Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this important debate. One of the key points of the debate in Europe concerned the question of energy. Many speakers today have addressed the issue of rising prices, how they can be controlled and what more we can do in this regard. I take a totally contrary position to Deputy Paul Murphy in regard to how we produce electricity in this country and how we should react to the huge increase in prices, for which the monolith called the ESB is partly to blame. It is time the ESB was broken up because its dominant position in the market is actively working against the interests of consumers and the industry. It is time for it to be stripped of its ownership of our electricity grid, comprising the network of overhead lines and underground cables supplying power to homes and businesses, and to allow new competition into the market. New firms with new ideas must be allowed to build new power stations, which will force the ESB companies to cut their costs and result in lower bills for all of us.

I am not the first person to make this case; it was made by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, previously known as the Competition Authority, as far back as 2006. It is time to look again at what we can do to make sure energy prices are lowered. The initiatives taken by the Government to increase the fuel allowance and living alone allowance are very welcome for hard-pressed families. It was a former Fianna Fáil Minister, Noel Dempsey, who proposed a restructuring of the ESB some time ago and it is time for us to look at that proposal again. The current situation must not be allowed to continue. Regulatory reform is one thing and regulatory capture is another. I believe the ESB has captured the system and is controlling it. We must, at the very least, request that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission look again at its previous report and produce a new analysis of how we can reduce costs in Ireland by breaking up the ESB, making it cheaper for companies to compete with it and addressing the reality of that body as a totally vertically controlled entity.

Another issue that is important to address, which is relevant in an EU context, is the fact that in this country, 1,300 people die every year as a result of very poor air quality, often through the use of fuels that have a very high content of sulphur and carcinogenic substances. If we really believe in addressing climate change, we should believe in controlling the fuel that is used in people's homes to ensure it is safe. One of the problems is that we have coal coming in from outside the State and being sold on the streets and delivered to homes all over the country for approximately €360 a tonne. The people selling this coal are avoiding paying any carbon tax on it and it is also seriously challenging the health of the people who use it. The evidence I have seen in this regard will have to be properly, appropriately and independently examined, but the fact is that we are allowing Revenue to do nothing about this coal, perhaps because it does not have the powers to do otherwise. There is a €40 million cost to the taxpayer arising out of the sale of this illegal coal, which in many cases is bituminous and of indeterminate quality.

If we are serious about ensuring there is vigorous management of all the people who break the law in this area, as we have pledged to do from next year, then we must tackle this issue. I recently asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of prosecutions issued for breaching the smoky coal ban from 2015 to date. The figures are as follows: there were two prosecutions in 2015 and 2016; none in 2017; one in 2018 and 2019; and I am waiting for the number for 2020. There is something seriously amiss in our management of the health of our people in this area, which relates to climate change. We are affecting their health by not acting effectively to prevent this bituminous coal from being sold illegally in our country. To be clear, the product is legal in that it can cross borders as part of the free transport of goods, but there is no tax being paid on it. We must challenge the health aspect of that. Local authorities, which have the power to act in this matter, have failed in their duty of care. It is an absolute joke that there have been six prosecutions since 2015. It is time to get our act together and look to how our future health and climate change strategies can be made to work. I am not blaming the users of coal; I am blaming the abusers of the system and the people who are, illegally and without challenge, importing it and avoiding tax. It is something like the bootleg liquor in the 1920s. In this case, we have bootleg coal, to use a simile that may or may not find favour with people.

I welcome the continuing commitment of the European Union and all its institutions to protecting Ireland and supporting, and insisting on the implementation of, the Northern Ireland protocol. I am extremely worried, however, about the way things are going. I have no faith whatsoever in Prime Minister Johnson. He and Mr. Frost put their names to a consensus between Europe and our country, only to go on to frustrate the process. I regret very much that, in my view, they are going to break that consensus, which will plunge this country, North and South, into a very difficult position. We are relying absolutely on our European partners to support us in this.

I welcome the influence Ireland has, as exerted by the Minister of State and his Department, within the EU. We must continue to be extremely active in articulating that the relationships between the people on our islands, North and South and east and west, are being badly affected by what is happening. It is not acceptable and we must make sure we put all our efforts, as I know the Minister of State and his Department are, into our relationship with Europe. We are Europeans first and last. Britain can go its own way but what it is doing has significant and adverse implications for our society, North and South, and our political and economic systems. The only people who gain are the English nationalists who live far away from Belfast and Dublin.

I welcome this debate. I reiterate the need for us to put our house in order.

We must tackle the conglomerates and the ESB and, opposite to what was said by Deputy Paul Murphy, introduce choice, private enterprise and private investment so cheaper energy is produced for us to consume. We should break up the monolith and, as I said, ask the consumer protection body to investigate again and to report as quickly as possible on the monopoly position and the abuse by that monopoly company of our energy.

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