Mr. Neil McDonnell:

The Department of enterprise is running the cost-of-business forum on this. The energy one is extremely technical. We in Ireland used to have some of the lowest energy prices but when the Single Market was established we started benchmarking off gas. There are technical reasons why this should be, but they are not market-related reasons. Gas and electricity cost roughly the same at wholesale level across Europe, yet in Ireland we pay a massive premium.

A Deputy asked Mr. Filan what the single worst cost is. If you talk to someone in childcare, their ratio of labour cost is going to be different from that in retail, nursing homes or manufacturing. Everyone's cost base is unique. Retail and hospitality obviously have a labour-cost problem but they are also intensive energy users. They have massive gas and electricity bills every month. I know Deputies and Senators want to be told one thing, but we cannot do so. It is different in each business sector. We have to be competitive in all sectors. I told a story earlier about the €9 coffee in Switzerland. If we do not get control of that cost base, we are going to have to tell our citizens what is coming down the tracks in terms of cost because it will eventually have to be passed on.