Nationalisation of Energy System: Motion [Private Members]

Deputy Paul Murphy

I move:

"That Dáil Éireann:

agrees that:

— privatisation and marketisation of the energy system has failed;

— it has led to exorbitant household heating and electricity costs, averaging €4,300 a year, unprecedented levels of energy poverty, carbon emissions that are among the highest and fastest growing in the European Union, and dependence on imported fossil fuels for 70 per cent of our energy use;

— it has failed to enable a just transition to renewable energy, or to reduce energy use, and is inherently incapable of doing so;

— the Government's policy of encouraging the construction of energy-guzzling data centres, which have accounted for 70 per cent of the increase in metered electricity usage since 2015 and now swallow up 16.5 per cent of total electricity demand, more than all rural homes in the country, has worsened the energy crisis and brought us to the brink of blackouts this winter;

— the failure of successive Governments to invest in free, green, frequent, and fast public transport has produced near-universal car dependency, forced car ownership, crippling annual costs of €10,600 per car, high carbon emissions and unhealthy levels of urban air pollution;

— the Government's Climate Action Plan 2021 target of almost one million electric vehicles on our roads by 2030, and any amended plan that relies on massively increasing the number of private electric vehicles, is undesirable, unsustainable and unachievable;

— the Government's emissions reductions targets under the Climate Action Plan 2021 are woefully inadequate across all sectors and very unlikely to be met;

— privatisation and a lack of long-term democratic planning of energy needs have led to the looming threat of amber alerts and blackouts this winter; and

— the only sustainable way to reverse this situation and provide cheap, green energy for all is to move to a fully electrified energy system based on 100 per cent renewable energy, combined with planned reductions in energy usage; and

resolves to:

— re-integrate the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) Group and restore its non-profit mandate across its generation, network and supply operations and immediately impose price caps on all private energy companies, including pre-pay, district and communal heating operators, at a level that reduces energy prices to below pre-crisis levels and eliminates profits as a precursor to nationalisation;

— transform the Commission for Regulation of Utilities to a people's power agency with a mandate not to promote competition but to ensure the delivery of affordable electricity for all households, including those on pre-pay, district and communal heating schemes, a reduction in energy usage across the economy, and a transition to 100 per cent renewable energy;

— recognise renewable power as a natural resource to be developed publicly, and legislate that all future major renewable power projects must be developed by the ESB Group in the public interest, as wind, solar, tidal and all other sources of renewable energy are natural resources which should be developed in the public interest, not subject to private profiteering; and

— move without delay to nationalise the energy system, enabling the provision of affordable energy to all on a non-profit basis and democratic planning of the State investment needed for a rapid transition to a 100 per cent renewable, zero carbon energy system, based on environmentally-sustainable publicly owned onshore and offshore wind, solar and thermal energy; and

— draw up a realistic, ambitious plan to significantly reduce energy usage across electricity, heating and transport, to include:

— a ban on the construction of any additional data centres and the connection of any more data centres to gas networks or the national grid, in particular the eight hyper scale centres planned in the next two years;

— the establishment of a State construction company to directly retrofit all housing in the State that needs it, beginning with rapid free attic insulation for all who need it, the installation of energy and cost efficient heat pumps in all suitable housing, and roll-out the construction of at least 20,000 zero emissions public homes a year; and — investing in free, green, frequent and fast public transport to dramatically reduce household transport costs and car dependency, tackle air pollution and cut carbon emissions.

I wish to share time with Deputy Boyd Barrett. I am happy to move People Before Profit's motion on the nationalisation of the energy sector. We are facing a double crisis. On the one hand, we have an immense cost-of-living crisis with people facing soaring fuel costs, electricity costs and food and housing costs. One in two families is facing into this winter in a situation of energy poverty. We find that only a few weeks before Christmas, energy poverty has rocketed to an unprecedented 40% of households in the State and despite all the fanfare of the budget, the inadequate one-off measures were nowhere near enough. On the other hand, we have the ecological crises of both climate and biodiversity breakdown. One looks at the floods in Pakistan, the droughts in China, the heat waves that we experienced in the United States and in Europe over the course of the summer. One looks at the hundreds of thousands of people facing imminent death through starvation as a consequence of climate change in the Horn of Africa and one looks at the dismal failure of the conference of the parties, COP, once again. The window to achieve a liveable future for humanity continues to rapidly close. Both of those crises are two sides of the same coin. That coin is a system of ecocidal capitalism which is driven by profit at all cost without regard for the human misery of people being unable to afford to heat their homes or to feed their families and without regard to the impact they are having on the planet that we all have to live on and attempt to have a sustainable life on.

Immense profits are being made. Let us be under no illusion about that. Obviously, the biggest profits are taking place at an international level in the major fossil fuel corporations. One can compare the profits that the big oil and gas companies made in quarter 2 of this year compared to quarter 2 of last year. They have exploded. Shell's profits were $11.5 billion in the second quarter of this year versus $5 billion in the same quarter of last year. ExxonMobil's profits were $18 billion in one quarter of this year - four times what it got previously. Last year, Chevron's profits, at $10 billion, saw a tripling. Massive profits are being made by the oil and gas giants on an international level.

That profiteering is also taking place in this country. In the first six months of this year, the ESB made a profit of a €390 million. Bord Gáis Energy recorded a 74% rise in profits in the first half of this year, to €39.5 million. Its parent company, Centrica, which also owns British Gas in the UK, made operating profits of £1.3 billion in the second quarter, mostly from its oil and gas-drilling division. The pre-tax profits of SSE Airtricity's parent company, SSE, rose by 44% in the year to March to £3.5 billion.

Only three multimillionaires control the Irish pre-pay energy market and are allowed by the Government to rip off some of the most deprived people in the State. Mr. Ulric Kenny and Mr. Andrew Collins are on the Irish rich list and own PrepayPower, while Pinergy, which has only announced yet another round of price increases, is owned by the multibillionaire, Mr. Peter Coates, with a personal wealth of more than £8 billion. I could go on and on about the immense profiteering.

Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said that he cannot foresee any significant reduction in household gas or electricity bills for the next year or two. What incredible news to give people before Christmas. We cannot accept as a society that people will be left in these horrendous positions of having to choose between heating or eating, and some dying as a consequence, as we see in the figures for excess deaths in winter in this country. We should act now.

We were the first, more than a year ago, to bring forward a motion in the Dáil to say that the Government should use the powers that it has to bring in price controls on energy. The Government has that power. It can do it with two strokes of a pen under the consumer protection legislation. That must happen, but we are also making the point that, by itself, it will be inadequate. If one leaves control of the energy market in the private system, introducing price controls will only be achievable on the basis of writing a blank cheque to the private energy companies, as, for example, the Tories did. One cannot control what one does not own. Therefore, we need to bring the energy sector into public ownership and run it on the basis of people's needs as opposed to profit.

The reason for that is clear in terms of the cost-of-living crisis but also in relation to the climate crisis. We have made progress towards being carbon neutral at a snail's pace. Over the past 20 years, a grand total of seven offshore wind turbines have been developed. Some 87% of our total energy use continues to come from fossil fuels - 70% of it from imported fossil fuels. Despite all the talk, Ireland's emissions continue to rise. It is time to change that script.

Almost 100 years ago, when the country was far poorer than it is today and the State was still in its infancy, it established the ESB, a publicly-owned not-for-profit company that electrified the whole State and provided low-cost affordable electricity to millions. That situation continued until the so-called "liberalisation" of the energy market in the 1990s and 2000s. It was very simple. The ESB provided everyone with low-cost electricity. It had a non-profit mandate. It was actually barred by law from making profits in order to keep prices low for households and prices remained among the lowest in Europe for decades.

That process of liberalisation, in reality, privatisation, which was an international process of neoliberalism, was a disaster everywhere. Everywhere it led to profits for a series of very rich corporations and individuals, decline in terms of workers' rights and conditions, significant increases and soaring prices. We went from some of the cheapest prices in Europe to some of the most expensive prices and a noticeable slowness to invest in renewable energy because the for-profit companies simply did not want to take the risk.

It is time to re-nationalise our energy system. The idea is gaining ground internationally as the only way to address the climate and cost-of-living crisis and make the essential changes that we need. It means operating the energy sector as a not-for-profit public utility under the democratic control of workers and communities. It means driving the electrification of all aspects of the economy, a just transition to 100% renewable energy and reductions in energy usage.

To get to zero emissions, we need to electrify everything using cheap renewable energy. This is simply not going to happen if we continue to rely on private companies to do it, no matter how many incentives and price increases they get.

What we propose regarding how the nationalisation of the energy system will take place involves five steps. First, the ESB Group should be reintegrated and operated on a not-for-profit mandate. Under the current legislation, the ESB is not allowed to use the profits it makes from generation to subsidise the price. It should be brought back into being one integrated entity. It should be reinstated with a not-for-profit mandate, with the addition of a mandate to deliver a rapid programme of electrification of all possible sectors of the economy, a rapid and just transition to renewable energy and low-cost electricity for households. Electric Ireland offering affordable electricity on a not-for-profit basis will encourage customers to leave the much more expensive private electricity supply companies. All workers in those companies should be guaranteed quality, green jobs within the ESB Group.

Second, we should nationalise the major private electricity generators. Electricity generation is too important to be left in private hands. These companies should be nationalised and integrated into the ESB Group, including the Corrib gas field. The Government already has the power to do this under the Fuels (Control of Supplies) Acts 1971 and 1982. There must be no question of compensating the private energy companies and their millionaire owners who have engaged in rampant profiteering and destruction of the environment. Non-renewable generation should be shut down as soon as possible on the basis of energy reductions and the development of renewables.

