Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I support the motion and I thank Deputy Coveney for bringing it forward at this time. It has become patently obvious to every consumer during the past three months that there is a need to reduce the price of energy, particularly as it relates to oil and gas, and also that charged at the pumps for petrol.

Just prior to the referendum on the Lisbon treaty, I drove into a filling station on the Ennis road and, for the first time ever, I was charged €1.40 per litre for petrol. At that stage, the prediction was that the cost of oil on the international market would rise to $200 a barrel. Now, however, the price has fallen to $35 or $37 dollars a barrel. An amazing thing has happened recently. For a period of four weeks or so before Christmas, one could buy diesel and petrol for between 80 cent to 85 cent per litre. The price has risen again in the interim to almost €1 per litre. The reason put forward in respect of the recent increase relates to difficulties involving Russia and Ukraine and concerns with regard to energy prices internationally. That is a whole lot of rubbish. Any excuse is being offered in order to jack up the prices. During the past ten years, market speculators have used a variety of such excuses to increase the price.

International market speculators have created a situation where energy prices are controlled by a chosen few. The truth regarding this matter was brought home to me two months ago at a meeting I attended in Brussels. It was suggested that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, was creating problems and would not produce adequate supplies of oil, and that this would have a knock-on effect on the market. One of the people at the meeting to which I refer stated that this was rubbish. He stated that OPEC could produce as much oil as people required. However, he also indicated that the market is being cornered because supplies of oil are being bought while being transported by sea and that these supplies are brought into particular ports and then hoarded.

Transport costs in Ireland are quite high and the sooner the Minister realises he has a responsibility in this regard the better. Apart from examining the position in respect of carbon emissions, he must also consider the position of the economy, which is currently in dire straits. He may say that we cannot abandon our carbon emissions targets, but our first responsibility is to ensure that people in this country remain in employment and can afford to meet the cost of living imposed upon them.

The Minister and his predecessors have all stated that the energy regulator is independent. That is not the case. The regulator is subject to Government policy and ministerial directive at all times. The Minister should use his influence — it is not so long ago that he was on this side of the House and would have said the same — to ensure that the benefit of falling energy prices in respect of oil and gas on the international markets are reflected in the costs imposed on Irish consumers and those operating in the areas of industry and transport.

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