Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I speak tonight as a householder and a business user. As a commercial dairy farmer, I have seen the cost of energy rise by more than 100%. This is causing significant difficulties for businesses. Good business this year is not to make profit but to continue trading. I appreciate that energy generation in this country is expensive due to the fact that 90% is sourced from fossil fuels. The majority of this is in the form of gas. We have no nuclear generation and the renewable sector is still in its infancy. Competition in this area has failed. The ESB and Bord Gáis Éireann are totally dominant in almost every sector, including the domestic and business sectors.

The Minister of State was not in office when a company called Vaÿu Limited, on the deregulation of the market, began to compete with Bord Gáis Éireann and took over a significant chunk of the market. I saw that if one gives a lean, hungry company the opportunity on the deregulation of the market, others will come in and compete. If they do so, they will make energy available at a cheaper cost.

We have seen the difficulties that arose when trying to bring fuel ashore from the Corrib gas field. Two Deputies from Mayo have just spoken about them. The planning process and the necessary legal framework are so onerous that it takes years to get through them. The building of massive infrastructural projects is the easy part, which certainly should not be the case.

Every proposed wind farm meets with considerable objections from locals who want clean energy but who do not want it to be produced in their area. It can take up to ten years before construction starts on a wind farm. How can we be encouraging these developments but not changing legislation to facilitate good, carbon neutral projects?

The imposition of carbon taxes on consumers in these difficult financial times is criminal. In the four-year period ending in 2012, the amount expected to be charged is approximately €1.6 billion. These charges suggest consumers are paying too much.

With the 7% tax on public sector pensions introduced yesterday, the reduction of up to 10% in public sector pay and the 1% tax on earnings, nobody could possibly justify the charges imposed by companies such as Bord Gáis Éireann and the ESB. They are outrageous at this time.

The old way of doing business in the State used to be to add a margin to the cost of providing a service but this is certainly not the case in respect of energy costs in Ireland. The regulator has not covered himself in glory. I stated at a recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources that, all too often, the ESB and Bord Gáis Éireann seek an increase of a certain percentage. While they may not be allowed to charge the full percentage, they charge most of it. The perception is that the ESB and Bord Gáis Éireann are setting the prices rather than the regulator.

Fossil fuel prices have dropped significantly in the past seven months. Prices increase at a multiple of the speed at which they decrease. The country should be connected to the international grid as soon as possible. We must facilitate private enterprises' drive to construct interconnectors. One interconnector is due to be linked to my county, County Wexford, which will be welcome. These interconnectors will allow for the correct development of the national grid. Without them, we will not be able to capitalise on providing energy to the areas in which it will be needed most whenever the upturn in our economy arrives, as it will at some stage.

If the next Celtic tiger era is to benefit, the next period of construction in the State will not involve the construction of houses or factories but the construction of infrastructure. I hope this will be sooner rather than later.

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