Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Under new measures the moratorium has been extended from 1 December until 28 February and, for vulnerable customers, from 1 October to the end of March. There was a Sinn Féin representative on television the other night saying there was no moratorium in place. The moratorium is in place for the toughest times of the year. There are lots of measures in place to help customers. I have been asking the energy companies to do more and they are doing things to help customers. We strongly encourage customers to engage with the energy companies if they are in difficulties and indeed with the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS.

The Government's priority is to reduce the cost that customers have to pay to ensure we have the most secure electricity and energy supply possible. The way we are going to do that at this moment, at least, is by direct measures in the budget. The reason we are able to provide direct measures in the budget is that the Irish people and the Government have collectively run the economy in a very good way in the past few years that has enabled us to have a cash surplus built up. We will use that cash surplus taxes have generated to give to the people to help with their bills, as we have done this year. We are hoping to tell the energy companies that they are earning too much money and we have to take that back retrospectively and not just into the future, back in time to earlier this year, to give that money to the Irish and European people to help them with the bills they unjustifiably pay at the moment. I hope that will be agreed next Friday in Brussels. We will continue working towards a gas price cap. We will continue working to see if decoupling can occur.

The idea that these words and phrases can be just thrown around as if they are simple solutions is not correct. The public knows this is a complex situation. Only three weeks ago Members of the Opposition were criticising the Government for offering energy-efficiency advice. If the Government did not do that, it would be rightly criticised. We have seen people and businesses across the country trying to conserve energy. I have seen lights off. We acknowledge the severe burden on business and the effect that could have on jobs.

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