Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The windfall tax we are proposing would be an anti-inflation measure. Sinn Féin is putting forward a proposal to protect households from any further price gouging by big electricity suppliers. We are calling for electricity prices to be reduced and capped at 2021 levels throughout the winter period, until at least February 2023. Irish households have experienced soaring price hikes and energy costs as well as other crippling increases in prices in a whole range of areas including food, transport and others. They badly need support. There have been almost 50 energy price increases over the past year. The Financial Timesplaces Ireland 26th out of 27 countries in the EU with regard to State support for households during the energy crisis. Those are the facts as set out by the Financial Times. This Government can no longer sit on its hands while workers and families struggle and people freeze with the cold this winter. The so-called market is broken. Sinn Féin is calling for a proactive response to this crisis. We would establish a fund of €1.6 billion, which is affordable, which would be ring-fenced from this year's budget surplus of €4.5 billion. That is without going near the contingency fund of €2.5 billion. This would be supported by revenue from a windfall tax on energy companies.

This windfall tax would be applied to any excess profits made by electricity suppliers as has been done in a number of other European countries. This is an anti-inflationary measure which would reduce prices at source and help right across the economy. The €1.6 billion fund would provide households with energy security and certainty throughout the winter. It would save households in the region of €600 on their bills and would stop price gouging by the big suppliers. Our approach is in stark contrast to the Government's, which is inflationary. We are not writing a blank cheque for energy companies to extract profits. Any excess profits would be taxed to stop this. That is the difference. Instead, we want to fix energy prices so that ordinary people can be protected and so that households have certainty.

Sinn Féin also proposes cost-of-living cash payments. Those earning €21,000 a year would receive a cash payment of €500 while those earning €40,000 would receive €407. The figure would be tapered further on incomes up to €70,000, beyond which nothing would be received. These emergency measures would help households throughout the winter and are badly needed.

With regard to energy security, a number of years ago, I raised in this Chamber the need for the power stations at Shannonbridge and Lough Ree to be kept open. The power station in Edenderry has been co-fired and is now moving completely to biomass. The same thing could be done in those two power stations. I pointed out that these are in pivotal positions on the energy grid. The cutaway bogs surrounding the stations have ample space for solar panels. They are plug-in points to the electricity grid. We need dispatchable power. Wind power could also be plugged in at these sites. The wind does not blow all of the time. There could also be a hub for biomass to be connected in. These should have been power generation hubs. We were not listened to. I published a document five years ago, Powering Ireland 2030, that would have moved us to 80% renewable. We got no hearing on it. The media and those on the Government benches were not interested. Nobody was interested. I raised some of these issues with the Minister of State's party leader, who was on the Joint Committee on Climate Action at the time, and he told me that, if we were stuck for power, we could import nuclear power from Britain. At that time, I told him that what we needed was dispatchable power here in this country. We could have had that. We could have had the dispatchable power we need but we were not listened to.

One of the best ways to get that dispatchable power is through biomass. We were in a position to do that. Those two power stations should have been converted. That was not done but should be done now. Those two power stations need to be reopened for that purpose and to become plug-in points at those pivotal positions on the national energy grid so that we can generate power at those sites from solar and wind but, because the wind does not blow all the time and the sun does not shine all the time, also from biomass.

Gas must also be recognised as a transition fuel. We have to recognise this reality. There are coal mines in China as big as County Dublin and County Laois put together. I am not arguing for that here. I know we have to move away from fossil fuels but we also have to recognise the reality that gas results in lower carbon emissions than coal. We can agree on that much. The emissions are far lower. That should have been done at the time. Instead, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and now the Green Party have sleepwalked us into this energy security crisis. What is the Government's proposal? It is to import generators. I heard the Taoiseach on the radio yesterday morning. He did not inspire confidence in me. If I heard him correctly, he said that it would be 2023 before these emergency generators were in place. I understand that a figure of €40 million was mentioned. What are these to be fuelled with? Is it diesel? Is that the case? What are we going to fuel these emergency generators with? We had a sustainable way of reducing carbon emissions. Fair enough, we had to move away from peat but we could have used biomass, biogas, anaerobic generation and all of the other means we could use to generate electricity. We did not do that. This Government, and every Government over the past 12 years, has dragged its heels with regard to planning regulations for offshore wind generation. After 20 years, we have seven turbines off our coast. It is a scandal. We should be exporting energy. We should be a net exporter of energy to the rest of Europe. We are not doing that. Instead, we have sleepwalked into this crisis. We are now hostage to the big energy companies, which have us over a barrel. We need to take some control.

The measures put forward by Sinn Féin tonight go some way towards doing that, as we hope the measures to come out at European level over the next week or so to tackle the big generators also will. That serves that purpose. The specific measures we are proposing will help to deal with the suppliers and the smaller generators. I also ask the Minister of State, as a matter of urgency, to forget about all the culs-de-sacthe Government has allowed us to walk into and to look again at Shannonbridge and Lough Ree. Let us face up to common sense and work with good companies such as Bord na Móna, which we own, and the ESB to get this power going. EU rules can be waived in an emergency. The Minister of State and I both know that. In an emergency, all bets are off with regard to the rules. We both know that. Let us move to a greener future in which jobs and energy security are produced and in which prices are lowered. Let us implement the measures put forward by Sinn Féin tonight along with the once-off financial package for households.

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