Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We intend to introduce an amendment to deal with a matter of double counting. I do not have the text of it yet. I wanted to flag it in advance. I thank Senators for contributing and I will make some points in response.

To respond to Senator Boylan, no one has a monopoly on concern about householders. The Government has just as much concern about trying to keep bills down and help our people. We are all elected to these two Houses. We all have an interest in looking after householders. This is why we are introducing the Bill on a windfall tax. If the Senator cares to study all of the various European countries with regard to their solidarity contribution, which is the windfall tax on fossil fuel companies, and their windfall gains, she will see we have the highest rate compared to any other country. We are going after windfall more than anyone else. This is the truth. This is why I am proud that the Bill has been introduced.

With regard to the timing, we were going to introduce a single Bill but it was appropriate to break it into two. There is nothing in it that will reduce or in any way diminish our ability to raise revenue to help households. The fact it is coming after the period the EU designated for when the windfall tax should apply will not in any way restrict us in being able to use the money to benefit Irish householders.

This is complex. I was the Minister with responsibility for energy when we introduced the all-island electricity market. I recall being in the office, which is across Merrion Square from here, where we were designing and developing it. It was in a very large Georgian room, not quite as large as this one but very big. The entire wall was covered in algorithms outlining how the market mechanisms would work. Legislating to interfere in this, and to track, follow and find the supernova profits that arose because of the exceptional high gas prices, is complex. This is why it was right to take time and get it right to make sure it is not disputed or stuck in the courts. I commend officials from the Department on their work in this regard. It is important that we get the legislation right.

I agree with the various comments from Senators that our future will be in the development of renewable power, including wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and hydro power. The presentation the wind industry made to the joint committee yesterday referred to delays. I agree with the commentary that our planning system needs to work quicker to be able to deliver that potential. It is absolutely true. That is why we will be introducing legislation in the Dáil first and then the Seanad to try to streamline and improve our planning process while still retaining the right to access justice on the planning side. We need to do that to speed up the delivery of the renewable power that will run our country into the future.

This Bill strikes the right balance. It will take the profits from the wind industry primarily. The high price of gas is being used as a weapon of war by the Russians. It is appropriate to go after that so the industry has a social licence to have the support of the Irish people. That is why we are doing this. As I said, no party in this House has anything but the Irish people’s future prosperity and interests at heart. This mechanism will help us to revert money to people. The exact spending mechanism is something we are considering further. We are looking at various options for using the revenue raised to support Irish households. We will come back to the House on that but, first and foremost, we have to get the Bill passed. I look forward to Committee Stage.