Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

This morning, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, gave an extraordinary interview on a number of fronts, not least his guarded defence of the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins. What was more worrying was his attitude to the hike in prices by Electric Ireland. He sounded like an innocent bystander, pretty much as the Taoiseach has sounded today on the same topic. The Government seems to think it cannot do anything to intervene. May I remind the Government of the Consumer Protection Act 2007, sections 61 and 62 of which would allow the Government to control prices? Will the Taoiseach comment on that? Also, is it not about time the Government started to rethink the remit and the mandate of the ESB and bring it back to a not-for-profit mandate?

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