Dáil debates

Wednesday, 16 November 2022

Energy Regulations: Motion [Private Members]

 

10:32 am

Photo of Danny Healy-RaeDanny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the children and the teachers who are visiting Dáil Éireann today. We hope that by the time they are sitting in these seats, things will be much better in our country.

I put it to the Minister of State that since he, the Green Party, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael came to office in 2020, more things have closed down and more harm has been done than was the case under any other previous Government. The first thing they did was to close down Bord na Móna. The latter had its operations in the middle of the country, including at Shannonbridge and Lanesborough. Since then, the cost of electricity has gone up day by day. The Government did that because it had the power to do it, not because it was the right thing to do. Since then, no proper alternative has been put in place. We have seen the way the cost of electricity has gone up so much. The thrust of our motion is that we cannot understand why people are being charged so much for electricity produced by means of wind generation. God Almighty, surely the cost of the wind has not gone up. How can the Minister of State explain that or condone it?

Standing charges have also gone up. In a time of war, when we are trying to help others by welcoming them into this country, we are hurting our own and doing nothing about it. Where is the energy regulator? Where is the Minister in charge who is allowing this to happen? I am not being personal or anything, but it is the Minister's policies; it is not the policies of the people. These policies are wrong.

We hear about this big meeting - out in wherever it is - which is COP27. Many of the people who are attending that meeting should cop on. The people of Ireland can see what is happening. The Chinese are building coal-burning generation stations at present. They are adding to the 2,290 stations they already have. They are building 500 more and planning for a further 300 after that. The Germans are burning coal, and here we have the Government telling us, after all that we have been through, that people cannot buy a bag of turf or sell a bag of turf. I am honestly proud of and admire the people who went to the bog this summer. The Minister played no small part in that because he highlighted that he would bid to stop people cutting turf. They proved that they can still cut it. While many of them had gone over to oil or other things that prevented them from going to the bog, I assure the House that more people than ever went back to the bog this year, and they will be going again next year. I am proud that, with the onset of winter, many people can look into their fires and derive the heat that comes from a good turf fire.

All the big powers are attending this COP27 event. The Minister is flying there first class, and yet the Government is telling people here that they cannot burn turf and that they should not be warm. Now it has the gall to tell people in public offices that they cannot boil a kettle. What are they at? Have they gone stone loony altogether? I know an elderly woman who is afraid to boil a kettle because it will actually add to her electricity bill. There are many more like her.

God almighty, I am appealing to the Minister of State. Government Members are more reactive than proactive. They are talking about introducing a cap now. We asked for this all year. Businesses are going to ground. Butchers who sell abroad are closing down. This will have an adverse affect because finished cattle are down €200 or €300 in price. Many butchers have closed already and it is affecting the trade. I ask the Government to cop on, make the regulator do his job and ensure that the energy companies do not get two or three times the profit they should get at the expense of the ordinary punter trying to light the light, boil the kettle or keep their business going.

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