Third, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, should be transformed into a people's power energy organisation, with a mandate not to promote competition but to ensure the delivery of affordable electricity. Fourth, there needs to be a reduction in energy use throughout the economy by prioritising people's needs over corporate profits. Let us reject this drive for more and more data centres and instead invest in public transport and the retrofitting of people's homes.

Fifth, it should be recognised that renewable power is a natural resource. It is a natural resource for this country and it should only be developed publicly. We need to get on the streets on Saturday, join the Cost of Living Coalition, CLC, protest at 1 p.m., and fight for a left government, and not just any left government but one which will actually take on these issues by committing to nationalising the energy sector.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

It is a matter of urgency and necessity that we re-nationalise our energy sector and put it back on a not-for-profit footing. I say this from the perspective of people who, when we are faced with the sort of energy crisis we are now witnessing, are being crucified by a market, for-profit system which has no capacity to control the price of heating, energy and hot water that human beings need to sustain themselves through periods like this cold snap we are experiencing. I wish to bring the argument down to the core of human reality that people are facing by referring to a couple of messages I received this week.

The first asked me what the story is with the gas prices. The person who wrote it was on pre-paid power and used to top-up by €20 weekly, but the cost now is nearly €10 daily. This person, who is on invalidity pension and lives alone, then wrote, "God Almighty, it is worrying", and said that due to being sick since last Friday with flu, her gas might have been on a little more but not all the time. This is a huge concern for this woman, and for others, and I was asked to flag this situation with our Government to see what people can do to cope. She suggested that since each gas system works differently, it might be possible to get the council to get an expert to look at these systems to see how to best get the most from them at little cost. My correspondent then wrote that she would appreciate it if I could bring this issue up. This is an elderly woman on invalidity pension, with the flu, who is terrified by the cost of energy.

I got a message from another woman, whose name is Deirdre. She wrote to me to raise an issue that she said had not been highlighted during this cold snap. Deirdre is living in social housing in Dún Laoghaire. Her housing association is Tuath Housing and the management company for the apartment complex is Benchmark Property and these apartments are all tied to one district heating system run by Kaizen Energy. Since the rise in heating costs and daily standard charges, Deirdre cannot keep up with the cost of heating. She works full time and is a single parent to a teenager with autism spectrum disorder, ASD. She earns an okay wage but said she was sitting there in her apartment, ill with flu, and freezing because her heating ran out again that morning and she just did not have the money to top it up. Deirdre works full time and is, therefore, not entitled to fuel allowance or any other assistance, so she said she will have to wait until 22 December to be able to top it up again. Another issue for Deirdre is that the heating system is tied to the hot water, so if she does not have credit on the heating system, then she has no access to hot water. Deirdre wishes to know why this heating company has full control and why tenants cannot shop around for a better deal, or the management company for that matter. The Minister of State will get the drift.

I met another man who came into my office - I think he actually lives in the same development - a couple of months ago who told me the shocking fact, and this was an ill, elderly man, that he has not had hot water for about a year because he could not afford it. Another example, also from my area and the Minister of State's, so he should be interested, concerns a resident living in Halliday House in Cualanor in Dún Laoghaire. The people there recently received a communication from their provider, Kaizen Energy, telling them their heating prices would be going up from €0.233 per kWh to €0.56 per kWh. This is a staggering 140% increase overnight, and it comes on top of a €1.08 daily standing charge. A screenshot was attached to this message for reference.

How is it expected that people will cope with this kind of situation? How is it possibly allowed? Of course, the reason this is allowed is that we deregulated and privatised the energy market. The people involved in these companies, then, can charge what they like. There is absolutely no fairness or consistency in what people are charged. It is all driven by what can make these companies a profit. As a result, elderly, sick and vulnerable people freezing in their homes in this weather are unable to even afford hot water.

It is a very different situation, of course, for the energy companies. Bord Gáis Energy recorded a 74% rise in profits in the first half of this year, from €22 million to €39.5 million. Its parent company, Centrica, which also owns British Gas, made operating profits of £1.3 billion in the second quarter. We have also seen similar spectacular rises in the profits of the ESB. Deputy Paul Murphy has already highlighted what is happening with the fossil fuel companies, which have seen an unprecedented bonanza in the profits they are enjoying during the period when this cost-of-living crisis is crucifying elderly people, working people on low and middle-incomes, pensioners and so on. An absolute bonanza is being made in profits and there is nothing to stop these companies doing this because the entire system is operated for profit. As the Minister of State and the Government are wont to do, they wish to try to blame all this on the war in Ukraine, but the facts tell a different story. The rise in electricity and heating costs can be traced directly back to the deregulation and privatisation of the energy market and the removal of the not-for-profit mandate of the ESB. This happened long before the Ukraine war.

From 1994, which is when deregulation started, to 2014, average consumer prices in the EU-15 increased by 40%. That was bad enough for the EU. In that period as well, however, average consumer prices increased by 267% in Ireland. This was before any of the recent crises and price hikes. Energy prices had gone up in this country by multiples, by four and five times, what they had gone up in the rest of Europe.

We go from having the lowest energy prices in Europe because the ESB has a not-for-profit mandate to privatisation and deregulation where it jumps by multiples of the rest of Europe. God knows what that figure would be if we count in what has happened in the past two years. Electricity prices in this country are 49% higher than they are in France where over 90% of the market is dominated by state-owned or state-backed entities. The evidence is absolutely clear. Privatisation and deregulation, so-called competition in the market, have done the exact opposite of what the people who proposed them said they would do. I was shocked to hear the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, in recent debates trotting out the same rationale, even in the face of all of the evidence that is now confronting us. The Minister and the Minister of State talked about competition benefiting the consumer in the market. Are they off their heads? Where is the evidence that competition has done anything other than fill the pockets of the energy companies with a bonanza of record profits resulting in massive hikes in the cost of energy?

To conclude on the point about climate, what is the point in us developing all our own renewable energy to deal with the climate crisis if all the benefit is going to flow to private companies that wish to keep the prices up? We have not seen any benefit from the fact we are now one of the biggest producers of renewable energy, not a single benefit. Why has there not been some reduction in the price of electricity now that we are up to about 30% renewable energy? It is because private companies, linking it to the wider fossil fuel and energy profiteering, make sure there is no benefit passed on to ordinary people. Nationalisation is an absolute must and an urgent necessity.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (Deputy Ossian Smyth)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes that:

— the Government is keenly aware of the growing pressures that families and businesses are under, and Budget 2023 announced a package of support measures amounting to €2.5 billion, including a lump-sum payment for recipients of the Fuel Allowance and a broadening of the threshold for that allowance, and this follows a previous €2.4 billion package of policies and measures in place to support people since October 2021;

— any proposals to amend the electricity market structure should be based on a detailed analysis and evaluation of the potential impacts of any changes;

— through the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 and the Climate Action Plan 2021, the Government is committed to delivering a climate resilient, biodiversity-rich, environmentally sustainable, and climate-neutral economy; and

— the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal;

further notes that:

— electricity and gas retail markets in Ireland operate within a European regulatory regime, wherein electricity and gas markets are commercial, liberalised, and competitive, and responsibility for the regulation of the electricity and gas markets is solely a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities;

— the European Commission is carrying out a review of the electricity market and may propose adjustments following an impact assessment, which is welcome as any proposals to amend the electricity market structure should be based on detailed analysis and evaluation of the potential impacts of any changes, and Ireland will engage with this programme of work with a view to maintaining the integrity of the all-island Single Electricity Market;

— under the Electricity Costs (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measures and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022, all domestic electricity accounts, including pre-pay accounts, will be credited with €550.47 (excl. Value Added Tax) in three payments through the November/December 2022, January/February 2023 and March/April 2023 billing cycles at an estimated cost of €1.2 billion;

— the new Energy Poverty Action Plan, which is currently being finalised, sets out the range of measures that were implemented ahead of this winter, as well as key longer term measures to ensure that those least able to afford increased energy costs are supported and protected, and the development and implementation of the plan was overseen by a cross-departmental Steering Group, chaired by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications;

— following the Government's statement on data centres in July 2022, any new data centres are expected to bring onsite dispatchable generation (and/or storage) equivalent to, or greater than, their demand, so that any new data centres developments ensure their own security of supply and thus reduce their impact on the wider electricity system, which will help to balance the demand for electricity with the critical role that data centres play in Ireland's enterprise strategy;

— in Budget 2022, the Department of Transport secured circa €538 million of funding for Public Service Obligation and Local Link services provided by State operators and under contract by the National Transport Authority this year, and more recently, €563 million has been secured as part of the Budget 2023 negotiations for the continued improvement of these services;

— the substantial investment in transport in recent years and the planned ramping up of major projects such as BusConnects in every city, Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan, Cork Area Commuter Rail programme, Dublin Area Rapid Transit+ Programme and MetroLink means that the national public transport landscape will continue to transform for the better in the coming years;

— the Climate Action Plan 2021 commits to achieving at least five gigawatt (GW) of offshore wind by 2030, and includes a suite of actions to realise the potential of Ireland's offshore renewable energy resources, and further to the recently approved Sectoral Emission Ceilings, the Government is targeting the delivery of an additional two GW of offshore wind for the production of green hydrogen;

— the recently approved Sectoral Emission Ceilings set out a framework for meeting our Carbon Budgets and Ireland's commitment to a 51 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030, which will be reflected in the next Climate Action Plan due to be published by the end of 2022, and this plan will build on the 2021 plan and set out the measures and policies to keep us within our carbon budgets and on the pathway to a zero-emissions economy by 2050, and the process to deliver this new Climate Action Plan will include the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications engaging with other Government Departments and State Agencies to identify opportunities for accelerating our climate action; and

— a significant and substantial transformation of all sectors and systems is required, bringing with it opportunities for more resilience, income diversity, food and energy security, healthier patterns of mobility and for further carbon sinks across Ireland, and these changes will require a collaborative effort by Government, businesses, communities, and individuals to implement new and ambitious policies, technological innovations, systems and infrastructures."

