Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Regional Group for bringing this motion forward.

The Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, has been listening to many Deputies here in the House today. I have been talking to small business owners. I spoke to a lady on Thursday last who is absolutely terrified of what is coming down the road here when it comes to energy supply and energy costs. I also spoke to one business owner and he gave me a breakdown of his costs for a shop in the year to June 2022 and for the same period in 2021. There was a 94% increase on costs alone. His ESB bill went from €28,454 in 2021 to €55,239 for the same period up to June in 2022. There is no way he will compete. He will have to start letting people go. It is very worrying.

I heard a number of Deputies here a while ago speaking about microgeneration. In the previous term, we in Sinn Féin proposed microgeneration and it was dismissed as fantasy. We have businesses that have invested heavily in solar panels and are lucky enough to be producing enough power to run their own businesses, but yet they are still prohibited from selling the excess power to one of the providers. There seems to be no joined-up thinking whatsoever.

I am also worried about families, who were spoken about here, and businesses and schools. Then there are the more vulnerable, that is, those who would probably need oxygen supply on a regular or a 24/7 basis. I have seen them rationing oxygen previously but now we will be rationing power to pump that oxygen as well. That must be a terrifying scenario for these people. I hope the Government is ready. It should be ready to start addressing this immediately.

Another issue today is that an energy provider is leaving the market. I do not know what is happening there. If that is the case, we are starting to lose our grip on everything here.

We need to be moving faster towards renewables, green hydrogen, etc. I have spoken with people and had a briefing on hydrogen, and the by-product of oxygen. These people are willing to give the oxygen to the hospitals in this country for free and at the same time have enough capability to produce our own energy and export it.

I commend the Regional Group on bringing the motion before the House. I hope the Government takes everything that has been said here on board. It has to be addressed, not tomorrow but immediately.

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