Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill. It is very progressive and is most welcome. I spoke to a woman in Killorglin at the weekend who told me that they really appreciated the credit received earlier in the year and that the three waves of further credits will be really important to her and her household as they get through the winter ahead. People have definitely noticed the increase in their bills despite huge efforts by householders to economise, turn off the lights, use fewer appliances and do all the things we should be doing anyway. Despite these huge efforts by everybody, the bills are still soaring so the credits are important. Almost €800 in the space of 12 months is a significant amount of money for a household and is something I would certainly welcome. You always have people saying it is not enough. I am tired of hearing this from the Opposition benches. This is unprecedented intervention. The package is significant and most welcome and from speaking to people in my constituency and meeting people in shops and on the streets, I can guarantee that they are very grateful and are looking forward to having one less chunk of a bill to pay throughout this winter and into the spring. We will have to reassess the situation when we come to February and March 2023. God knows where we will be. I suppose this time last year, we could not have comprehended that we would be in this situation but we are and we do not know whether matters will improve or disimprove. The Government needs to be ready to intervene should the situation deteriorate and should householders throughout the country face further financial crises but this is a big help to people.

In conjunction with the other measures implemented, it is positive intervention from the State. I welcome the movement around Easter on excise. That is important. I come from a predominantly rural constituency and we were seeing the price of a litre of diesel or petrol heading towards the €2.50 mark had there not been State intervention. It is important and it is appreciated by people even through prices are still too high and it is very difficult for people. The fact that the price of a litre of petrol or diesel is quite a bit under €2 at the pump is some relief for people compared to where it might have been without the intervention so it is important that has been continued and I welcome that. I also welcome the extension of the 9% rate for energy bills because that is all money that people would otherwise be spending on energy and would mostly be exported from this economy. At least, it gives people money to spend on other things or at least allows them to not be as stretched as they would otherwise have been. We need to keep the supports for people. In my time as a Deputy, almost 12 years, the challenges householders are facing are quite reminiscent of 2011 and 2012 when we were in the depths of despair in terms of unemployment and emerging from the financial crisis. They are the types of scenarios people are facing. The prospect of increasing interest rates is creating an awful lot of worry for people. They are worried they will not be able to make ends meet so any bit of support that is there should be made available.

Businesses have already seen a huge increase in the cost of raw materials, depending on what sector we are talking about. In construction, it is wood, concrete and other things. Energy bills on top of that were making many businesses unsustainable so the rebate scheme for businesses has been broadly welcomed by businesspeople throughout the country. Without businesspeople keeping their doors open, we would have huge unemployment. They create jobs, provide jobs for people and pay people to run their households. It is important that this intervention was made in the budget. It will not solve the problem and only gives back a little of the increase but is significant and, in many cases, will be the difference between people being able to keep the doors open and not being able to do so. I welcome that.

While we are on the topic of electricity, something that needs to be examined is that the system discriminates against rural people on the price of units of electricity, connection fees and standing charges. These things need to be looked at. As a rural dweller, if I compare my bill to someone living in an urban area, there is a significant difference. I do not think that is acceptable and ask the Minister of State to engage with the regulator on that because it needs to be examined further. It has been brought to my attention by a number of people in my constituency. There was a time when it cost much more to maintain rural lines but with investment in the system and new technologies, there are not the types of costs that were incurred years ago for the ordinary, routine, day-to-day running of electricity grids. That is a legacy of the past the making redundant of which is long overdue. I would like to see some fairness for people living in rural communities being introduced to the equation.

I restate my support for the liquefied natural gas, LNG, project. I note the Minister of State is not the biggest supporter of that project, but for energy security on this island in the medium term, it is an important opportunity for us. There is an application being considered. I will not say too much more about it but I support the principle and I support the project going ahead in north Kerry to provide the State with some additional control over its energy security.

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