Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

The Minister has indicated it is always the Government's policy to keep prices down. I do not know where he has been living for the past number of years but he and the Government have been responsible for 41 additional taxes and stealth charges since the last general election. Such inflation, introduced and imposed by Government arising from its decisions, has been running at six times the rate of inflation for the 12 months to the end of October 2005. That is a significant contribution the Minister and the Government are making to increasing prices to the consumer across the board.

In that context, notwithstanding some of the comments the Minister has made about being pro-active in terms of the Competition Authority, I am not surprised he wants to exclude energy from the calculation of inflation. Honing in on the energy area of electricity charges and gas charges, there has been a 25% increase in gas charges in 2005 and a 61% increase in energy prices in the past four years. Would the Minister indicate his view on the policy of his Department on the role of regulators, particularly in energy, and the massive contribution such regulators are making towards the deterioration of competitiveness?

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