Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

I am answering the question. If the Deputy is entitled to wander off and make all sorts of wild allegations about people dying as a result of price increases and so on, I am entitled to answer in the same tone.

In regard to what Deputy Broughan said about oil and gas prices, they are not set in the United Kingdom, they are set much further afield. They are international commodities and the price of gas and oil obviously affects the price of electricity in this country. We do not have a great deal of control over that element of our costs but we have and should have some control. About 70% of the cost of electricity is external to this country and the other 30% is internal. That is a sizeable amount. I hope when we come to deal with electricity costs and so on in terms of a future energy policy, we will get full and enthusiastic backing from the Labour Party and it will not, as it usually does, take the side of people who do not want change in that industry and who have succeeded——

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