I thank Deputies for bringing proposals today. They are always welcome. I am glad to hear alternative voices.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

They are always ignored.

Deputy Ossian Smyth

I am glad to hear them. It is certainly better than what we heard yesterday, which I felt was an entirely negative attack on one man over housing policy. Today at least we have some proposals to discuss. Deputy Boyd Barrett stated that nationalisation is an absolute must. That is the core of what this motion is about. We have a lot of involvement from the public sector in the energy market in Ireland. Provision of electricity at certain stages is a natural monopoly. That is why we have EirGrid, which is owned by the State, a form of EirGrid that owns the Northern Ireland grid, and the ESB Group, which almost entirely belongs to the State. The money ESB makes can only go to two places. It can either be reinvested in the electricity system we have or it can be returned as a dividend to the State and taxpayer. It belongs to the State. We have ESB Networks, Electric Ireland, Bord na Móna, which I believe built the first wind farm in Ireland and is now trying to develop wind farms offshore including in the bay off the coast of my constituency. Coillte is also heavily involved in the provision of wind farms. Many, of course, belong to Electric Ireland.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

Try growing a few trees.

Deputy Ossian Smyth

We have a lot of electricity generation, distribution, transmission and the future of renewable generation being built by State-owned entities. At the same time there are also some private entities involved.

Bord na Móna is going to try to build a wind farm off the coast of Dún Laoghaire and Wicklow. I hope it succeeds. I will be working through the process and seeing what is the best way it can be done. I certainly will not be opposing it. The Deputy will not find me at residents' association meetings around the county telling people who live in Playboy mansions on the hills of Dalkey and Killiney that I will protect them from the horror of being able to see a wind farm in the distance on the horizon.

Deputy Paul Murphy also mentioned that there are excess deaths in the winter. One of the reasons for those excess deaths is respiratory illness, which gets worse in winter. On average, 10% of deaths in Ireland are due to respiratory illness. It is a much higher rate than in the rest of Europe and one of the reasons for that is air quality. I really believe the solid fuel regulations that came in last month and that were opposed with a massive campaign of disinformation are going to have a dramatic effect. They ban the use of smoky fuels across the whole of Ireland. Towns like Enniscorthy and towns that have been blighted by poor air quality, which has led to people dying in those towns, will get the benefit and many lives will be saved as a result. I am proud those regulations went through and that they went through the right process. I am dismayed they were opposed with disinformation.

I appreciate the Deputies' concern, which of course I share, about significant increases in the price of wholesale gas. They have led to an unprecedented rise in energy prices which has put financial strain on households and businesses in Ireland and across Europe. There has been a massive increase in the wholesale price of gas. Ireland has a dependency on gas for the generation of electricity, as does much of Europe, and for heating our homes. That dependency has led to a massive increase in the cost of electricity and gas. That is caused by Russia invading Ukraine. We have to be really clear about this. The constraints on the supply of gas started before the invasion. At that stage Putin was already using the supply of energy as a tool of war. The purpose of restraining that supply is to put psychological pressure on Europe to try to carry out a hybrid war on European countries and sow division, to create pressure on Europe not to support Ukraine. It is not going to work. We are going to continue to support the Ukrainian people and Ukraine. Although it is obviously causing stress across Europe, we are going to cope with that. I am not one of those people who would accuse People Before Profit of being in league with the Russians or supporting Putin. The Deputies have fairly consistently not supported Putin or the tyranny of what is not a communist state. It is really a form of state capitalism.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

I thank the Minister of State. I agree with him there.

Deputy Ossian Smyth

The Government is aware of the growing pressures on families and businesses. The most immediate factor affecting electricity prices in Ireland has of course been the invasion of Ukraine. 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, at their meeting on 30 September, agreed the Council regulation on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices. The Council regulation has three elements, the first of which is to introduce a cap on electricity market revenues for non-gas generators. That means wind farms and solar farms that are generating unfair profits from electricity because of the high price of gas. They will have to pay that money back to the State and it will be remitted to taxpayers. The second is a temporary solidarity contribution which is based on the profits of people who own fossil fuel production and refineries, who again are making unfair profits because the market price of gas has gone up. Third, the regulation introduces a requirement to reduce electricity demand over the winter period. I am delighted to see a significant drop in gas consumption across Europe. I know it is partly because of the weather but it has gone far beyond that. Industrial use of gas has dropped dramatically while industrial production has not fallen, showing it is possible to change. Intensive work is under way to implement these measures by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications working with Department of Finance and other Departments and agencies.

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 energy poverty action plan, which was approved by Government yesterday, sets out a range of measures already being implemented by a range of Departments and public bodies this winter, as well as key longer term measures to ensure those least able to afford increased energy costs are supported and protected.

As part of that plan, we are introducing a €10 million hardship fund as a further safeguard in addition to the existing sources of support for people having difficulty paying their energy bills, such as the supplier hardship funds or additional needs payment scheme that is run by the Department of Social Protection. The objective of this scheme is to be able to provide tailored help quickly to people who may not be able to access other sources of assistance. In fact, any customer who is in need of additional support may apply for an additional needs payment through his or her local Intreo office, including customers on a pay-as-you-go meter who have a need for financial assistance to facilitate their continued energy supply. Every effort will be made to ensure that vulnerable individuals in financial distress receive an additional needs payment on the same day or as soon as possible where it relates to electricity and heating expenses.

Furthermore, the plan will see the Minister, Deputy Ryan, expand the definition of vulnerable customers beyond medically vulnerable to include also financially vulnerable. This means financially vulnerable people will be able to avail of protections such as the longer winter moratorium on disconnections and the requirement on suppliers to place vulnerable customers on the most economically advantageous tariff.

In response to rising energy prices, the Government has already taken action throughout 2022. It introduced a suite of measures worth €2.4 billion to assist households with their energy costs. This includes the €1.2 billion energy costs emergency benefit scheme, under which a total of €600, including VAT, will be made to all domestic electricity accounts by April. The first payment has already been made and the second will start to appear on accounts from the start of January. The Government is also using supports like lump sum payments for fuel allowance recipients. That brings the total fuel allowance for this winter to €1,324. Along with the range of other cost of living payments, we are targeting help to those who need it most.

The Government is acutely aware of the importance of protecting jobs in order to protect families during this energy crisis. 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, 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 that help with the costs of running a household. It includes allowances towards covering electricity and gas costs, and 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, one-off cost that an applicant is unable to meet from his or her own resources. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, found that the one-off measures announced as part of budget 2023 will insulate most households from rising prices this winter.

Deputy Mick Barry

I have some questions I wish to ask the Minister of State. I am going to come back into the House at 11.40 a.m. to hear his reply because this is not just an answer I want to hear; there are many pay-as-you-go customers around the country who want to hear the reply to this question.

Yesterday, I asked the Taoiseach about the issue of pay-as-you-go gas and electricity customers and whether they will be included in the moratorium on disconnections. The Taoiseach replied that there will be no energy cuts at Christmas. One of the articles in the Cork Evening Echo today quoted the Taoiseach as saying, "People will not be cut off Christmas week." I did not get the chance to come back and quiz the Taoiseach on his reply so I am quizzing the Minister of State on it today. What does the Taoiseach mean by that exactly? Has he done a deal with the energy companies and got a commitment from them that there will be no disconnection of pay-as-you-go customers on Christmas week? If he has, he should say so. He should spell it out and give people that guarantee and security. Is this a guesstimate on the part of the Taoiseach? Is he guessing that if he puts €10 million down on the table, which can be drawn down by Alone, Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, and other good organisations of that kind, people will be able to beat a path to the doors of those organisations while they are cooking the Christmas dinner or minding the kids who are off school and handling all the pressures of Christmas in order to access the extra funding? Is that a guesstimate on the part of the Taoiseach? I want the Minister of State to clarify that position. Many people want that position clarified.

A letter was read out on one of my local radio stations in County Cork this morning from a chap who described his experience of being disconnected on more than one occasion over the last week. Of course, the energy industry and some on the Government benches will slyly say he was not disconnected. They will say he was self-disconnected because he could not afford to put more money in the meter. The Minister of State and I both know that is playing with words, however, and that this man and his family were disconnected. The Government has organised this set-up in such a way that it discriminates against pay-as-you-go customers. There is a moratorium in place and a guarantee of no disconnection for bill pay customers from 1 December to the end of February. The same guarantee is not in place for pay-as-you-go customers. The Taoiseach said yesterday there will be no energy cuts at Christmas, however, and he has been quoted as saying that people will not be cut off Christmas week. Is that a guarantee? Is it an agreement with the companies? If so, the Taoiseach should say it and spell it out. If it is not, and he is hitting and hoping, then he should say that as well. That is not good enough. I will be here at 11.40 a.m. for the Minister of State's reply.

I also want to ask the Minister of State about what is going on at the CRU. I am sure he read the article in thejournal.ie on Monday morning on foot of the investigation that was carried out by Noteworthy. I am searching for the right words - I could not take my eyes off this particular article. Essentially, it said that up until recently, there were 74 vacancies within the CRU and that the organisation has been plagued with staff shortages for a number of years. It went on to report that there had been warnings from within the organisation to the Minister of State's Department that if the recruitment issues were not sorted, blackouts could even be on the agenda as a result. The Tánaiste told the Dáil last week that the country came very close to an amber alert. He said supply and demand would be very tight for the period of the cold snap and that he could not rule out other alerts between here and Christmas.

