Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chair for the opportunity to speak on this motion today, which calls for the renationalisation of the energy system. I completely support this motion. I thank Solidarity-People Before Profit for bringing forward such an important and much-needed motion.

We all have constituents who are struggling to make ends meet and hearing their stories is truly heartbreaking. There is no doubt that the privatisation and marketisation of the energy system has failed them. They continue to watch their monthly bills rise with no end in sight. We are seeing energy poverty on an unprecedented scale, as well as carbon emissions. We are not only making it difficult for the current generation to live; we are also simultaneously making it impossible for future generations to live. There is no doubt that if there was ever a time to renationalise an industry it is now, due to the energy and cost of living crises we are currently facing.

At a time when the privatisation of the energy market was being talked about, we had the cheapest electricity in the EU provided by a semi-State company, the ESB. The Government had to embark on a serious round of pushing up the price of energy because energy in Ireland was too cheap for companies to want to come in and compete for it. We now probably have one of the highest energy costs in Europe, but we have loads of competition. Companies are now leaving the market because people cannot afford to pay. Competition rules the roost and that makes everything worse for us.

This crisis should be seen as an opportunity to move away from our reliance on foreign investment and fossil fuels. By taking energy back into public ownership, the profit motive will be gone and we will have the ability to create a fairer and more equal energy system. We need to reintegrate the ESB and restore a non-profit mandate.

The obsession of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael with continuous privatisation has done nothing but destroy this country and its systems, such as our energy system. The Government thinks that by constantly privatising services it is shifting accountability away from it and on to private companies whose main, and often only, priority is profit. However, the Government is still accountable to its citizens, many of whom are struggling to get by this winter.

Not only is privatisation failing our citizens, it will continue to fail them long into the future. We cannot expect private companies that do not treat citizens well today will prioritise and invest in their futures. Investing in renewable energy is not seen as an instant profit-making endeavour without the Government supports that make it viable for companies to do so. Therefore, I struggle to see how companies will prioritise our carbon targets or the climate in any meaningful way. We will still be able to buy energy at top market rates produced by us and with resources. We will be able to pay the ever inflated costs and market it on to Europe as well.

I asked somebody in the Department what we would go out of this arrangement. I understood we would get some sort of payment involving low rental subsidies linked to the fee companies will take. That is about the height of it. The excuse was that because it is so expensive we cannot put pressure on companies to provide energy for citizens in any way, as they have to make a profit.

We need publicly developed renewable energy that prioritises Irish targets developed by the ESB in the public interest. Our energy future is far too important to be left in the hands of corporate greed, whose goal is to take at the expense of ordinary people. I also support the motion's call to ban the construction of any additional data centres and the connection of any more data centres to gas networks or the national grid. When we get offshore wind generation up and running we will have plenty of power to keep data centres going, which is important. The fact that data centres account for 70% of the increase in metered electricity usage since 2015 is incredibly concerning. It puts where we are in terms of our energy crisis into perspective.

Rural Ireland often gets the blame for climate change. However, data centres take up over 60% of the total electricity demand, which is more than all rural homes in the country. As well as that, rural Ireland has the highest percentage of forced car ownership due to the fact that the transport system in this country is underdeveloped and unreliable. I am glad the motion points out the fact that successive Governments' failure to invest in free, green, frequent and fast public transport has produced a near universal car dependency. I recently brought forward a motion calling for free and accessible public transport to address this issue. It is clear that free public transport is a practical and effective way to reclaim social, health and economic benefits. It is a single solution to solve multiple problems.

While the Government did not oppose my motion, which I believe was a sensible proposal that would address many of the issues people across the country are facing, this means nothing when no action follows. While it did not oppose the motion, I do not think too much will be done to make it a reality.

I hope, although I doubt it, that following the reshuffle, we will see more meaningful engagement between the Government and Opposition on important motions such as the one put forward today and we will be able to see that the Government does what it said it would do, namely, listen, take on board and include Opposition policies. We know, as members of the Opposition, that the Government does not do that. That its prerogative, as it is in government. The reality is that nothing will be done without everybody being on board and protecting the environment by building a renewable future.

One of the things that has to be part of that is a dividend for citizens. I do not see that being included in the Government's plans. The Government will say that the market will not provide it and we have to provide subsidies, but what about the citizens who are giving markets the opportunities? We are getting nothing out of it, apart from paying the same price as everybody else in Europe for the electricity we are providing across the board.

I fully support the motion. It is timely. We need to renationalise the electricity market. We had the cheapest electricity in Europe and the best system when we had a nationalised market. We need to go back to that. The Government could make a decision to renationalise the market, rather than continuing to do what it is doing.

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