Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

This energy crisis is devastating families and communities throughout the country at present. We are months into the crisis and what we have seen from the Government so far is inertia and glacial steps. The Government's response has been incredibly slow. At the beginning of this month we saw energy prices increase again. Electric Ireland increased prices for the third time this year and the fourth time in 12 months. It increased bills by 26.7% and residential gas prices by 37.5%. These are incredibly difficult increases. Families are suffering as a direct result of the actions the Minister is taking. What is happening is unprecedented. Right now the country is in a situation where 40% of the population is in fuel poverty. This is incredible. A total of 70% of the population is likely to be in fuel poverty in the near future. It is unprecedented that in a First World country in a western democracy, 70% of the population would be facing fuel poverty. This is as a result of the direct actions the Government has taken. It is responsible in large part for the damage being done to people in this country.

Every day I listen to horrific heartbreaking stories of families in this crisis. Families have to choose between heating or eating. Families are not able to pay for the fuel that goes into their cars so they can get to work. People are not able to cover the cost of keeping open the businesses in which they have invested their blood, sweat and tears. We look at the devastating crisis these families and businesses are in and we contrast it with the level of the response of the Government. It is incredible.

I am a very strong believer that there is incompetency at the heart of this Administration. I would not just level it at the Government. I also include senior elements of the public service. We have some of the slowest delivery of decisions and administration in the western world. This country is like an oil tanker as it is so slow to change direction. The Minister was smiling. We delivered seven offshore wind turbines in 20 years. This is an incredibly low figure for any country that greenwashes itself on a regular basis with photographs, glossy brochures and launches of green projects. We were the last country in Europe to introduce a feed-in tariff for the microgeneration of electricity. In the North of Ireland roofs were festooned with solar panels ten years ago. Some families still have not achieved a feed-in tariff.. If shutting stations such as Lanesborough and Shannonbridge in the teeth of this type of crisis does not shout incompetency, what does? We are the only country in Europe without a gas reserve. This is as a direct result of a decision made by the Government.

Originally I felt that perhaps these were contributing factors to the Government's inability to deal with the crisis we are in, but I have to say I am coming to the view that it is not by accident that prices are being kept high. It is by design of the Government in large part that prices are being left high. This is because high electricity prices achieve two policy objectives for the Government. First, given that we have a grid working at the edge of blackouts, high prices prevent demand and this protects the grid from the excessive demand that could lead to blackouts. Second, high prices reduce the level of energy consumed and this lowers emissions, which is another policy objective. I accept that the Government has provided electricity credits but it has done sweet damn all on reducing the price of fuel and electricity. The Government can do this. It is in its gift but it is refusing to do so. This is a damning aspect of the Government.

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