is at 9.7%, which is the highest level since 1984 according to the figures from the Central Statistics Office, CSO. The gift of €600 towards fuel costs is one of the drivers of inflation. It is no gift, but a token gesture. In the context of all the astronomical prices we are paying, through no fault of our own, we are only getting crumbs from the table. The Government is going to pay this €600 in segments of €200. Householders will get €200 provided towards their energy costs, but they will be paying for this energy at the level of gas prices, even though the energy companies are producing the energy at a lower cost. Under the regulation in place, however, the companies are required to charge a price at the high cost. The ESB has made a record profit of €1.063 billion, but it has been told it cannot give these profits back in any way to consumers because it would be regarded as below-cost selling under competition law and the Government would bring in representatives of the company and ask them why they were doing it, despite the ESB being 96% owned by the State.

The €600 the Government has allocated to every household, therefore, is a gift, but an inflationary one. If we were to go to any butcher, coffee shop or any other employer, such employers would tell us their ESB bills have gone up by 500% and 600%. This means the cost of producing food and keeping freezers on, to protect it for people, has gone up by 600%. The Government then came out to say that it will pay a maximum of €10,000 to any business which can show its electricity costs have gone up. We are talking about businesses whose monthly ESB bills have gone from €1,000 to €6,000. These costs have jumped by 500%. We must consider that the sum of €10,000 spread over a year will only give these businesses €800 a month towards their bills. This will mean they will still have to pay €4,200 to keep the fridges and lights on for consumers. The Government has given this €600 to consumers who will then be going back to the same shops that will now have to raise their prices by 300% and 400% to keep the lights on. This is because this Government has not protected these businesses.

This all comes back to one thing; we are paying for renewable energy costs at gas prices.

It is whatever the market price is and whatever the highest price is for any of the energy providers. That is benchmarked under law. That law was there more than two years ago when the Rural Independent Group first raised the issue of the cost of fuel coming into this country. Europe has given the Government the way forward on how to do it but the Government is still sitting on its hands. All it is doing is giving more money to these same companies that are charging extortionate prices to everybody in the country. This is going to close down every business. Multinational businesses might be able to afford it but every small shop and SME is being held to ransom by the Government as a result of the failure to tackle energy costs or to implement the regulation of energy under EU Regulation 2022/1854. That is it in a nutshell.

The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said on Twitter that wind energy is being produced in this country at prices cheaper than gas prices but, just to make people suffer, they are being charged for electricity based on the price of gas while the Government is going to give more funding to wind energy farms that are already making billions of euro. The Government is going to give them more funding to charge people more and put companies out of business.

I thank Mairead McGrath and Brian Ó Domhnaill in our office for helping us to put the motion together. According to the latest consumer price index, CPI, the rate of inflation illustrates a 9.2% increase in the cost of living between October 2021 and October 2022. The rate of inflation in Ireland is being driven by the cost of energy. The cost of gas has spiked by 93.3% in the past 12 months, the cost of electricity has increased by a staggering 71.2%, the cost of home heating oil by 65% and solid fuels by 47%. The cost of heating and keeping the lights on in homes, small businesses, schools - I previously made the point in the Chamber that some schools are going cap in hand to the local parish priest for help - and community facilities is becoming extremely challenging for many and is forcing several more into undisputed poverty.

I have been contacted by family-owned supermarkets across County Cork. I have met those families and been to their premises. They do not know how their doors will stay open. I met representatives of the hotel industry in Clonakilty and its surrounds in recent months. They do not know if they will be able to keep their doors open. They are telling me the only way they can pay some of these bills is to have their family members work for free in the months ahead. This is an astonishing situation. They will not be able to take a wage themselves in the same period. That is how bad things are becoming.

The Government has failed to take any steps whatsoever to tackle the root cause of energy-induced inflation. Instead, during this inflation crisis the Government has allowed energy suppliers and renewable energy producers to make record financial profits on the back of ordinary consumers. That is why the Rural Independent Group has moved this motion. The simple objective of the motion is to provide cheaper electricity prices for households and small businesses. Almost every day, we hear the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, speak about the increased amount of wind-generated electricity that is supplying the national grid. At the same time, however, the price of electricity for ordinary people is climbing higher and higher. This is resulting in the great wind farm rip-off, where greedy energy giants sell us wind electricity at sky-high wholesale gas prices.

