Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Contrary to what I believe the Tánaiste stated, data centres are contributing to the global surge in demand for energy and, consequently, the price hikes. Setting that issue aside, what is undoubtedly the case is that energy prices for ordinary people are going through the roof. Many have seen two, three or four energy price hikes this year alone. The Tánaiste stated that the Government could not do anything to control the hikes because they had to do with wholesale energy prices. The Government can do something about it, though, and I suggest it does, namely, through the carbon tax. We have always believed that the carbon tax was an unfair and regressive tax on people who have very little control over the amount of energy they use because of a lack of insulation in their homes and so on. In the context of surging energy prices, which will rifle people's pockets, the Government should defer any talk of adding to that burden by increasing carbon tax in the forthcoming budget. Will the Tánaiste commit to that?

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