Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I will repeat the figures in this regard. In 1996, before the creation of the regulator, electricity prices here were 15% below the+European-15 average. The Government's attempt at regulation was supposed to benefit industrial, commercial and domestic consumers but since it began electricity prices have risen to 13% above the European average. Talk of regulators is well and good but the Government's actions in the field of energy have driven electricity prices ever higher and we are now at the top of the European table in this respect and at the bottom of the range on broadband.

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