Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Customers will have great difficulty accepting that answer, whereby a €357 million profit cannot translate into reduced bills for the customer. Mr. Fenlon referred to a hardship fund of €3 million, approximately 0.8% of the €357 million profit. Clearly, there is a mechanism for the ESB to do something for consumers, particularly those who are finding it most difficult to pay. Surely the €3 million figure can be looked at and increased significantly to ease the burden on those who are impacted most by these increasing bills.