Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to examine the Bill. It is a largely technical Bill to amend the EPA Act of 1992 to enable the Government to make arrangements to provide emergency generation capacity. Given the instability brought on by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, there is an onus on the Government to provide confidence to households and businesses with respect to the security of Ireland's energy supply. As a Member of the Oireachtas climate committee, I am very familiar with the issues at hand and the urgent need to procure up to 450 MW of temporary emergency generation capacity in order to mitigate the risks to supply next winter. While it is generally not desirable to set aside regulations or accelerate the development framework around power generation and EPA licensing, given the current uncertainty around electricity, it is in the public interest to proceed with these changes. I also note the points raised by the Minister around the provisions for public information.

Like my colleagues, I would welcome a statement from the Minister on Dermot McCarthy's report on energy security. Energy security and the cost of energy are linked. The extremely tight position is hindering competition and households are paying the price, with continued high prices for energy. Households saw their bills increase quickly when prices went up and they now need to see bills being reduced as prices return to normal levels. We need urgent action from the Minister and the regulator on the high price of electricity being charged to households.

I also want to raise again the need for urgency on household retrofitting. The Minister will be aware that I have raised this issue on a number of occasions in the past. In particular, we need to see urgency around retrofitting of council housing stock, support for vulnerable people with underlying medical conditions and a greater roll-out of minor retrofitting schemes ahead of next winter. I raised these issues with the Minister last summer. Perhaps I sound a bit repetitive. However, I am of the view that we need to see action in respect of this matter. Communities are depending on the Minister.

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