Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank my co-sponsors of the Bill for their contributions. We introduced the Bill on First Stage in March last year. We are in a different place now in some respects, in that the pandemic was raging at that time and war is now raging in Europe. However, from the perspective of vulnerable energy customers, we are very much in the same place and, if anything, in a far worse place.

I am very disappointed with the Minister of State's response. I will make a number of points in response to the arguments he made in defence of his position. He argues, through his amendment, that the power to impose moratoria on disconnection of electricity and gas already exists. We have acknowledged that, but there are two fundamental differences. The first is where the discretion lies and the second lies in the delivery of that power. Yes, the CRU can impose a moratorium when it sees fit to do so but we want a ban on disconnections every winter. What do we mean by winter? We mean the fuel allowance season, which does not run from 9 December to 11 January - a little more than four weeks - so that people can cook their Christmas dinner without fear of the power turning off. The fuel allowance season runs from the end of September until the start of April. Anyone who has lived through an Irish winter knows for certain that the worst weather can occur at either end of that period, particularly in the months of February and March. I know this too, having contested a by-election in 2013 in March when the ground was covered in snow every day. People know that. I challenge the Minister of State on the idea that the CRU has this power and uses it every winter. That is not the same as what we are saying. It is entirely different. The discretion of the Minister to identify periods outside winter, within which it may be appropriate to introduce a ban on disconnections, is an additional power that would be useful for him to have.

I refer to the point raised about who exercises the power. I have been in the role of spokesperson for a couple of years. In that time, I have had the opportunity to raise questions with a range of Departments, specifically on climate, communications and transport. I have never seen, in any other Department, such lack of direct ministerial accountability for matters that are the reserve of the Minister. In many cases, responsibility is deflected. Energy security is a fundamental responsibility of the Minister. If I ask questions in the House about energy security, they will be diverted to the CRU, and I will be told the CRU is accountable not to the Minister but to the Oireachtas joint committee. I am a member of that committee and I can guarantee that I speak for every member. I am not satisfied with the level of accountability of the CRU to the committee. From having sat on committees, as we all have, and it has also been reported on the national airwaves, the Minister knows about the accountability of civil servants and others to committees. That is not the case with the CRU.

I mean no disrespect to the individual members of the CRU. They have their jobs to do but there are lines of responsibility. We are elected as public representatives or representatives of the people. We elect our Government, which elects our Ministers. That is the line of authority and the line of accountability back to the people. It is not to leave discretion with the CRU or another group. That is an abdication of responsibility by the Minister and is something that would be changed in the legislation, if it was adopted. I will go back to the words of the Minister, Deputy Ryan, in 2006, when he spoke about departmental officials and members of the regulatory body. He stated:

Such a person cannot take decisions or say something awkward, difficult or risky. In our democratic system, only politicians have the power to do that.

It is a point the Minister has made, in fairness, in recent days and weeks regarding the responsibility of politicians. Accountability should lie with the Minister. That is a strength of our Bill, it is a weakness of the current position and it is a weakness in the Minister of State's argument, as far as I see it.

Those are the technical policy arguments regarding this matter, but the mean-spirited and offensive piece in the position of the Government and the Minister of State is that they are kicking the can down the road and will not act on this for 12 months. We will have another winter where the Government will be satisfied with a moratorium on disconnections for maybe four weeks. That is not good enough, by my account. We will oppose the Government's position and are likely to have a vote on it at some stage, but I ask the Minister of State to review his position on what we are saying to him. If he is saying that the provisions of our legislation are already catered for, we are firmly saying that is not the case. It is not the case in respect of where the responsibility lies and what winter means in Ireland.

The Minister of State needs to go back to the drawing board on this issue. He needs to get on to the Minister to provide those protections for people over these winter months. As we said, this is about providing breathing space for people over the winter months, among everything else, because they are already under pressure. I am sure the Minister of State is very familiar, as is the Minister, with the type of winter that is ahead of us. This winter, we know that fuel prices, electricity prices and gas prices have not yet fully reflected the impact or the full extent of the war in Ukraine. The Government is factoring in increases in the region of a further 50% to 70%. When we meet providers, they talk about a tsunami of indebtedness. That has the potential to be a tsunami of disconnections. This Government needs to provide protection for those customers over the winter months to provide that space for them. A handful of weeks over the Christmas period will not suffice.

See this speech in context