Renewables only generate electricity for very short periods when the wind blows or the sun shines. Most of the time, Ireland relies on conventional energy. That is why we need a backup system for when there is no wind. We have to pay very high prices if a gas-fired power plant is only being used half the time because wind energy is given preferential treatment. When such a plant is used, the owner will ask for astronomical sums. When wind energy is backed up by conventional energy, prices go through the roof and that cost is added to the average energy bill. The more wind farms there are, the more expensive the cost will be. This was happening long before the price of gas went up.

To make matters worse, the Government intends to pump taxpayers' funds into the renewable electricity support scheme, RESS, with an estimated budget of €7.2 billion, and to provide €12.5 billion for green power production from sources including solar and wind farms. All eligible technologies will compete for subsidies through auctions under RESS, with preferential treatment being given to a small number of energy producers for offshore wind. It is clear that the lobbying power and influence of these international corporations paid off. These companies are to be given 15 years in the form of a premium on top of the market price. This is on top of the massive profits the companies are making. Then we have the Government coming out with electricity credits. While welcome, in reality they are nothing more than crumbs from the table. They merely serve to increase the profits of energy companies as they retain the money, thus driving costs higher and doing nothing to tackle the existing underlying problems.

The motion calls on the Government to accept that the cap is one of the best ways to reduce domestic and small business electricity prices, with renewable energy producers still well able to recover their investment and operating costs. It also calls on the Government to implement electricity price-setting for the supply of electricity for households and small and medium-sized enterprises and accept that the current Irish wholesale pricing system is broken, as prices for all market participants are set by the last plant needed to cover the demand, which is the plant with the highest marginal costs when the market clears, and given the unprecedented rise in costs for gas and coal-fired power generation facilities, this generally results in such plants establishing the price and simultaneously results in exceptionally high prices in the day-ahead market, with renewable energy producers experiencing very significant increases in their revenues. It also calls on the Government to immediately seek to implement an excess-profit solidarity tax, as provided for in EU Regulation 2022/1854 upon all or any companies and permanent establishments operating within the oil, gas, coal and refinery sectors in Ireland, which includes the Corrib gas field, and give these funds back to consumers to help pay for energy bills. Finally, it calls for an end to the Government's practice of having lucrative long-term deals with energy companies that allow them to inflate prices while obtaining Government subsidies and simultaneously burdening working-class consumers with sky-high energy prices.

To be honest, Ireland needs energy independence. We have been skirting around this idea, whereas the rest of the world is going straight ahead, as per normal. They are letting on there are all these climate action controls but we saw what happened at COP27 last week, where 400 private government jets flew to Egypt. In the name of God, what damage did that do to the climate? It is absolute hypocrisy when you consider they were telling the poor ordinary people on the street to tighten their belts and think about their emissions but they flew in the lap of luxury on private jets. What has that done to the environment? Did it not matter that week because it was COP27 and they could spend their time telling us, the ordinary people, what to do and how to do it? I sought clarity for months from the office of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on whether a gentleman in west Cork could put one bag of turf at the back of a trailer in a market and sell a few lumps of turf. It took months to get the answer, and that answer was that he cannot do so. The governments can fly in private jets all over the world with no problem at all, however. The Government thinks it is codding the people but it sure is not codding everyone. It has conned a few people all right but not everyone is blind.

I refer to Barryroe and the opportunities off the Barryroe field. The contracts to be finished are in the Minister's office but he will do nothing apart from let it drag on. He will kick the can down the road. We can bring in fracked gas from abroad and all that and that is all right. The Government thinks nobody will cop that, as if we are all stupid and foolish. We are not foolish at all, however. Liquified natural gas, LNG, floating terminals offer super opportunities for Cork Harbour, Shannon and other places. It is an opportunity to get clean and efficient fuel moving and make the country energy independent. Again, this Government made up of the Green Party, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, with the Green Party wagging the tail, has refused that movement, so we keep bringing it in. Import away; there is no issue there.

