Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

However, the point I am making is that the Minister said he would not introduce a scheme where he cannot accurately cost the cost of the scheme. It is not credible, either. TBESS is a fine example of that with regard to the upper exposure of the State in scenarios that are really completely unlikely to happen, because of how energy prices are hedged in the market and so on and so forth. It was a short-term scheme with a window that is smaller than where energy companies buy on the market and, therefore, we were not going to see those types of spikes. That is why the estimations or assumptions that were used were appropriate, but the same applies to households. That is the point I am making. When it is decided to bring in a cap for three or four months and then review it, those spikes will not be seen because energy is bought on the market well in advance. The Minister is able to look at it. I wished to make that point and I think I have made it.

I will ask the Minister about some of the changes that are taking place with regard to this scheme. The costing used assumptions and all the rest, but it really got this wrong with regard to the eligibility of the scheme. There was €1.2 billion over a two-year period, over the entire six months, but €38.4 million was drawn down by close to the end of February. However, there are changes to the eligibility. I welcome those changes, some of which we argued for. Some of these changes will not take effect until 1 March. The Minister will still have money leftover at the end of the day. Why is it this cannot be applied from the earlier date, the same way the eligibility is applying from September? Why can the increased threshold and level of relief not apply from that same date?