Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Energy policy, including increasing costs of energy supply and the taxation of profits, is a matter of great concern to the Government. In April, the Government approved and published the national energy security framework, which sets the overarching response to the impacts of the war in Ukraine on the energy system in Ireland. In late September, Ireland, along with our fellow EU member states, agreed a new EU regulation to tackle energy prices in a co-ordinated way. It contains a number of revenue-raising measures that will address the windfall profits currently being made by some energy companies. There are two dimensions to these: a temporary solidarity contribution based on excess taxable profits; and a cap on market revenues for specific technologies in the electricity sector that have not seen significant increases in costs. The regulation prescribes how the proceeds from these measures can be utilised, including the provision of financial support to final energy users such as vulnerable households and businesses.

Energy policy comes under the remit of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, but my officials and the Revenue Commissioners are working with that Department on this matter. We are considering with them some proposals on how the regulation can be implemented. Within a number of weeks, we will be in a position to revert to the Oireachtas with a proposal.

As every country is finding, this is a difficult matter to implement because of how complex the energy market is. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is developing proposals in this regard and we are giving views and consulting with it on how that can best be done and the regulation best implemented in Ireland. I expect that work to conclude soon.

Regarding Deputy Boyd Barrett's proposals on the energy market, I will strain protocol within our committee for a moment, if the Chair will bear with me. If the Deputy was the Minister with responsibility for energy and he was trying to encourage that billions of euro be invested in order to realise considerable economic benefits for Ireland, and sitting beside him were the Ministers with responsibility for housing and education and they needed lots of extra money to build more homes and invest in schools, does he believe that there would be a role for the private sector in doing any of that? No matter how the Deputy levied taxes and how many new taxes he introduced, the taxpayer would never have enough money to meet all of the needs that he wants met. If he was trying to persuade the private sector to put some of its money into meeting those needs but he also told them that, at some point, he would nationalise them, does he think that would have an impact on their willingness to invest in Ireland? This is the counterargument to the Deputy's argument. If he ever aspired to be the Minister for energy, does he believe that could be a problem? I put this question to him respectfully, not in a pejorative way. These are the issues that we grapple with. The investment needs are so great and there are many other competing demands on the finite amount of tax that we collect from the public. For those reasons and because of the innovation that the private sector can bring, the sector has a role to play. Whatever profits the sector makes from all of its investment will be taxed by us anyway.