Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First of all, I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, and by prefacing her remarks by referring to some good news. It does not normally happen in exchanges between the Opposition and the Government sides. However, I do take the point made by the Deputy. Today's price is the lowest since June, and it is down more than 70% from the record level of 640 pence hit in August. That is the gas spot price in the UK market. It is around 190 pence a therm today.

That is the lowest since June and considerably lower than the price of 640 pence a therm in August. That may be the result of temperatures but we also need to reflect on the fact that the European Union working together has an impact. When the storage policy was first announced more than a year ago, people did not think it was credible that the European Union member states could get to the levels of storage they have. That has created an impact on the markets. The work the European Union has been doing to move towards a more sophisticated and nuanced approach to price caps and so on is also having an impact on the market, as is reduced consumption, which is clearly the result of people being fearful of the prices involved. However, it also points to the inadvisability of moving to a blanket cap of the kind the UK Government originally proposed, and which was also proposed in Ireland. That would incentivise consumption. It is a complex matter and the discussions at the EU Energy Council at the moment are complex. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. All the markets are different with member states having different energy mixes. For example, we import 75% of our gas from the United Kingdom and get 25% from the Corrib gas field. Even to a certain extent, we are more dependent on what happens in the London market than on other markets within Europe. Security of supply is a key issue for us. We have prioritised security of supply for the country. Given that many companies and most utility companies base their prices on future and forward contracts, the recent drop in spot prices may not immediately translate into lower electricity and gas bills for customers. This country spent €8.3 billion on the importation of energy products in the first eight months of this year compared with €3.4 billion last year. It is an extraordinary gap.

Therefore, hopefully it will, but there are other issues also. Future markets are pointing to higher prices in the coming months. There is still a certain degree of uncertainty because of political uncertainty, the war in Ukraine and the need to start preparing for winter 2023-24 in terms of further storage and necessities across Europe. It is by no means certain but it is good news so far in terms of what is happening.

Europe is focusing on stabilising the spikes in prices we witnessed over the past eight months. If we could stabilise the market, it would give us greater certainty to plan.

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