I spoke about the 400 jets but today we heard that kettles and fridges are going to be removed from offices throughout the country to cut back on energy consumption. You cannot have a bag of turf on the back of a trailer and you cannot have a kettle in your workplace but you can fly in a private jet all you want and fill it with all the types of fuel you want and there is no issue there about the climate. There is no such thing as hopping on a commercial flight to Egypt, not even in first class. They could not do that at all. That would not look good across the world. It is a complete con job that is going on.

I heard a Deputy from west Cork giving out that Christmas lights are not being put up in his town by the council. He is sitting in government, delighted. The fact is that there might be a blackout this Christmas or next Christmas and there will be no Christmas lights in any town in west Cork.

He is oblivious to what is happening in our country.

We should also talk about transport but it is a different area. I commend West Cork Connect, which started a new route. Again, this was done by a private company because the State was not going to cover anything in west Cork when it came to transport. This private company will start running a route from Kinsale to Cork city via Ballinhassig on a daily run on 9 January 2023. We are lucky to have a company like it. It has looked after our needs throughout west Cork while Bus Éireann sits idly by and hopes everything will fall into place and it does not.

Energy independence was where we should have been and we are not there today and will not be there. It is coming at a huge cost to the consumer.

I thank Deputies for raising these important matters and allowing us time to discuss them today. I can appreciate the Deputies' concern, which is shared by all of us, that significant increases in the price of wholesale gas have led to an unprecedented rise in energy prices that has put financial strain on households and businesses in Ireland and across Europe. Clearly, the significant increases in energy bills and the cost of living are matters of very serious concern. The Government is keenly aware of the growing pressures that this is placing on families and businesses.

The most immediate factor affecting electricity prices in Ireland is sustained high international gas prices, which have risen and have remained high since the invasion of Ukraine. This is why a €2.4 billion package of supports was implemented during 2022 and a package of once-off measures worth €2.5 billion was included in budget 2023. The motion in question calls for the implementation of a recent EU Energy Council regulation. I assure Deputies that the Government is fully supportive of this regulation and implementation is currently in progress.

I will begin by outlining global market developments that have affected Irish energy prices. Subsequently, I will discuss the aforementioned EU regulation being implemented by the Department. I will then outline what the Government is doing in terms of providing support for households' energy costs in terms of both energy efficiency and welfare supports

The increased cost of energy is an issue that is affecting not just Ireland but all EU member states. Increased international gas prices as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine have had a serious knock-on effect on the market. As noted by the Deputies, domestic retail electricity and gas prices are now over 80% higher than this time a year ago. Elevated wholesale gas prices have also led to potential windfall gains for producers of natural gas and for certain electricity producers, which have seen an increase in revenues from the wholesale electricity market.

A number of points raised in the motion do not constitute something the Government would supply. However, the core focus of the motion is on seeking to address windfall gains in the energy sector with a view to benefiting consumers. It seeks to do this by implementing Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices. In response to rising electricity and gas prices in the EU, the European Commission has put in place a number of measures available to member states to mitigate the impact of the energy price rises on households and businesses. The Council of Energy Ministers agreed the Council regulation on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices at their meeting on 30 September. The Council regulation, which was published on 6 October in the Official Journal of the European Union, has three key elements. The first involves the introduction of a cap on electricity market revenues for non-gas generators, including wind, solar, oil and so on. The second is a temporary solidarity contribution based on taxable profits on companies with activities in fossil fuel production and refining. The third introduces a requirement to reduce electricity demand over the winter period. The proceeds from this temporary solidarity contribution and from the market cap will go towards financial supports to consumers heavily impacted by soaring energy prices. Intensive work is now under way to implement these measures by the Department, which is working with the Department of Finance and other Departments and agencies.

The best long-term approach for Ireland to insulate consumers from volatility on international wholesale energy markets is to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy, expand interconnection with European and neighbouring markets and deepen the Internal Market in energy. In terms of the overall cost of living, it is vital to stress that a co-ordinated whole-of-government response is being followed and is essential in tackling this issue. The forthcoming energy poverty action plan will set out a range of measures to be implemented this winter as well as key longer-term measures to ensure that those least able to afford increased energy costs are supported and protected.