After the Tánaiste having given that guarantee, the Noteworthy report in thejournal.ie highlighted a range of issues. I do not have time to go through them but I will pick out one or two. The report stated that the CRU has a risk committee, which scored 25 out of 25 for "risk from inadequate resources." That was last year. It was reported that there were competitive auctions for getting more renewable energy on to the grid that had "been delayed due to resource challenges", by which staff shortages were clearly implied. The report went on to state that the regulator warned the Department in April of last year that "rolling blackouts for extended periods" could be on the cards if the staffing issues were not resolved. The report also stated that a commitment was given by the Minister of State's Department that the vacancies would be filled in their entirety within three years. It was reported that a number of key appointments had been made recently but that there were still 60-plus or perhaps 65-plus vacancies at the moment. It seems incredible to me that with the Tánaiste describing things between energy supply and energy demand being very tight in this cold snap, the State is operating to some extent with one hand tied behind its back. This is not just because of the feeding frenzy of the data centres but because of staffing shortages in the CRU, which is charged with overseeing and protecting the people on these issues, that have been there not for a couple of weeks or months but for a number of years.

Warnings have been raised and ignored. Will the Minister of State comment on that?

Supply in the State is tight and my time is tight so I will briefly address a couple of points. I do not have time to develop this but I register again that my focus is on the need to nationalise the energy industry. Both of the issues I have raised relate to this. The profits of the pay-as-you-go companies and their right to disconnect being put above the needs of ordinary families at Christmastime in a cold snap points to the need to end for-profit energy and to run it on a not-for-profit basis through nationalisation.

Regarding reversing the gas and electricity price hikes, the State has a company, namely, the ESB, through which it could be done and which makes €2 million per day and made €679 million profit last year. If that is not enough to soak it up, it can be supplemented with wealth taxes. If the ESB were to do that, it would put the private operators out of business. They would not be able to compete and people would flock to the ESB if it reversed the price increases and had a mandate of operating on a not-for-profit basis. If workers lose their jobs as a result of that, give them all jobs in the ESB and we will have a State-run energy company operating on a not-for-profit basis. All the Government would need to do then would be to put it under democratic control and management. That is my focus: nationalisation and bringing the prices back to where they were in the summer of last year.

There needs to be a discussion of the price of electricity. Should people be charged what they are charged? It costs €3.3 billion to supply electricity to every household in the State. In other words, for €3.3 billion the Government could supply free electricity to every house in the State. If it did not want to go that far, it could give people half their units for free at a cost of €1.6 billion or a quarter of all units for free for €820 million.

Electricity and energy supply is a basic need. It is a utility in this society and these points need to be put on the agenda and become part of the debate, rather than going in the opposite direction as the Government and capitalist establishment are.

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

I thank Solidarity-People Before Profit for tabling this motion. It gives us an opportunity to highlight how broken our electricity system is and how the privatisation and marketisation of it has failed our citizens. The failures of energy liberalisation are now widely accepted, but often not in the corridors are power. These failures are exemplified by the decline in the social value, affordability and security of our energy resources following the privatisation of our energy system. The ESB, our principal State-owned energy company, was instrumental in building that system while maintaining energy affordability. Moreover, the extent of the ESB's market share ensured the profits from energy generation in the State were heavily invested in public services for the population. Throughout the liberalisation programme, the ESB went from owning and operating 96% of the installed generation capacity in 2001 to 51%. It now holds a mere 33% share of generation in the all-island market. The systematic sell-off of our national assets was presented as an EU requirement and a means of developing more affordable electricity, neither of which was remotely true.

The pace and scale of this State’s privatisation agenda was unmatched by our European counterparts. The market share of France’s state-owned EDF reduced by a mere 6% to 83% while Sweden increased the market share of its largest generator by more than 20%. In the same timeframe, we went from having among the lowest electricity prices in Europe to the highest. Between 2000 and 2020, household electricity prices, excluding taxes and levies, increased by 274%. Additionally, the market share transfer from the State to the private sector has meant more profits from energy generation have flown into corporate dividends instead of public services and critical infrastructure.

Sinn Féin recognises that the ESB and other State bodies are central to our economic, social and environmental goals. In 2011, our finance spokesperson, Deputy Doherty, tabled a motion rejecting the privatisation of the ESB and recognising its importance to the future security and prosperity of the economy and society and to the environmental protection of the island. Unfortunately, it was not accepted and at great public cost. While we cannot turn back time, the energy transition presents an opportunity to rewire our energy system fundamentally into a more prosperous and democratic one that serves the common good.

We should not be surprised by the Minister's amendment. It is from a Government which has opposed market reforms and actively supported the current market system for an extended period. When all and sundry recognised the failures of the market, the Government, supported keenly by the Green Party, ensured reform was delayed and argued against it. As recently as August of this year, the Minister for Finance said the decoupling of gas from electricity prices would undermine investment in renewable energy and our energy transition. Of course he meant it would undermine the private profits of companies on which the Government’s idea of energy transition is fundamentally built.

We have great State agencies, such as the ESB, Coillte and Bord na Móna, which are in a position, if empowered, to lead our energy transformation. Sinn Féin has set out a suite of proposals to empower those agencies to do that but they are not in a position to do it because of the Government’s commitment to the market. Over the years it has driven up energy prices and created false economies at the expense of consumers. The Government has a proven track record of supporting a false system and needs to reverse that.

Deputy Thomas Gould

The Minister, Deputy Ryan, said yesterday we cannot be certain what any energy company will do. We absolutely can be certain. We can make sure we are certain. We can meet with them, put the hard questions to them and tax their huge profits through a windfall tax. We have been calling for such a tax for months, and it was not until Europe brought it in that the Government finally considered it. It is something we should have been doing but the Government hid behind Europe again when it had no right to do so. When we see the Europeans doing it, why must we always follow? Why can we not be progressive and out in front on this? It is shocking that the Minister’s attitude to profiteering by energy companies is to shrug and say we do not know what they will do. He is the Minister and it is his job to know what they will do.

In Cork this week, temperatures fell to -5°C. That was really cold and there was no break in it, but 73 days after the Taoiseach made a commitment that no one would be cut off in freezing temperatures and in an orange weather warning, prepay meter customers still faced being cut off. Their electricity could still have been disconnected if they ran below €20 credit. The Government tells them to go to social welfare.

It takes a minimum of six weeks and maybe ten weeks to get help. The Government tells them to go to charities. There was an orange weather warning for Ireland that there would be snow and ice on the ground. In Cork there was ice all over the place. How is it then the Government is telling people to go to a charity? People should not have to leave their homes in such treacherous conditions and they should not need the support of charities. The Government had 73 days, and while I was pleased to hear yesterday’s announcement that this will stop from now on, it is too little, too late for many people who have kept their heating off for the past 73 days and who have been under pressure financially. This commitment was given, so why did it take so long?

In Cork City Council on Monday night, the council decided to turn up the heating in libraries and leave them open. I thank Cork City Council for this. It encouraged anyone who had difficulty with heating or who was worried about heating to come in. Is that the kind of society we have that is using libraries in that way?

Deputy Pat Buckley

I read the Minister of State’s opening speech. It beggars belief that we are in this Chamber talking about our own energy capabilities versus profit. The Minister of State noted that €118 million has been allocated to fuel poverty this year. I think it will increase next year, so we know that it is happening. Yet we have the capability to be the Dubai of Europe when it comes to producing our own energy. The most important thing here is this country has the capability to be self-sustaining and we could have the advantage of alternative energies such as green hydrogen to produce enough energy that we could export it. Yet, we are in a situation where we have no real control over our own energy because of the private sector. Anything that is privatised is normally about profit.

The Proclamation and our Irish Constitution state that what we have in this country is for our own citizens and should be of benefit to our citizens, yet we do not have that. I have not heard anybody mention geothermal while we have spoken about energy, and this beggars belief, especially on the Green Party side. Geothermal heating costs practically nothing. We are putting in all these air heaters and all this natural gas, but geothermal just requires a three quarter inch plastic pipe being placed a metre down in either the back garden or front garden. It can be filled with water and there will be heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. Why are we not looking at these options? It is because companies cannot make a profit from them. That is it - full stop. I put it into houses 20 years ago.

The other issue I want to raise, which has already been mentioned, is pay-as-you-go meters. This is the biggest freeze since 2010 and we still have no clarity for people who use pay-as-you-go meters. I have seen, and people have rung me about it, where it has gone from an average of €3.25 per day even on the pay-as-you-go ESB meters to €6.66 per day. This is an atrocious jump. It is obviously profiteering again.

While we are on the topic of our own resources in this country, an issue nobody has spoken about and which I want to flag relates to oil rigs, gas rigs and wind turbines out at sea. I was informed late last night that English fishing vessels are patrolling those rigs. Why can our Irish fishing vessels not patrol those rigs and wind turbines?

It is a real bugbear of mine that we have the capability of being world leaders in producing energy, but we are arguing about who is making a profit, who gets the job, or who gets the backhander or the jobs for the boys. It should be a matter of the capability to produce and export for our nation, and not for profit. Our prices, as was mentioned a while ago, are among the highest in Europe. It is extortionate and the real issue is that there is massive poverty. Fuel poverty is a real issue in this country. What worries me most is that those most affected are the most vulnerable. Deputy Gould has said earlier, if you can find your social welfare officer, fair play to you, but when you do find them, it will take up to six weeks, which is too late. The system is broken.

