Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

There is a lot of mysticism that goes on when talking about the increase in energy prices, which basically presents laws of a private, for-profit market as if they are laws of nature. It is as if these prices are going up by themselves, and that it is a natural disaster about which nothing can be done.

It removes what is actually going on, which is the profiteering that has already been spoken about. One other example about which people will know is that Bord Gáis Energy is increasing gas bills by 39% next month. People simply cannot afford it. Bord Gáis Energy is a profitable company that was privatised and sold off to the British energy giant, Centrica. It is a company that's profits doubled last year to more than €1 billion. There is no increase in the cost of producing gas and oil and certainly not in the cost of producing energy from wind or solar power. Instead, what is happening is supply and demand. In other words, massive profiteering by the fossil fuel industry internationally taking advantage of the invasion of Ukraine to drive up prices. Nothing is being done to tackle the profiteering.

Sinn Féin is right to say we need to scrap the carbon taxes and cut the excise duty and VAT. I also urge Sinn Féin to back our amendment on price controls, however. Otherwise, there is nothing to stop the fossil fuel companies from simply pocketing these cuts like they seem to have done with the recent excise duty cut. We need to stand up to the profiteers and cap energy prices at levels that are affordable for ordinary people. We need to bring the energy system back into public ownership and under democratic control in order that it can be run in the interests of ordinary people, both workers and householders, as opposed to being run for profit, which is the cause of the current crisis.

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