This work is being undertaken by a steering group consisting of relevant Departments and agencies. This area of work also includes interactions with the NGO sector. In response to rising energy prices, the Government has already taken action throughout 2022 and introduced a suite of measures worth €2.4 billion to assist households with their energy costs. Throughout 2022, the Government has taken action in response to rising prices through a variety of measures. These include the electricity costs emergency benefit payment, which saw 99% of domestic electricity accounts being credited with the electricity costs emergency benefit payment of €176.22, excluding VAT. The total cost of this scheme to the Exchequer was just under €377 million. This was part of a €505 million package of measures put in place to address increasing costs of living, including increases in the fuel allowance and a reduction in VAT on electricity and gas bills from 13.5% to 9%.

Other measures include a €320 million measure introduced to temporarily reduce excise duties on petrol, diesel and marked gas oil, which cut excise by 20 cent per litre of petrol and 15 cent per litre of diesel. Budget 2023 provides a further €2.5 billion in once-off measures for households. The budget package includes a new electricity cost emergency benefit scheme, which this House passed last month and has now been signed into law by the President. The scheme will credit €550.47, exclusive of VAT, to each domestic electricity account in three payments of €183.49, exclusive of VAT, in each of the following billing periods: November-December 2022, January-February 2023 and March-April 2023. The estimated cost of this scheme is €1.2 billion. The scheme will apply to domestic electricity accounts using their unique meter point reference number, MPRN, to allow the payment to be credited to individual bills automatically without the need for application or approval, including pay-as-you-go meters. Therefore, the payments will help both bill pay and pay-as-you-go customers with their electricity costs.

The measures introduced under budget 2023 also include a €400 lump sum payment to fuel allowance recipients in addition to the payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks; a total of €924 each year. Moreover, a €200 lump sum payment will go to pensioners and people with a disability getting the living alone increase, a €500 cost-of-living lump sum payment will be made to all families getting working family payment, there will be a double payment of child benefit to support all families with children and a €500 cost-of-living payment will go to people receiving carer's support grant and will be paid in November. Furthermore, a €500 lump sum cost-of-living disability support grant will be paid to all people receiving a long-term disability payment and a €500 rent tax credit will be paid to tenants.

Budget 2023 has also increased the total allocation to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, by 36% up to €480 million. This is the highest ever budget to support the achievement of our retrofit targets. For SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes, including the solar photovoltaic, PV, scheme, we are increasing Exchequer funding to €337 million up from €255 million in 2022, which is a 32% increase. Importantly, within this, €291 million from carbon tax receipts will go back to help those households and communities. We delivered 15,500 retrofits in 2021 and are aiming for 27,000 this year. We are going further in 2023 and expect 37,000 homes to benefit from retrofits next year. This includes 6,000 free energy upgrades under the SEAI warmer homes scheme.

The Government is acutely aware of the importance of protecting jobs in order to protect families during this energy crisis and this has been key in the design of the new temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, which will provide up to €10,000 per business per month until spring 2023 to help meet rising energy costs. The scheme will support eligible companies by covering 40% of the increase in their energy bills.

These measures are in addition to Government supports such as the household benefits package, which consists of a set of allowances which help with the costs of running a household, and which include allowances towards covering electricity or gas costs. Recipients are paid €35 per month. Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, a special heating supplement may be paid to assist people in certain circumstances. Exceptional needs payments can be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost that an applicant is unable to meet from his or her own resources.

The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, has found that the once-off measures announced as part of budget 2023 will insulate most households from rising prices this winter. As I have highlighted today, the Government has long provided and will continue to provide practical supports for those struggling with their energy costs. The Government continues to allocate significant funding to these practical supports, via the welfare system, through energy efficiency grants and retrofitting.