Deputy Martin Browne

I thank Solidarity-People Before Profit for bringing the motion before the House. This Government has led us to a situation where it has failed to prepare this country for the increase in electricity usage. It speaks fine words, but looking at its actions, they do not add up. It is a natural consequence of all this that we find ourselves discussing the renationalisation of the energy system, as this motion proposes.

We face a heightened risk of blackouts this winter, which are due entirely to the failure of successive governments to manage energy supply and demand, especially when we consider that demand has shot up by 12% in five years and little preparation has taken place. We are constantly being faced with the inaction of a Government that has few ideas and little intent to act in the interests of the people it is supposed to serve. Time and again, however, the Opposition is spoken down to by the Government parties who claim to be the authority on all things, but they are also the authority on how not to prepare.

We need to be self-sufficient in terms of energy. In our policy document, Sinn Féin Vision for Renewable Energy, we outline the actions we would take in government to help reach 80% of renewables by 2030 and grow the proportion of community-, State- and domestically owned renewables. Sinn Féin has led the call on harnessing the potential of green hydrogen. We have among the best offshore wind potential in the world and we are not using it to its fullest, yet the Government’s consultation process on this ended in September and we remain without a national strategy. Because green hydrogen can be produced and stored domestically, we can add that to our portfolio of self-reliance, a portfolio that, sadly, has been neglected by this and successive governments.

On the issue of self-sufficiency at the micro level of communities and households, there are households throughout the country that could take the pressure off the grid if they could only gain access to the national retrofit scheme. The Government itself has admitted there are cohorts of households that are left out of this scheme, such as old stone buildings, which are across County Tipperary. Communities can also benefit from wealth that is generated from community-owned solar and wind projects. Money that is accrued through this method is more likely to be retained, recirculated and reinvested within the community, helping it to stimulate local economies and social development, all the while cutting carbon emissions.

Transport features heavily in this motion. I have long been campaigning for better use of the train network than we currently see in Tipperary, for example. Simple things like timetable changes would actually be cost beneficial, would link regions, facilitate workers and would cut down on emissions. However, any change here is slow and unimaginative. Delays in this area and in the area of offshore wind, coupled with the slowness of imposing a windfall tax on energy companies and a poor retrofit scheme that is holding us back, are just a few things that must be addressed to allow us increase self-sufficiency.

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú

Once again, we are back in this Chamber dealing with some of the many crises at this time. We are talking about energy and we can break that subject into two parts. There is the issue of our capacity difficulties, where we are facing the possibility that we do not have the capacity to deliver and that we could be looking at blackouts. That tells us one thing about our lack of preparations in that respect, and that is not okay in any way, shape or form. This Government often speaks of its proficiency in business and being able to deliver jobs and industry, yet here is a major failing. Anybody who ever did junior certificate geography will know of the requirement to ensure there is a safe, steady energy supply, and that is not guaranteed in 2022 and going into 2023.

We are dealing with an energy crisis, and this is down to a number of reasons. While we cannot take away from the criminal invasion by Russia of Ukraine, beyond that, there is the difficulty we have when dealing with the energy sector on an international basis, which is that there are a hell of a lot of players who make a hell of a lot of money and they are just happy to keep making that money.

Large sections of the powers that be were not willing to tackle that system in any way, shape or form. The Government, the European Commission and the European Union were slow to get to the point even where they are now, where at least the correct conversation is happening as regards windfall taxes, caps and all the other parts that are necessary to ensure there will be a steady supply, insofar as possible, of energy and that it will be at an affordable price, but we are a long way from delivering on that.

Many of my party colleagues have spoken about the issues in this State, whether relating to energy providers or Government supports to ensure we have protected those who are most vulnerable both to being cut off and to economic carnage. If that economic carnage were to rip through the entire economy and society, the impact would be huge on people's lives, jobs would be lost across the board and we would face into a desperate scenario. As I said, there is a great onus on the entire western world, the European Union and the Government to get their act together to ensure we will protect those who are most vulnerable, as well as the economy and society. It is in their own interest. There is no choice but to deliver on this.

We all know we are behind where we need to be, whether in regard to green hydrogen or our possible big wins in regard to big winds. In that respect, we are talking about offshore wind capacity but we need ports that are fit for purpose, the planning infrastructure and everything that is required in that respect. That is an absolute necessity.

Deputy Buckley spoke about geothermal energy. I am going to raise an issue I have never raised previously and which will come as a complete shock to the Minister of State. I refer to communal heating systems and, specifically, Carlinn Hall. Recently, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, commenced a geothermal feasibility study. I am currently examining updates on that and I believe it is somewhat positive. We all know the difficulties of people paying huge bills in gas-fed communal systems with significant inefficiencies and high costs, not to mention how environmentally disastrous they are. The SEAI needs to put in place a grant scheme in order that we can provide these solutions for people. Moreover, we need to mitigate the pain people are going to go through this winter, with some of them paying between 42 cent and 47 cent per kilowatt hour, which is crazy stuff. Significant actions have to be taken in the long term but short-term mitigations are absolutely necessary.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

A win on wind is what we all seek to achieve. I welcome the opportunity to speak to this motion on energy and I thank the proposers for giving us the opportunity to debate this very important issue. Clearly, we are in an energy crisis, accompanied by other crises in housing, the cost of living and, of course, the existential climate emergency and this polycrisis is exacerbated by Russia's brutal war on Ukraine. As we debate energy here in a relatively well-heated Chamber, we might all reflect on what the citizens of Ukraine are enduring under the hideous Russian bombardment and, in particular, the horrific and illegal targeting of civilian energy infrastructure in Ukraine by Russia. To hear Ukrainians speaking about the absolute absence of heat, energy and light in 21st-century Europe is appalling and puts this debate in perspective.

Nevertheless, in Ireland, we also have considerable difficulties with energy. We have a broken energy system, resulting from an undue liberalisation of the market and a lack of State investment in energy infrastructure, and that is a huge issue. I want to address a few of the points raised in the motion that highlight this difficulty and this legacy of a lack of planning for energy infrastructure but I will start by highlighting how much difficulty has been caused for our own residents and citizens throughout the country, who face such sharp hikes in energy bills. I heard this week from one constituent of mine who is living in a 110 sq. m apartment with her husband and two children. They have not had the heating turned on, given they are looking to save on energy costs and to do their bit in respect of carbon emissions, yet they have just been landed with a €1,300 gas bill for the past two months. They live in a block of 60 apartments and, therefore, according to their energy provider, they are being charged commercial rates, even though they have not had their own heating turned on. That is the sort of reality that faces many households and families with these exorbitant, as my constituent described them to me, energy bills, and it is why we need to look at radical, constructive and creative measures to address energy costs while meeting our vital climate emission targets.

Turning to the substance of the motion, we have extensively debated in the House the issue of data centre connections and the significant burden on our energy system represented by data centres, not least the projected burden from the eight new data centre connections planned in the next two years. We in the Labour Party support a moratorium on new connections and we see in clear data from EirGrid that the system can barely manage even the current demand. The day for the highest energy consumption was this week, so we need to see radical action from the Government on this.

The motion also highlights issues relating to transport, which is very important. There are concerns Government policy is looking to rely overly on a switch to electric vehicles rather than focusing on a switch away from private car use altogether. The Climate Change Advisory Council has called for swift and decisive action on this and, therefore, we must see a much greater priority on a move away from private cars altogether to public transport and to encouraging greater adoption of cycling and active travel. That is why the Labour Party's flagship climate measure in our budget 2023 proposal was the introduction, even for a six-month trial period, of a €9 monthly climate ticket offering unlimited access to public transport throughout Ireland, modelled on the German scheme. Based on that example and looking at what was generated through public transport fare revenue over 2019, we costed that proposal at €300 million for six months through the winter until the end of March. I appeal to the Minister of State to consider this as a proposal, albeit for next year, because in Germany, over three months, the scheme saved 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to the annual output from 388,000 vehicles. In Ireland, that would equate to taking 23,000 cars off the road and would also enable a saving in the costs of transport for many people, households and families, which would be very welcome in the context of those rising energy bills I described.

The motion goes on to cover measures relating to nationalising our energy infrastructure. Again, we in the Labour Party have called on the Government, on a number of occasions, to consider nationalising the Corrib gas field. At a minimum, we should start with nationalising the field that is producing about 25%, on some estimates, of Ireland's gas supply. Despite it producing that proportion, the prices are being set in an international context. We have called for temporary nationalisation in order that the price we would pay for this domestically produced gas supply would be set at the cost of production plus a margin for the operator, rather than at the much higher international market prices paid at present. The Government has the power to do this through laws put in place during the oil crisis of the 1970s. This too could result in a significant reduction in costs for a significant portion of our energy inputs.

The motion also calls for the establishment of a State construction company to retrofit homes directly and we in the Labour Party very much welcome this proposal. In addition to the energy crisis, the overreliance on the market and what that has caused, we have seen seriously negative impacts of an overreliance on the private sector when it comes to housing in this country. We have spoken about this extensively in this House, most recently last night when my party colleague, Deputy Nash, put forward the Labour Party's opposition to Government housing policy, and when I yesterday questioned the Taoiseach on why we are not seeing a much greater State investment in the delivery of public and affordable housing.

We have seen private construction taking over and yet becoming increasingly precarious. We have seen private sector resources directed to the building of hotels and office blocks rather than to housing and residential accommodation. We understand that only about a quarter of construction workers are now involved in residential building. This is at a time when more than 11,000 people are on housing lists. There is an extraordinary level of homelessness across the country. Clearly the Government's reliance on the private construction sector to provide an adequate supply of social and affordable housing has failed and has caused immense hardship and distress across the country. We employ tens of thousands of teachers and nurses to ensure our fundamental needs in healthcare and education are met, and yet our need and right to warm and adequate housing is treated differently. A State construction company could really address this difficulty and could resolve many issues relating to housing delivery and also relating to workers' rights and meeting climate targets, were we to see the work being channelled into retrofitting.

