Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I confirm that we will make sure that Traveller families will get the cash payments that 99.5% or 99.6% of households got in the first tranche. We know that it works. Where there were anomalies or communities were left out, such as certain families within the Traveller community, we will work with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and with local authorities to make sure that they get the payment this autumn just like every other household.

Disconnections are a critical issue. We recognise that it may be a difficult period for a variety of different customers, whether they are on bill pay schemes or not. Many families with pay-as-you-go services find that it is a useful mechanism. We should be careful not to depict all the problems as being in just one sector. Many people with bill pay services also have difficulties and we have to protect them. The mechanisms to help families on pay-as-you-go services first and foremost involve having a good, close relationship with the supplier and the application of the support mechanisms that it has in place to ensure that households do not have to disconnect themselves in a way that they do not want to. CRU has developed a range of other measures, including the right to access lower tariffs. One measure that we will look at from our energy poverty action plan, which will be published in the next few weeks, is a review of gas connections as well as electricity to see if there are measures to take there to improve people's situations, particularly the relatively small number of but still important households which have hardship meters. How do we get better provisions for them? We have not finished introducing measures to help those households. We will continue to review and to make sure that the State helps them through what will be a difficult winter period.

The Deputy asked why we need to switch off the scheme and why we would not keep generators running in 2028 and 2029. This is an emergency measure. It is not the only measure in place. We also have the T-4 and T-3 auctions. The majority of the 2 GW of backup gas-fired power will come through those auction processes. We need a significant investment, which we are now seeing, in battery storage and additional renewables, through the renewable energy strategy. That is working and it is delivering. The volume of power from renewable power generation has never been as significant as this year. That is how we will make sure that we do it.

We recognise that we had a problem with having to make sure that any new data centres fit in within our energy security and climate targets. The Government strategy set out this summer was clear that any new data centre that will be contracted has to provide flexibility and use its backup power supply to help us to stabilise and secure the grid. We recognise that it was an issue.

We have acted to change the rules and approach the State takes to contracting new data centres. It is not saying "No". There will be no great increase in new data centre connections in the coming years because we are in such a tight situation but that is not to say that, in the coming years, we will not return to seeing new data centres being developed, which will help complement our energy-security-related climate needs.