Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

When the Minister leaves office and his record is assessed, this will be his biggest failing. We are losing jobs by the week and international companies are openly saying they are leaving Ireland because of the cost of energy. The 2008 figures from neutral assessors of Ireland's energy prices show that only Cyprus has higher prices than Ireland for industrial electricity. Industrial electricity prices in Ireland have moved from being the European average to being 50% higher than that, and the position with household electricity prices is no better. Only Italy has higher prices, and prices in Ireland have moved from being nearly 30% below the EU average to being almost 30% above it. A great deal of this has happened on the Minister's watch. The position with gas prices is not much more optimistic.

There are specific things the Minister and the Government can do to reduce electricity prices and to ease the pressure on nursing homes that are turning off heating because they cannot afford the electricity bills. Is it the Minister's agenda to keep electricity prices high in order to try to reduce usage and encourage energy conservation as part of the climate change agenda or is he serious about trying to bring down energy costs in Ireland? A 12% reduction in gas prices between now and September is nothing like the reduction we need. According to the CER, wholesale gas prices account for 60% of retail gas prices for households in Ireland. Wholesale gas prices in the UK have gone from £1 per therm to 25p per therm in the past two weeks, but all we get is a 12% reduction in price. On electricity, we are getting a 10% reduction in price, but the Minister misled the House today. He said we are seeing a reduction in ESB prices because of a reduction in fossil fuel prices in the past year, but that is not true. The ESB has said, and the CER will confirm, that the electricity price reduction this month resulted from the ESB reducing its network and transmission charges. It has nothing to do with fossil fuel prices coming down.

When will the Minister take seriously the issue of energy prices as well as his other agenda, which I support, on climate change?

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