Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. At the start of this month, I and some of my Oireachtas colleagues from the west of Ireland held meetings with IBEC and representatives of a number of multinational companies which employ tens of thousands of people in the west. The biggest issue that they have is the rising cost of energy. The meeting was a very productive one and showed how seriously worried they are about the effects of energy costs and the uncertainty about further increases in the future.

Also present at that meeting were representatives of small businesses, SMEs, who gave some examples of the extent of the cost rises over the past few months, particularly in supermarkets. One example was of a business that was paying €125,000 a year but is now facing a bill this year of €300,000, and rising.

I also listened with interest to “Morning Ireland” where the chief executive of a hotel group outlined the challenge that the group faced with its electricity bill last year which was in the region of €5 million and it expected that to be closer to €20 million this year. All of the groups at that IBEC meeting and the businesses to which I have spoken in recent times are asking for Government help and support for their rising energy costs.

This is going to have a negative impact on Ireland’s competitiveness. My fear is that many of these multinationals could start looking to the Far East where the crisis is not being felt as much. It could be a question then of instead of looking at the cost of labour, they will start looking at energy costs in making their decisions on where to invest.

I want the Minister of State to give a commitment to the Dáil today that there will be major support for businesses, hospitality and the SME sectors in the forthcoming budget because, if not, we could face a widespread shutdown of the businesses and industries over the winter, and a consequent loss of jobs as they will not be able to cope with their energy bills.

Every part of our society is being affected. I know of one farming contractor whose harvester was costing €300 a day to run. It is now costing in excess of €1,000 to run every day. That is just one machine. The same applies to all the other machinery involved in agri-contracting.

Schools are already feeling the pinch. I know of one school where the two-monthly bill was approximately €500 and the school expects that bill to be up to €1,600 and more. The school is simply not in a position to pay.

It is time the Government realised that this energy crisis is having, and will continue to have, a very significant knock-on effect on all parts of our society. Assurances need to be given also to domestic customers, especially the most vulnerable, the older population and those with chronic illnesses and disabilities, that they will not be left without electricity. Even before the current crisis we have all heard reports of vulnerable people switching off their lights and sparing their electricity usage to avoid running up big bills, even to the extent of taking to their beds during the day just to keep warm during winter months. If they were doing this before, what kind of winter lies ahead for them now?

There is a fear among older people that there are going to be electricity blackouts and that they will not be able to afford to heat or light their homes on a fixed income. It is particularly hard on those who live alone. The people who are most stressed and worried about these are the most vulnerable in our society.

I would like to see firm guarantees being given to people using vital medical equipment in their homes such as home dialysis machines, oxygen concentrators and artificial ventilators. They need to be sure that their supply will be under no threat.

Every single person in this country is affected by this crisis and is worried as they face into a winter of uncertainty. The Government has to act now. It must intervene to give businesses, and particularly the most vulnerable in our society, certainty and security as we approach the colder months of increased energy consumption, so that they will be able to turn on their lights and heat their homes.

In the context of doing everything we can to create additional electricity output, a related issue which has been raised with me concerns grant assistance for the provision of solar panels in homes. There is a grant available for the installation of solar panels on domestic dwellings, offering up to €2,400 off the cost. However, there is no grant assistance offered for the addition of a battery unit which comes into play at night time, providing electricity at a time when the solar panels have no sun to draw power from, or where the excess energy can be sold back into the grid. One of my constituents has been quoted almost €6,000 to add a battery to the system for a 5 kW storage.

I compliment those in my Regional Group, including Cait, our party administrator, who put this Private Members’ motion together. Our motion calls on the Government to take a series of steps and emergency measures to tackle the current crisis and among them is a ban on cutting off electricity supply to people’s homes. The Government should also press at EU level for the immediate decoupling of the link between the price of gas and the price of electricity which is increasing the cost of energy to electricity suppliers.

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