Mr. John Melvin:

The Deputy is correct. The price of the raw materials in electricity generation have increased dramatically over the past year. The price of gas was broadly six times more towards the end of last year than what it had been the previous year. On average, the increase in the typical domestic bill consumers saw over the year was close to 25%. What I would add to what Ms MacEvilly said is that, twice yearly, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, publishes the weighted average price of electricity. The weighted average price of electricity in Ireland tends towards the euro area average. Other averages, other sectors and other figures can be quoted from EUROSTAT. It tends to focus on a particular sector in one country versus another. Those sectors can be of different sizes and different levels of importance in different countries. This is why the SEAI publishes the weighted average figure. We track the figure and it is available and visible. The price in Ireland tend towards the euro area average.