I will finish by referring to a project in my constituency, namely, the construction skills programme being run by the St. Andrew's Resource Centre, Pearse Street in conjunction with Dublin Port. People from the long-term unemployment register are upskilling in order that they can take part in construction and in order that we can meet our labour skills shortage in construction.

Deputy Jennifer Whitmore

I thank People Before Profit for tabling this motion. I am happy to say that the Social Democrats will be supporting it. It is a very timely and important issue to which many people are giving more consideration in the face of our ongoing issues regarding energy security, the national grid, the rising price of fuel and of course the climate emergency.

While reading a number of sources in advance of today's debate, I found myself thinking about the Irish adage, "If I was going there, I wouldn't start here." The best way to nationalise was never to have privatised in the first place. In the early decades of the State, enormous efforts were made to create nationally owned utilities which produced affordable and reliable energy. Much like when we are discussing the housing crisis in this House, we must lament that when we were a poor new republic emerging from years of war and rebellion, we had a better capacity to deliver public services such as housing and energy than we do today as a wealthy modern republic. Perhaps that was because in the absence of profitability in our economy, we decided to put the needs of poor people and our communities first. That is still needed today.

With the major push we need to make to renewable energy to ensure we preserve our environment, there is now an opportunity for a new decade of public infrastructure investment in fuel sources. Solar and wind energy are the only shows in town when it comes to moving away from our reliance on gas and coal. The companies that run them should be State owned and operating in the public interest. Privatisation has not been good for the consumer or the environment and it has become the hallmark of our approach to energy in Ireland. Privatisation has always been a vehicle for cost increases with no comparable increases in investment or in the quality of networks ensuring reliability.

Even some who claimed to be in favour of public ownership and the need to prioritise people before profit, have actually privatised our fuel networks while in government such as the Labour Party in the 2011 to 2016 Government. Although Labour Members would no doubt remind us that they only sold profitable parts of Bord Gáis and not the network, surely that is cold comfort to those who will be too afraid to turn on their gas cookers this winter for fear of a bill in the new year they cannot pay.

The Social Democrats believe it is important that the next phase of development for fuel and energy in Ireland is not only renewable but also democratic. We want to put power back in the hands of people when it comes to our energy supply and control. As with many others in the sector, we feel this can be done through community buy-in to the infrastructure and the output of wind and solar farms. The Social Democrats proposal for a nationwide roll-out of solar panels to homes is an example of this. This would enable people to generate, control and manage their own energy, to be resilient and to make their homes resilient. It would help with the grid, help with our energy security and indeed help with our climate commitments. We need to see that kind of approach from the Government.

We hear much discussion about the potential for wind energy in Ireland but it is only if it is done properly and done in the interests of our community. Community-owned and profitable wind farming is becoming a feature for many communities across the world. Close to home, in Scotland, one example is Allt Dearg Wind Farmers, established in 2009 by the neighbouring Ormsary and Stronachullin estates to develop the plentiful wind resource of the 477 m high Cruach a’ Phubuill hill above them. The site had previously been subject to an unsuccessful planning application for a much larger development by a big utility. Remote and sparsely populated rural Argyll is not historically a booming local economy. Harnessing wind resources by Allt Dearg Community Wind Farm for the socioeconomic benefit of local people was a rare opportunity to generate sustainable home-grown wealth which has helped to underpin vibrant and sustainable communities. The cost of the community buy-in by the Ardrishaig Community Trust to secure approximately a one 12th share, was derived from the proportionate share of the capital cost of construction, rather than the commercial market value of the developed project. We need to look at other countries that have done this successfully to see how we can put the power back into communities and not solely focus on what corporations can do because that is where we will get the best sustainability not just for the environment but also for our communities.

The decision to privatise Bord Gáis by a Fine Gael and Labour Government has had impacts for the future generation of wind power in Ireland because as was reported at the time, the Canadian Brookfield Renewable Partners acquired 17 wind farms in that deal. The enterprise value of the wind assets was valued at €700 million. The net income to the State from that part of the sale was €495 million. Seventy employees were transferred from Bord Gáis to Brookfield. We were already conscious of the need to move to renewables in 2014 but in that year, the Government let 17 wind farms and 70 skilled employees slip out of our hands into the private market in the name of paying down debt from banks in a financial crisis. How invaluable would that resource and those staff be to us now as we are grappling with an energy crisis? We need not just to move to renewable energy sources, but to fairly managed, community-enhancing networks, as happens in other countries. This is an incredibly important approach that we need to be taking on to ensure that power remains within our communities.

I absolutely agree with the People Before Profit motion on the establishment of a State construction company to directly retrofit all houses. I would add to that; I did not get an opportunity to table an amendment. We need to look at not just retrofitting but also installing solar panels. The quickest, most efficient and cheapest way to do this is if the State does it. The State needs to be a bulk purchaser of solar panels. It needs to go to companies in Europe and negotiate strong deals with them. It would cut the price of those solar panels by more than half. The State then needs to bring them back. It needs to actually hand it over to a local authority or some centralised agency that can do a roll out in housing estates. We need to see teams of people going around to estates and putting solar panels on every house in that estate. It needs to be done for free for people who cannot afford it. Indeed, I would argue that there is much greater value for the State in doing that and by giving it free to everyone in order that we actually get this up and running. I do not understand the Government's hesitancy in doing this.

There is a major push on retrofitting and I agree that we need to retrofit. However, retrofitting takes a long time and is very expensive. It will deal with the home-heating element, but homes use an inordinate amount of electricity. Some 40% or 50% of energy used in the home is electricity. The Government's stay well this winter programme encourages people not to use dishwashers or tumble dryers and to reduce the thermostat temperature on their immersions. All that energy usage could be provided for if those homes had solar panels. I do not understand why the Government is refusing to take on the Social Democrats' proposal and roll out a State-wide solar installation programme that would cut costs for 40% of people's energy costs and secure our energy supply and help reduce emissions.

Deputy Cathal Berry

I thank People Before Profit for bringing this important motion before the House this morning, which gives us the opportunity to focus attention on the lack of affordability and availability of energy.

I agree with the central thrust of this motion. It is about driving down the cost of energy and every person inside this Chamber, all 160 of us, would be in favour of that taking place.

I listened to the debate this morning and have found it very useful and informative, particularly the views from all sides of the House. It appears to me that we have three options. First, we can maintain the status quo, which I do not believe is viable. Second, we can go for full-on nationalisation. Third, we have the option of increased regulation.

I will focus on the status quo, in the first instance. I would not be in favour of this unless there is very significant intervention from the Government. I welcome the €600 electricity credit for individuals plus the 40% rebate for businesses but this will have to go much higher if that is to be a sensible, viable or feasible option.

The second option is nationalisation and I heard the Minister of State's comments on many of the energy systems we have that are already nationalised or are in semi-State hands, such as Bord na Móna, Electric Ireland, the CRU, EirGrid etc. It is an option. I have a couple of concerns about it although I am not against it. My first concern is the cost. I know that France has recently renationalised some of its energy system but that cost billions of euro. I heard Deputy Paul Murphy saying there should be no question of compensating these private companies. I would love that to be the case and if it is, well and good, but I am not sure that it is. I am unsure if the State can simply seize the assets of a private company. It does not appear to be legally sound. I wish it was. If the State attempted it, we may end up in court. If there was any advice from the Attorney General on this, perhaps the Minister might mention this during his wrap-up.

The third option is definitely a good one; namely, increased regulation. What concerns me is that if you are a taxi driver who wants to increase the rate of fare you are charging, you have to submit a business case to the taxi regulator. The regulator can say yes or no, or 50% yes, but you have to justify why the increase is being sought. Surely, energy companies must do the same with the CRU. If that is not happening, then is the CRU just a toothless tiger? Does it have the option to say no where the energy company is already profiteering enough? Can it say it cannot grant this increase or that it will not allow it? Surely a regulator would be expected to regulate the industry and that is a reasonable request. People Before Profit made that point well this morning. Nationalisation is an option but increased regulation, at a minimum, is what we should be looking at.

My final concern is in respect of energy storage. Thankfully, we have seen the price of diesel and petrol falling at the pumps. I just filled up my car this morning for 149.9 cent per litre for petrol, which has come down about 25% in price, which is a good thing. I also welcome the fact that the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, the national organisation which ensures that we have fuel available, has a 90-day storage of strategic reserves of fuel, which is a good thing. We have that here in this jurisdiction, in Northern Ireland, in Spain and in Denmark. We have a 90-day supply of oil through NORA but we have no such storage for natural gas. Perhaps the Minister might be able to update us in that respect.

Another feasible option, if we had a 90-day supply of natural gas on this island, is that we could release this over the winter months and take the pressure off availability and off pricing.

The EU instructed Ireland about 20 years ago to create a strategic oil reserve of 90 days. We did so because we were told to do so. Ireland now owns that oil and has hundreds of millions of euro worth of oil that has been purchased over a 20-year period and we can replicate that system exactly from a natural gas point of view. It would be great if the Minister could update us on where we are with this suggested floating liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminal, or on-island storage, or where we are from the perspective of natural gas.

In summary, I welcome the motion and thank People Before Profit for bringing it before the floor of the House. I very much look forward to the Minister’s response.

