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

The Deputy is right that this is an incredibly serious situation that is unprecedented in my lifetime on the European continent. Unfortunately, she is also correct when she says that the likely prognosis is for ongoing high energy costs. We had thought, prior to the invasion and war, that energy prices would start to come down because they were already very high. That is now less certain. For the immediate future, this year and probably next year, there will be no relief. For that reason, the Government is looking to see are there additional measures it can take. We said clearly that we thought additional measures unnecessary and that we would wait until the budget in October before further reviewing the situation but we will have to act quicker than that.

We will not be able to cover the full cost and cushion the full blow. The price of gas, oil and coal has risen to unprecedented levels. They may vary slightly. To take the example of the cost of gas, it will not decrease immediately or significantly because even if there were an immediate resolution of the war, Europe would look to increase gas storage and that would see an ongoing demand. We will need additional measures.

There is another core solution we must consider that might take slightly longer but which must be centre stage, that is, we need additional measures that reduce our use of fossil fuels. We must look at radically accelerating energy efficiency measures across a whole range of different sectors. I am working on that in my Departments, as well as working with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and, critically, with the European Commission on its toolbox, which it is going to revise and update in the next two or three days. A united European approach is best.

With regard to the example of the Spanish and Polish price caps, I think every country has different circumstances and I do not believe our circumstances would allow for those mechanisms to work. Taking Spain as an example, there are many complex reasons its market is particularly exposed because of the way the market is designed and so on. My understanding is that much of that cap applies to companies that do not have any fossil component but may include a large nuclear-powered generator that has experienced no real cost increase but has benefited from the market price increase. None of our suppliers are characterised in that way. All of our main generators are typically using a mix of fuel. In the case of the ESB, that mix comprises coal and gas and most other suppliers are supplying gas, albeit they also have renewables. The increase in the price of coal and gas has hit most of the large generators and, therefore, there is not the same extent of supernormal profits that one might see, for example, in the case of a nuclear generator. We do not have those.