Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Energy company profits have skyrocketed through the crisis. This is disaster capitalism at its best. Earlier this month, Shell announced that it made a profit of €40 billion last year while last week, BP announced that it made $28 billion in profit. Deputy Doherty already mentioned this to the Minister. It is disgusting that these companies are making massive profits while workers and families are struggling to pay energy bills. It is time to end the energy rip off that is forcing people into hardship by redirecting the profits of the big energy companies that are profiting from this crisis. The Government must introduce the windfall tax to cut these obscene profits. It cannot sit on its hands any longer. The money raised from this tax must be redirected into the pockets of hard-working families, who are at breaking point.

Constituents who recently had air-to-water heat pumps installed in the midlands retrofit programme have contacted me. They are happy with the heating system but because their 20-year-old doors and windows were not replaced, they are effectively heating their gardens. We need joined-up thinking. I have seen bills of up to €600 per month for electricity in a three-bedroom semi-detached house. It is simply not sustainable. It needs to be addressed urgently, particularly for older people and those on fixed incomes.

The motion also calls for a review of the proposed price cap on non-gas electricity generators. This is something we support as it would ensure that record profits from coal, oil and renewables are addressed. We previously called for the decoupling of the price of electricity from the price of gas. This has been resisted by the Government.

The motion calls on the Government to announce its intention to leave the Energy Charter Treaty immediately. This treaty was ratified in the 1990s and has no place in the post-Paris Agreement world. The treaty's investor-state dispute settlement clause has enabled fossil fuel companies to sue governments for policies that aim to phase out or curb the use of fossil fuels. Last year, the oil firm Rockhopper successfully sued the Italian Government for over €200 million. Senator Boylan has led the charge on this and introduced a motion last year to withdraw from this treaty. Poland has already left the treaty while other countries are considering it. We need to lead rather than follow on this. The planet depends on it.

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