Deputy Michael Collins

I too thank People Before Profit for this motion here this morning about driving down the cost of energy. I am not pointing the finger at that group but quite a number of people in this Chamber talk about driving down the cost of energy but at the same time, they will have supported the carbon tax increase that crippled the Irish people in respect of extra costs on their fuel, their home heating oil and on their day-to-day bills. We are living in very difficult times and I know that every chance that we have here in the Dáil, especially with the Government, it blames the war for everything. The blame for the crisis we have in this country is because we are not fuel-independent and we have to be. There is no point in people coming in here and waffling and spinning and saying that we do not need fuel and that we must do without fossil fuel. Unfortunately, until something better comes along, which is not here at this present time, we have to have it.

I have spoken here quite often about the Barryroe oilfield and I am ashamed to talk about it because we are bringing in every type of fracked gas and everything from the UK and there is not a single word of worry in the world from Deputies that we are doing that. At the same time, when someone says in this House that we could have our own clean fuel here, like at Ballyroe, or the LNG floating terminal off Cork harbour, a proposal which I put before the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan; not a thing happens then here.

We continue to import from the UK and we are completely dependent upon the UK for our fuel. We have to have it, which I understand and respect, but we could have our own fuel and put in a provision whereby were these companies to succeed at sites such as Barryroe, they would pay for the wind energy that would be coming along the line in ten, 15 or 20 years’ time. Even the best experts in the world have been caught out on public airwaves because when they are shouting about wind turbines at sea, or whatever - which would be the dream for this country - on being asked when it is going to happen, they say it will be in 2035 or 2040.

That is where we are at this present time and until then, we will have to continue to live accordingly. I have heard people talking about the SEAI. We know the delivery times there where people are waiting for over two years to have their homes insulated. This is very unfair because these people are perished in their homes at these times. This is the coldest week of the year and many people did not have the money to heat their house and had no choice.

We live in a world, in this country in particular, where we seem to be chasing the ordinary person. I made the valid point a week ago in the Dáil where a gentleman down my way cannot put one bag of turf on the back of his trailer in a market and sell it because he is not allowed to do so. Some decent people would like a few lumps of turf to throw on their fire, nothing major. I am not talking about trailers here but just one bag of turf in order that he could sell it but he cannot. At the same time, you can fly 400 jets out to COP27 and fill them full of people so that they can have a good two or three weeks in the sun talking senseless rubbish, when they could have been at home doing this via a Zoom meeting. What damage did that cause to our environment? There is not a worry in the world and nothing will be said about that. It is okay to damage the environment in that way but if an innocent man is to sell a bag of turf from the back of his trailer so that he can heat somebody’s home, he will be banned from doing so. That is what the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, told me when I recently asked him this in a parliamentary question, namely, that he is not allowed to do so.

I live in an area myself where we are totally dependent on fuel and the cost of it because there is no public transport. Public transport is at zero, has not improved and I am worn out from saying that in here. It is not improving. The Government is frantically talking about improving public transport but talking about it and having it happen are two different things. West Cork is non-connectable at this present time and that is not good enough.

Deputy Mattie McGrath

I compliment Solidarity-People Before Profit for putting down this motion for debate. I am unsure as to what different acronyms this group uses but I believe we should consider this motion, as a person who was never in favour of nationalisation. We must, however, consider it here because of the ineptitude of several Governments.

Ar an gcéad dul síos I wish the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan and the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, and others, a happy, holy, and peaceful Christmas. Anything I say here is said in good faith and nothing personal. We have followed a dream on climate change, however, and it has become like indoctrination now, from young people in the schools upwards. There is a slight challenge ahead, certainly, but where we talk about a frost now, I can remember 50 years ago going out with a sledgehammer to break the ice on ponds to feed our cattle in Tiobraid Árann, which I say to the Minister, whose ancestors came from Tipperary. These were savage and severe frosts. All of this has been hyped up by the media and everywhere else and one is a kind of a pariah if one has a different opinion.

Returning to the motion, it says that we must take action because we have failed to deal with the energy companies, like we have failed to deal with all big business in this country. I hate using the word, and will not use it because this is the Christmas season, but they have plundered our finances through business and sweet deals with the Government and have got away with black, blue and yellow murder.

It is as simple as that.

More and more carbon tax, and perish the people. They are confused now as well.

Deputy Bríd Smith

Correct the record.

Deputy Mattie McGrath

There is a loss of memory.

Deputy Paul Murphy

The problem-----

Deputy Mattie McGrath

They want more taxes on everything. They wanted zero Covid and zero everything and a freebie for everybody. That is not possible in this country.

Then they want to shut down debate on other issues that do not suit them in here, like what happened to me yesterday when I was speaking. I was shouted down and called a disgrace, the same as today. I am elected by the people of Tipperary for the time being. Deputy Paul Murphy can laugh if he likes. He was elected by the people of Dublin. More power to the people; that is democracy.

We have to get real here. I will probably support the motion because we have to tackle what has gone wrong with big business and the grip they have, and the conglomerate in the oil business. Poor people are looking for SEAI grants and have been waiting for two and a half years. They are putting money into meters and are frozen in their houses. There is no joined-up thinking. It is a lovely pipe dream.

As for COP27, I will not go there. Enough people went to it. I would not go. It is farcical. That is what is going on. We had harder frosts and winters when I was a buachaill óg, which was not today or yesterday. We need to cop on with climate change, which is frightening the you-know-what out of the people. We need to deal with people honestly and openly. There might be some slight changes, but not like people have said there would be. We had hard winters before, in 1947 and 1963. There was 30 feet of snow in my area, out in the Nire Valley, in my neighbouring parish. We talk about climate change today. It is the narrative we want to push and to hell with the people.

Deputy Thomas Pringle

I thank the Acting Chair for the opportunity to speak on this motion today, which calls for the renationalisation of the energy system. I completely support this motion. I thank Solidarity-People Before Profit for bringing forward such an important and much-needed motion.

We all have constituents who are struggling to make ends meet and hearing their stories is truly heartbreaking. There is no doubt that the privatisation and marketisation of the energy system has failed them. They continue to watch their monthly bills rise with no end in sight. We are seeing energy poverty on an unprecedented scale, as well as carbon emissions. We are not only making it difficult for the current generation to live; we are also simultaneously making it impossible for future generations to live. There is no doubt that if there was ever a time to renationalise an industry it is now, due to the energy and cost of living crises we are currently facing.

At a time when the privatisation of the energy market was being talked about, we had the cheapest electricity in the EU provided by a semi-State company, the ESB. The Government had to embark on a serious round of pushing up the price of energy because energy in Ireland was too cheap for companies to want to come in and compete for it. We now probably have one of the highest energy costs in Europe, but we have loads of competition. Companies are now leaving the market because people cannot afford to pay. Competition rules the roost and that makes everything worse for us.

This crisis should be seen as an opportunity to move away from our reliance on foreign investment and fossil fuels. By taking energy back into public ownership, the profit motive will be gone and we will have the ability to create a fairer and more equal energy system. We need to reintegrate the ESB and restore a non-profit mandate.

The obsession of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael with continuous privatisation has done nothing but destroy this country and its systems, such as our energy system. The Government thinks that by constantly privatising services it is shifting accountability away from it and on to private companies whose main, and often only, priority is profit. However, the Government is still accountable to its citizens, many of whom are struggling to get by this winter.

Not only is privatisation failing our citizens, it will continue to fail them long into the future. We cannot expect private companies that do not treat citizens well today will prioritise and invest in their futures. Investing in renewable energy is not seen as an instant profit-making endeavour without the Government supports that make it viable for companies to do so. Therefore, I struggle to see how companies will prioritise our carbon targets or the climate in any meaningful way. We will still be able to buy energy at top market rates produced by us and with resources. We will be able to pay the ever inflated costs and market it on to Europe as well.

I asked somebody in the Department what we would go out of this arrangement. I understood we would get some sort of payment involving low rental subsidies linked to the fee companies will take. That is about the height of it. The excuse was that because it is so expensive we cannot put pressure on companies to provide energy for citizens in any way, as they have to make a profit.

We need publicly developed renewable energy that prioritises Irish targets developed by the ESB in the public interest. Our energy future is far too important to be left in the hands of corporate greed, whose goal is to take at the expense of ordinary people. I also support the motion's call to ban the construction of any additional data centres and the connection of any more data centres to gas networks or the national grid. When we get offshore wind generation up and running we will have plenty of power to keep data centres going, which is important. The fact that data centres account for 70% of the increase in metered electricity usage since 2015 is incredibly concerning. It puts where we are in terms of our energy crisis into perspective.

Rural Ireland often gets the blame for climate change. However, data centres take up over 60% of the total electricity demand, which is more than all rural homes in the country. As well as that, rural Ireland has the highest percentage of forced car ownership due to the fact that the transport system in this country is underdeveloped and unreliable. I am glad the motion points out the fact that successive Governments' failure to invest in free, green, frequent and fast public transport has produced a near universal car dependency. I recently brought forward a motion calling for free and accessible public transport to address this issue. It is clear that free public transport is a practical and effective way to reclaim social, health and economic benefits. It is a single solution to solve multiple problems.

While the Government did not oppose my motion, which I believe was a sensible proposal that would address many of the issues people across the country are facing, this means nothing when no action follows. While it did not oppose the motion, I do not think too much will be done to make it a reality.

I hope, although I doubt it, that following the reshuffle, we will see more meaningful engagement between the Government and Opposition on important motions such as the one put forward today and we will be able to see that the Government does what it said it would do, namely, listen, take on board and include Opposition policies. We know, as members of the Opposition, that the Government does not do that. That its prerogative, as it is in government. The reality is that nothing will be done without everybody being on board and protecting the environment by building a renewable future.

