Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Members are eating into my time. I thank them not to do so.

Once there is proper investment in infrastructure, there is not one person in this House who does not wish our energy costs will go down. People do not mind whether it is provided by wind energy, solar energy or any other source of green energy but, like everything else, the Government puts the cart before the horse. Does the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, know that Ireland is paying 60% more for electricity than any other European country? Why is that? The Government decided to close down plants that were providing energy, even if they were being run on turf. Plants are being run on coal and other fossil fuels, but the Government closed down and dismantled the one running on turf.

Other ones are being run on coal and fossil fuels, but the Government closed one that was run on turf. It was dismantled and sold off to other countries, reinstated to supply power for other countries and now today there is emergency legislation to build plants and run diesel generators for the power we are short. Did you ever hear anything so ludicrous? The Government has no clue how things work. If you want green energy, you put the infrastructure in first. The Government is full of deadlines but no infrastructure. The Government pushes the deadlines with no infrastructure. It pushes the change, with no other change in place, so we can change to it. The Government pushed inflation through the roof because it has no alternatives. Put in the alternatives, invest in the alternatives and then we will all change. That is what is there. Put in the alternatives and we will change to alternatives; that is how we work. No, the Government pushes for the alternatives which are not there, that are above in the clouds and it asks for sacrifice until it can introduce the alternatives, which are a decade away. That is not planning for the future, it is destroying the people the Government is here to protect for the future.

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