Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I ask for some latitude at the start. I am taking a brief moment to send best wishes to Denise O'Sullivan and the Irish women's soccer team, who are heading off to Australia. Denise is from Knocknaheeny, County Cork, where I am from. She is a great ambassador for her community and her family. I want to send her and all of the ladies and everyone involved the very best wishes. I know we are all proud of them, and this is my only opportunity to let Denise, the girls and everyone know, that we stand behind them and wish them the best of luck.

Unlike the Irish women's soccer team, this Government has let the country down. The Government has not moved in the 264 days since the windfall tax was sanctioned by the EU last October. During those 264 days when energy bills kept going up and during the two years when energy bills doubled, ordinary families bore the brunt of the Government's lack of action and suffered because of its inability to take action. State-owned ESB more than doubled its profits last year. What was the Government doing while this was happening?

Sinn Féin has been urging the Government to bring this in for months but the Government spent more time arguing with Sinn Féin, including Deputies O'Rourke, Doherty and McDonald, about bringing in a proper windfall tax. Here we are tonight with a windfall tax that is too little too late.

At the same time, families are paying thousands of euro in electricity bills they are struggling to pay and that many cannot afford. Parents are having to make the choice between heating and what they can feed their children and how they can support their families. Pensioners are telling us how they wore jumpers and tried to keep the electricity off because they are so terrified by the cost of it. A family consisting of two adults and two children contacted me at the end of May. Its bill was more than €600. Here we had two working parents who were out working for most of the day. They did not know how they were going to pay it. When we hear stories from families who are struggling, we can see they are at the wits' end.

Then the Government comes along with this soft measure. It should have been a proper windfall tax. Companies were making profits off the backs of ordinary people. Eighteen European countries brought this measure in. We are bringing in a half-hearted effort at the end of June. This money needs to go to the people who need support the most. We need to cut bills and to support people but time and again, we debate legislation from the Government that does not go far enough. Only last week the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications announced there would be more delays to this legislation. We have waited 264 days. Eighteen other countries have done it.

We are calling for this legislation to be more robust. We are asking the Government to take on board the amendments our colleagues will bring forward because people need to know this Government cares. There is a crisis in housing, a crisis in healthcare and a cost-of-living crisis but this Government is more worried about tackling big energy companies and their big profits. This is what it should be doing. It should be letting the energy companies know that what is happening is unacceptable.

One in four people is in arrears when it comes to their gas bills while one in three people is in energy poverty. The profits of the energy companies are doubling or trebling. They are off the charts. Do the maths. The Minister of State is an intelligent man. He can see the figures. This is not just Sinn Féin saying this. Barnardos, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Cork Penny Dinners are saying it. I am talking to people on the ground. I was talking to Caitríona Twomey from Cork Penny Dinners last week. She told me about working families who cannot pay their bills and who are going into Penny Dinners to get hampers and dinners. How is that right?

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