Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is late in the day and we are coming to the end of this debate, but I would make the point that when it comes to domestic energy bills, we will continue to propose that the State should pay the difference between the reference point we are at and future prices up until the end of February. The Minister made strong arguments on that. This measure sets out that the State will pay a portion of the difference of the increase in the unit price between now and the end of February for businesses. However, the Minister does not know what the unit price could be next month, the following month and so on and so forth. There is a cap of €10,000 on it. I wanted to make that point because I would not make the argument to the Minister that he has brought forward on measures being uncosted and on blank cheques to people because he extrapolates, as others would do as well.

On the €1.2 billion, can the Minister tell me where the Department is extrapolating from? Where does it see unit prices being? What has the Department built in when it comes to unit price increases? For example, when we put forward our figures we built in a 50% increase. We are not likely to see a 50% increase in energy prices in December but we factored that into our costings. Where does the Department expect to see unit prices between now and the end of the scheme? How many businesses does the Department expect to apply for this? How many businesses does the Department expect to apply that will reach the cap of €10,000 per month?