Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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I might follow up on the questions about the subsidies. It is striking that households and families have been subsidising 1,500 of the largest energy users for 12 years. Some clear questions have been asked, so I will try to add something different on top of them, to look at how this happened not just over 12 years but in particular over the past three or four years. Over the past three years, we have had multiple sessions and discussions about the cost-of-living crisis and the pressure on households.

Over the last three years we have had multiple sessions and discussions about the cost-of-living crisis and the pressure on households. We have had new Government schemes in respect of support for energy bills and there was no mention of the fact that those bills were artificially inflated by this scheme. I am quite shocked that during that period of time this was not considered. Again, this is not about last year's spike; this is going back to 2020. Why was this not raised or identified very early on as an area of concern? Whatever about the arguments that were made in 2009, and I do not necessarily believe they stack up, in the last five years we have seen a massive increase in large energy users in the State. We saw a 285% increase in electricity usage by large energy users which was being subsidised. What was the thinking over the last five-year period, when clearly we had an expansion in large energy users and over the last three-year period, when we had huge pressure on households? Why has it taken until 2022 for action to be taken in relation to shifting that policy? It is not simply that there was a subsidisation of large energy users in that period of time; there was also a failure to put the brakes on the expansion of large energy usage.

I note that there are discussions now and a review is ongoing around demand-side measures and I ask our guests to expand on that. Actually, I will ask that as a separate follow-up question, if that is okay. For now, I ask the witnesses to explain what was happening during the five years of massive expansion in demand and the three years of extreme pressure on households. Why has it taken until 2022 to address this issue?