For the better part of the past year and perhaps more, the Government has repeatedly assured the House and the people that every measure that can be taken will be taken to tackle the extreme rise in energy prices. Families and businesses across the State need long-term and meaningful actions. They need real actions that will make a difference to energy prices. They do not need short-term, tokenistic gestures. These will not solve the problem. Businesses are still closing their doors and this Government is still sitting on its hands. This makes a mockery of the Government's commitment to enterprise and to the small and medium enterprises throughout this country that are really struggling, in addition to the many families who are struggling and deciding between eating or heating. This is the reality and the hallmark of the Government.

The Minister of State mentioned retrofitting and, in particular, the warmer homes scheme. I received correspondence from SEAI which states that a pensioner who applies for work to be done on his or her home must wait 24 months from the time of the application until the work is done. I have many pensioners who come into my office. I am trying to help them get this work over the line and approved for them. They really are struggling. They cannot afford heating, yet the Minister of State and the Government are giving themselves a slap on the back over the great work of retrofitting. I do not believe that expecting pensioners to wait 24 months is anything to be proud of. In fact, the Government should be ashamed of this. I ask for urgent action in order to speed this up. Telling pensioners that they must wait 24 months is not acceptable.

The motion presented by my colleagues and me is a real opportunity to test those words. Are the Government's words hollow or does it mean anything it says? We have consistently called for a series of measures to be adopted that would, if implemented, allow people to have greater measures of control over how and in what manner they choose to access energy sources. We have called for greater energy security in terms of offshore gas and LNG.

We have called for urgent action in the context of reopening the power stations at Shannonbridge and Lough Ree. We know how capable of action this Government is when it wants to bring in emergency legislation. Then the Government can act with speed. I am sure that if the political will was there, those power plants at Shannonbridge and Lough Ree would be open. I call again for them to be opened. Anything that was removed from those power stations needs to be reinstalled. We are in an energy crisis. We need these power plants for backup. I am aware that such options would take time, and that the stations cannot simply be switched back on overnight. When the Government wants to, however, it can make things happen at the stroke of a pen and can bring in emergency legislation when it wishes.

The longer we wait and the deeper we sink into energy poverty and energy dependency, the greater the risk that this issue will become embedded in our system for years to come. I recently asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to provide details of the purchase of emergency generation capacity and mobile turbines, and the total cost involved. He stated that the temporary generation units will not come on stream or be installed until winter 2023-24. The cost is approximately €350 million. This will add €40 to the average domestic bill over the next billing year. Again, this is not a long-term solution. It will cause more hardship for people and will cause more businesses to close. The Minister also confirmed that the purchase of these generators was an option of last resort. How have we arrived at this situation? If the Government listened to and collaborated with those of us who have put forward good and concrete solutions that are sensible, we would not be in this scenario.

Just yesterday, the Irish Academy of Engineering sent all Members a report stating quite categorically that Irish energy supply reliability is below standard and that it is threatening to deteriorate further unless addressed. Practical action is needed in order to remedy the shortcomings over the next few years. The fact that we are in this situation also jeopardises foreign direct investment. Ireland is not seen as energy secure, and this jeopardises investment.

I welcome the children and the teachers who are visiting Dáil Éireann today. We hope that by the time they are sitting in these seats, things will be much better in our country.

I put it to the Minister of State that since he, the Green Party, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael came to office in 2020, more things have closed down and more harm has been done than was the case under any other previous Government. The first thing they did was to close down Bord na Móna. The latter had its operations in the middle of the country, including at Shannonbridge and Lanesborough. Since then, the cost of electricity has gone up day by day. The Government did that because it had the power to do it, not because it was the right thing to do. Since then, no proper alternative has been put in place. We have seen the way the cost of electricity has gone up so much. The thrust of our motion is that we cannot understand why people are being charged so much for electricity produced by means of wind generation. God Almighty, surely the cost of the wind has not gone up. How can the Minister of State explain that or condone it?

Standing charges have also gone up. In a time of war, when we are trying to help others by welcoming them into this country, we are hurting our own and doing nothing about it. Where is the energy regulator? Where is the Minister in charge who is allowing this to happen? I am not being personal or anything, but it is the Minister's policies; it is not the policies of the people. These policies are wrong.

