Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I salute all the ESB crews and acknowledge their hard work, especially during storms or outages. Where is the Commission for Regulation of Utilities? What is its role? Is there just a fancy brass plaque on the wall, posh sheets and a board of members of a quango? It is standing idly by. It is useless, toothless and fruitless. That is what they are. The Tánaiste said "if it sees the ESB..." Everyone can see the ESB is fleecing people. How long is the Tánaiste going to wait to find out? You try to raise a family and you will see.

Low-usage charges must also be examined and scrapped by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. Those who are making every effort to cut their electricity usage are being charged more for doing so. The Government really wants to penalise and punish the people. It is doing it every hour of every day and every second of every minute. It is punishing the people. The Tánaiste just said the Government gets the money back in from the ESB and spends it. What does it do? It gave Mr. Holohan a job in Trinity, with €187,000, that he never applied for, that no one advertised and that he is probably not fit for, and Paul Reid and many more people. People are sick and tired of the monkeys on their backs. The monkeys are sitting opposite — I do not mean anything personal to anyone — and the people are sick and tired of being harangued and downtrodden. They are going to rise up because they will not put up with this. They cannot afford to live.

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