Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Rinne an Rialtas go leor agus beidh níos mo gníomhartha ón Rialtas sna seachtainí romhainn. The Government has done a lot and we will do more in the coming weeks. We have reduced VAT to 9% on electricity and gas. Another energy credit will be deducted from people's bills for the March-April period. We have improved the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, the scheme to help businesses, farmers, sole traders and professionals with their energy bills. The next step is the windfall tax. We plan to legislate for that in the coming weeks. I know that will be welcomed by the Opposition. That tax has two elements, which are a super tax on the profits made by the Corrib gas field and various distilleries, and an element of tax on the generators. That money will be recycled into reducing bills for people, which is what we intend to do. As I mentioned earlier, when it comes to a State-owned company, we have the power to take a special dividend, which is certainly under consideration.

One thing we will disagree on is nationalising the Corrib gas field. As the Deputy will understand as a lawyer and as somebody who understands our Constitution and natural justice, to nationalise something, the shareholders have to be compensated. To do so would cost roughly ten times their annual profits. It would cost many billions of euro to nationalise that gas field, which is many billions of euro that we could not spend on other important things like education-----

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