We hear about this big meeting - out in wherever it is - which is COP27. Many of the people who are attending that meeting should cop on. The people of Ireland can see what is happening. The Chinese are building coal-burning generation stations at present. They are adding to the 2,290 stations they already have. They are building 500 more and planning for a further 300 after that. The Germans are burning coal, and here we have the Government telling us, after all that we have been through, that people cannot buy a bag of turf or sell a bag of turf. I am honestly proud of and admire the people who went to the bog this summer. The Minister played no small part in that because he highlighted that he would bid to stop people cutting turf. They proved that they can still cut it. While many of them had gone over to oil or other things that prevented them from going to the bog, I assure the House that more people than ever went back to the bog this year, and they will be going again next year. I am proud that, with the onset of winter, many people can look into their fires and derive the heat that comes from a good turf fire.

All the big powers are attending this COP27 event. The Minister is flying there first class, and yet the Government is telling people here that they cannot burn turf and that they should not be warm. Now it has the gall to tell people in public offices that they cannot boil a kettle. What are they at? Have they gone stone loony altogether? I know an elderly woman who is afraid to boil a kettle because it will actually add to her electricity bill. There are many more like her.

God almighty, I am appealing to the Minister of State. Government Members are more reactive than proactive. They are talking about introducing a cap now. We asked for this all year. Businesses are going to ground. Butchers who sell abroad are closing down. This will have an adverse effect because finished cattle are down €200 or €300 in price. Many butchers have closed already and it is affecting the trade. I ask the Government to cop on, make the regulator do his job and ensure that the energy companies do not get two or three times the profit they should get at the expense of the ordinary punter trying to light the light, boil the kettle or keep their business going.

I welcome the opportunity to address this matter. The issue of electricity and energy affordability is central at this time. The motion points to the need to reform a broken market. That needs to happen, but we also need to address the cost of electricity and maximise State and community ownership of our national resources. That is not stated in the motion, but it should be.

The market is broken, and the Government has stood steadfast against reforms for far too long. Colleagues of mine here and at European level have advocated for market reform for many years. That became a very apparent necessity as far back as summer 2021. The Government, in October 2021, voted against proposals for reform. In June, the Minister of State said to my colleague, Deputy Conway-Walsh, that he did not think it was a good idea to reform the market or decouple the price of gas from that of electricity. On 11 August, the Minister for Finance said of decoupling the price of gas from that of electricity that such a windfall tax would undermine our energy independence. Essentially, it would undermine the profits of energy companies and impact on the amount they would have to reinvest. Countries that took a different approach, such as Spain and Portugal, were able to realise significant savings for electricity customers. The Government has been a barrier to that.

I welcome the U-turn, but it was a matter of a nod to the European Union and to the markets and of failing to be brave or act in the interests of the Irish people. That has happened time and again. It is the same in the context of the solidarity windfall tax and tackling the massive profits of Corrib Gas, for example. That is a Canadian company, and we talk about the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement. There are the massive profits of BP and Shell, €9 billion and €8 billion, respectively. The price of wind has not increased. The price of taking gas or oil out of the ground has not increased either, but the massive profits of these greedy companies have increased massively. They need to be tackled fast. My party has advocated for that for a long time.

The same goes at home in respect of the standing charge. The latter has been increased time and again, including by State-owned companies such as Electric Ireland and the ESB, without reason or explanation. The CRU tells us it does not have the legislative capacity to deal with that matter. This needs to be addressed.

Sinn Féin put forward a suite of proposals in a policy document, Vision for Renewable Energy, it launched this week. The answer for Ireland is energy independence in the form of renewables owned, as much as possible, by the State and local communities, generating jobs in the regions and stimulating local and export economies, in terms of every type of renewable and hydrogen. I will touch on a number of our proposals. We need to reform the public service obligation. That is the mechanism for funding renewables. It is a regressive levy in that it is flat and benefits large energy users because it is levied at peak demand rather than at average demand. We need to increase State investment in the forms of taxation and to incentivise and ensure communities can compete against corporations. We need a task force on the cost of renewables. Those costs are significantly lower than gas, as has been mentioned, but in Ireland those costs are greater than in other countries. That needs to be addressed. The Government has not done enough to protect people and needs to do it.

Debate adjourned.
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