Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is a fundamental point. Halfway through 2012 the ESB showed a vast profit but the line given out was that the company would have greater expenses in the second half of the year. However, the company showed the same profits for the second half of 2012 on the back of a major price increase.

I was in contact with the regulator on the matter and I am raising it with the Minister now. As the Minister correctly pointed out, there is a fundamental issue in respect of the profits being made by energy companies on our shores and on the backs of ordinary people. We need a fundamental examination of this policy and how we, as a society, are going to deal with it. It cannot be that these companies make vast profits from people who are under savage pressure.

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