One of the things that has to be part of that is a dividend for citizens. I do not see that being included in the Government's plans. The Government will say that the market will not provide it and we have to provide subsidies, but what about the citizens who are giving markets the opportunities? We are getting nothing out of it, apart from paying the same price as everybody else in Europe for the electricity we are providing across the board.

I fully support the motion. It is timely. We need to renationalise the electricity market. We had the cheapest electricity in Europe and the best system when we had a nationalised market. We need to go back to that. The Government could make a decision to renationalise the market, rather than continuing to do what it is doing.

Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (Deputy Eamon Ryan)

Next week the Government will consider and, it is hoped, agree the latest iteration of our climate action plan, which is now backed up by significant powers in law for us to deliver sectoral changes in energy, transport, agriculture and industry over the next five or ten to 15 years, moving towards net zero within three decades. I do not think the scale of that change is really understood by any of us yet. Everything will have to change in a relatively short time in order that we play our part in avoiding the burning of our world and make sure we are at the centre of the new industrial revolution taking place. This will be a switch towards a better system; it will not work otherwise. If we look at it from that perspective, there are certain lessons or approaches we should take.

We have to work in that regard within the European Union. Again, I do not think there is full realisation in this House yet of the scale of the legislative change coming from the European Union. There are 20 major pieces of legislation because Europe is similarly following this approach.

In that regard there will be a real role for the State. It will be very important we are engaged critically in the planning of how this revolution takes place and in how we deliver the grids - the likes of the transmission grid and the gas network grid are natural State monopolies - in order that we transport, share, shape and deliver this power in a real way. There is a critical role for the State in setting the standards, regulations and rules as to how this industrial revolution evolves. There is a real role for the State in being really invested in the research and the intellectual innovation capabilities of our people to deliver the scale of change needed. There is a real role for our State. Yesterday the Minister, Deputy Harris, updated us in Cabinet that we now have the highest ever number of apprenticeships in place, I think, in this new green construction area. Some 8,000 apprenticeships, I think, have been up and running since the formation of this Government.

There is also a real role for the State in enterprise, with companies like Bord na Móna, Coillte and the ESB being centrally involved in doing this, making the change, putting up turbines and investing in the new offshore and onshore infrastructure. We are doing that at scale and at speed. There is no restriction whatsoever on our State companies in that regard. However, nationalising everything, to my mind, would kill the revolution here and would not deliver the scale, speed and variety of change we need to make.

If I may, I will set out how I see this working because, as I said, it is changing everything. It is changing our transport system, our energy system, our heating system, our industrial system, the very way we use our land and our entire agricultural system. It is very integrated in that each of those are connected to the other. The electrification of transport will change the electricity industry. The electrification of heat and the introduction of heat pumps will change it. There are the changes in the industrial system, with industries starting to use their own power. We are not going back to the ESB of the 1970s, full stop. It would not work because we need every home to be part of the revolution of owning some of the power. We need every business to be able to make the investments for the scale of change we need to make-----

Deputy Paul Murphy

We are not proposing to nationalise people's solar panels-----

Acting Chairman (Deputy Verona Murphy)

Minister, your time is up.

Deputy Eamon Ryan

It is €10 million additional to the €1.2 billion we are providing to every household through this winter period, which the ESRI stated and showed protects the most vulnerable. That is what we are doing.

Deputy Gino Kenny

Does the Minister think privatisation of the energy sector has worked? Deregulation happened in the last 25 years. Deregulation and competition were supposed to drive prices down for electricity users but the opposite has happened in Ireland. We had the lowest electricity prices in Europe but now we have one of the highest so something has gone wrong. Private energy companies are doing very well and particularly in the last 18 months. France, which I know uses a lot of nuclear energy, has energy costs that are 50% below those in this State. The bigger question is around our natural resources, our wind energy and all that we have here and how it is being used. Is it for the common good or the good of profiteers? Private enterprise has tried to monopolise that and profit from it. It is not ethically right. We need these resources to be put in the public interest.

On the proliferation of data centres, the State finds itself in extraordinary circumstances. In eight years, data centres will use up to 30% of all the electricity available in the State. It is incredible that this was allowed to happen because of corporate interests and profiteering. I get worried when the Minister starts to talk about blackouts and so on. Why would blackouts happen other than as a result of what the Minister has allowed to happen with data centres?

Deputy Bríd Smith

First, I want to correct the record which Deputy Mattie McGrath failed to correct. From the get-go, People Before Profit was the most vocal opponent of the carbon tax. On the Joint Committee on Climate Action, and the Minister can be a witness to this, I had a lot of research done. I got the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, in to talk about energy poverty and why it is that taxing people to the hilt will not reduce emissions. We also provided international evidence to the same effect and issued a minority report on the committee based on the need to get rid of the carbon tax. The Rural Independent Group needs to get a fact checker. It needs to do that on many levels, actually.

I will take up some of the ideological questions the Minister, Deputy Ryan, posed but I will do it in my own way. Yesterday, the debate on housing was interesting because what was absent from it was any mention of politics or ideology. That was the case until the Minister spoke as there was mostly an absence of politics or ideology from the previous Minister as well as an significant absence of any other Government speakers. What we saw yesterday was an attempt to present the housing crisis as an unfortunate set of events. On the one hand, there was this unfortunate set of events including the war, Covid and the current mess we are in and on the other hand, there was a decent man who is being unfairly blamed by the Opposition. This morning we see the same effort, in that we are in this current mess because of a series of unfortunate events and the Government countermotion really restates its position that we will keep doing business as usual, relying on the market to deliver and knowing all the time that the market is part of the problem.

Some people, including in this House, may think that our energy crisis is due to lack of investment in liquid natural gas, LNG, or because we stopped drilling and exploring for oil and gas. Some people, like a junior Minister who has taken to social media and the airwaves to champion LNG as well as live cribs, either do not believe in or care about climate change. That is fair enough if they do not. Others think that the crisis would not exist were it not for Putin’s war. There are others who want to blame it on the sun not shining or the wind not blowing.

We believe there is an energy crisis because of political decisions that were taken in this House and across the EU in the 1990s and 2000. It lies in the economic and social policy of the 1980s and 1990s in the era of Regan and Thatcher when there was a revolution, a neoliberal revolution, and its aim was the same then as it is now. When the rhetoric was stripped away, the aim was to privatise and to deregulate every industry, to boost profits for private investors and to attack unionised jobs and conditions. The political and social aim of neoliberalism is to entrench a shift in favour of private vested interests over the public good and the interests of society and, indeed, workers. It won and it succeeded and we live in a world that is dominated by that ideology. It has dominated the political, economic and social discourse so much that many here, including the Minister, do not believe that it exists. They see this world as a natural order, like the air we breathe, and never question it. That revolution promised people cheaper goods, more efficiency and greater wealth, but it universally failed. Instead we have fast-tracked environmental destruction, climate change and the spiralling of social and economic catastrophe more generally.

In energy we see the stark effects today with price hikes that see cases of older people suffering from hypothermia as a doctor from the Mater hospital told RTÉ radio this morning. There are record levels of energy poverty while fossil fuel companies here and across the globe record unheard of profit margins as well as an utter failure on climate. There is a boom in fossil fuel infrastructure and in new gas projects and record emissions and record levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.

This crisis is not a series of unfortunate events. It is the logical outcome of political decisions taken here and across the world to prioritise profit over people and public goods. When Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael joined in enthusiastically in this neoliberal revolution, they passed laws which changed the not-for-profit remit of the ESB, a singularly successful energy company which had done what no private or not-for-profit company could have done. It provided the cheapest, most efficient energy supply in Europe and electrified a huge chunk of rural society.

The laws passed here in the 2000s, and replicated across the EU, paved the way for the massive profiteering we are witnessing today; for the failure to invest at scale and the pace needed in renewable energy; for the climate failure; and for the price hikes that are driving more and more people into energy poverty and into hypothermia.

This motion is part of a fight against those disastrous political choices, the historic political choices that are accepted as the norm today. I am asking Sinn Féin to take a position with us and on the right side of history and to vote for this motion.

We can and must take control of energy and other areas of society back into public ownership. We can and will have a housing policy that is not based on the profits of developers and builders but on the needs that people have for shelter and for safe and decent accommodation. We can and must take back control of energy and have a supply of energy and heat that is based on the needs of people and not on the need for profits by energy generators or the fossil fuel corporations. We must take control of our national and renewable energy sources of wind, solar and tidal power and reverse the present policy of privatisation of renewable energy. That is the best guarantee of our being able to keep CO2 emissions down and to begin to really decarbonise society while at the same time provide everybody with affordable, clean energy. It would allow us to start to electrify our bus fleet and all our public buildings, and to do so in a clean way.

We may lose this motion due to the Government’s countermotion - indeed, we expect to - but this is the start not the end of a debate taking place both nationally and globally on the need to nationalise power and the energy system. It is taking place in academia and in science. In the new year, People Before Profit will launch a document around which we will continue to campaign for the need to nationalise the energy sector. We are not going to give up with one motion here that will be defeated by a majority Government which does not really look at politics and science in the way that it needs to be scrutinised. It is not good enough. We will continue to campaign for it. We will produce our document and campaign across the trade union movement and society. The Minister mentioned internationalism. We will be doing this with our brothers and sisters and other organisations and NGOs across the globe because it is the sensible thing to do and the most productive thing to do for climate and the safety and future of the people who live on this planet.

Amendment put.

An Ceann Comhairle

In accordance with Standing Order 80(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time this evening.

Dáil Éireann debate - Wednesday, 14 Dec 2022

Nationalisation of Energy System: Motion [Private Members]

Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 14 Dec 2022