Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have an incredible sense of déjà vu today as we talk about this Bill. In December 2021, the Government announced a €200 energy credit to deal with the energy price hikes people were seeing. That Bill was debated in March of this year. That was also called an electricity emergency Bill. I find it staggering that less than a year later we are debating essentially the same Bill, also termed an emergency Bill, without the Government having learned any of the lessons or taken on board any of the comments the Opposition made in March. To have to rush through a Bill once without proper oversight, debating and governance is unfortunate but to rush it through twice without proper debate is simply bad planning and poor governance.

It is unfortunate that yet again this Bill is going through without pre-legislative scrutiny and after a truncated debate, particularly when we are talking about a €1.3 billion investment by the State. When added to the €400 million previously given out, it is €1.7 billion. It is an incredible amount of money to be giving out to assist in this crisis.

The majority of it is needed by households all over the country. We have spoken many times about how difficult people are finding these price hikes. However, it has been given out in a non-targeted fashion. The primary concern of the Social Democrats in respect of the previous Bill was that the Government was giving it out on a universal basis.

When it was raised with the Minister of State in March that this was not a targeted measure, he said we had to do it this way because we did not have the systems in place to allow us to target the measure and this would get it out to people quickly. That was the rationale. That was announced in December. In April and May, the money hit people's electricity accounts. It still took five or six months for that to be felt by people. Most astounding was the fact that 62,000 holiday homes received that credit. I listened to the Minister of State's speech today and it is clear that will happen again. Some 62,000 people who have a holiday home, which by its nature uses very little energy, will receive another €600 essentially into their back pocket. These are people who have two homes. They are wealthy enough to have a holiday home and the Government is handing them €600 on top of the €200 they have already received.

To look at exactly where this €1.7 billion, I will include it all altogether, is going, when you cost up how much these holiday homes will cost the State, it is €50 million. The Government is handing over €50 million this year to people who have holiday homes to help them with their energy bills.

Compare that with the LauraLynn Foundation which gets €1.5 million a year to help with its children's hospice services. This year's budget provided €9 million for Traveller mental health. Yet this is where the Government decided to spend the money because it was not prepared. It has not used the last year to actually work out a system whereby it could target this money. That is not acceptable.

Let us look again at the €1.7 billion total. Even setting aside the issue of holiday homes, 10% of households in this country earn over €120,000. We do not know how long this crisis will go on for or how deep it will get or how difficult it will get but one thing that has been made repeatedly clear to us, whether by the Central Bank, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council or the UN, is that any measures that are taken by governments to address this crisis need to be targeted and "targeted" means towards those who are at risk of energy poverty. Incredibly, 50% of households in this country are at risk of or are already in energy poverty. We do not know how long this will go on for. We do not know how much money the Government will have to put aside to help people but we need to make sure the Government is helping the people who need it most and by not targeting this money, the Government is actually giving €800 to people who do not need it. Granted, many of those people may find the coming winter difficult but they will manage. No Deputy or Senator in these Houses should be getting €800 from the Government to help with their electricity bills. There are many people who do not need this money. Ten percent of the households in this country earn more than €120,000. If you look at the Government's €1.7 billion, the Government is giving €170 million in subsidies to people who have a household income of over €120,000. Incredibly, it is giving €34 million to people who have a household income of €200,000. That is where the Government chooses to spend its money. It is incredible that this Government has not used the last year to learn and to make changes to the system in order that this is distributed fairly and is targeted to those who most need it.

The other thing that this money is not doing is that it is not future-proofing. When I look at the €34 million that the Government is giving to households with an income of over €200,000, it is more than twice what it has allocated for solar rebates and supports this year. Surely what we should be doing with this money is helping on a short-term basis but also using this money to make sure that people are protected next year. When I talk about people, I mean those at risk of energy poverty. It absolutely has to keep those at the forefront of every single policy decision it makes when it comes to energy but it is not. It is just throwing the money around as though it is going to be available forever. It will not be. We in the Social Democrats wanted to see a targeted approach to this similar to the assistance during Covid because that was very successful. First, it should have been done on an income basis and then it could have been targeted. A credit could have been given to individuals in the same way that the supports were given throughout the Covid pandemic. That would allowed it to be targeted. Second, all the homes at risk of energy poverty that currently get zero money towards solar installations should be given free solar panels. That would cut their electricity costs by 40%. It would take a day to install a house with a solar panel. It is very quick and easy to do and that is where the Government should be focusing its money and efforts. For some bizarre reason it is not doing that. It would rather give people who have a holiday home €800 to spend. It is absolutely incredible.

The Government has not used the last year to prepare or to plan. From now on, I ask that it would bring some forward planning into its decision making and that it look to see what the risks are from this energy crisis and what is the potential for it to go on into the future. Many parties have called for an energy cap. At this time, the Social Democrats do not believe an energy cap is the way to go because it is not targeted. An energy cap would mean that the likes of Google's energy costs would be capped and that is not a good way to spend it. The principle of targeting supports must be there. However, we do not know where this is going. Therefore I ask the Government to use the next months to look at the concept of a cap and how it could be applied in a targeted fashion. Whether that would be through a clawback, I am not sure, but that examination must happen because we do not know where this is going to end. We cannot fail to prepare in the same manner that the Government has failed to prepare for the second emergency electricity rebate, particularly when all the problems with the first one were pointed out.

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