Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)

Sinn Féin will not oppose the Bill nor will it table any amendments to it. We welcome the opportunity to have it passed speedily, in the interests of everybody concerned. Given that the purpose of the Bill is to forestall a situation in which electricity suppliers can include the "opportunity" cost of the carbon allowances and the CER levy in the prices they charge to customers, there is no reason to oppose it. Electricity consumers, both domestic and commercial, are often already under considerable pressure to meet energy bills and such an increase would constitute an intolerable extra burden for some. It is vital that struggling households and businesses are not landed with such an extra cost at this juncture.

I recall that in 2010, when the original Bill to impose the levy was debated in this House, some of the subsequent difficulties were anticipated. The then Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, referred to the difficulties of determining the extent of the windfall profits that were the target of the levy. Other speakers referred to the possibility of legal action and named the two companies, Viridian and Endesa, which actually took successful cases. Mr. Ryan also estimated that the levy would bring in €75 million in its first 12 months of operation. I am not certain what the exact figure has been; perhaps the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, might enlighten us. There was also some discussion as to how the moneys taken in from the levy would be distributed. If the Minister has time today or at some later date it would be interesting if he were to provide us with information on that, too.

It was generally suggested and understood at the time that the levy would be used to offset the costs of large-scale users of the network in order to increase competitiveness in industry. Has that been the case and, if so, has it been successful? At the time, it was the Minister, Deputy Coveney, then the Fine Gael Party spokesperson on this area, who presciently raised the prospect of legal action being taken by the two main private operators in the sector. He referred at the time to the considerable investment which Endesa had made in acquiring two power stations and carbon allowances up to the end of this year from the ESB.

My party's view on the ownership and distribution of the energy network is, of course, radically different from that of Fine Gael but Deputy Coveney, now Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, raised the issue at the time and the court agreed with the case brought by the company. One wonders, therefore, how tight the initial legislation was and whether all of these issues were fully explored prior to the bringing forward of the 2010 Bill. Perhaps the Endesa case might have been addressed as a separate issue. It could also be argued, of course, that all these problems arise from the short-sighted and ultimately negative policy of selling off the public interest in energy and other utilities. Perhaps that is another lesson that ought to be borne in mind as the current Government applies its mind to a large-scale selling off of State assets, in both energy and other sectors.

I will comment on part of Deputy Collins's contribution, on higher energy costs and the effect they are having on ordinary citizens, particularly low income families, and on industry and in consequent job losses. Every time one goes to a filling station, one sees the price of diesel and petrol rising on a regular basis even though world markets might indicate a reduction in the price of a barrel of oil. It does not transfer to the customers. The cost of transport also has another effect in that it leads to higher costs for foodstuffs, and so forth, because most such transportation is done now by motor transport. We have been lucky this year in that fuel costs for energy and for heating homes were reduced because of the mildness of the winter but it must be borne in mind that people are suffering. Elderly people who depend on oil heating are suffering greatly as a consequence of rising prices.

I raise a final issue, that of LNG in Tarbert, County Kerry, a project that has been limping along for some considerable time. I respect that the Minister has given us several briefings on the matter in both the Topical Issues debate and on Priority Questions when I raised it in the recent past. The Minister attended the House and gave a very detailed answer. If possible, will he give us an update as to where the situation now stands Is it the case, as we have been led to believe in recent months, that we are coming to decision time at the end of this month or the beginning of June? Perhaps the Minister might refer to this in his replies.

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