Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

No. We know exactly where we are with regard to this legislation. The problem we have had with the idea of a windfall tax is that it took the Government a hell of a long time to realise this was the way to go. It was not until the conversation was properly happening within the European Union that we got to where we are now. Correct me if I am wrong, but the fact is that over a three-year period, the Government is providing an allowance for 20% extra profits. Above that, we are talking about 75%. There is an allowance for a huge amount of profit by energy companies. Sinn Féin would be saying that the 75% needs to be 100%. We need to deal with the reality. We know about the cost-of-living crisis. We know the huge bills that people are paying. The fact is that one would need the use of a barter account or a contract that was negotiated by Noel Kelly to be able to pay the sort of bills that people have. People might say that is possibly a cheap shot at this point but that is the reality of what people are facing. They are facing huge bills and costs.

We got slammed a number of times about the fact that we talked about an element of price fixing. The idea of the windfall tax was that it would be leverage on the energy companies which would keep them honest. With the passing of time, our ideas have been seen to be right in the context of where we are going. Obviously, we will propose a number of elements to try to make this legislation into something that is better for people. There is an element of it being too little, too late. Even at this stage, we need to improve what people are facing. It is not exactly unpopular to say that energy companies have been making far too much money for too long and need to be held to account, but that is the reality of where we are at this point. We need this action to be taken as soon as possible.

We have all spoken here many times about the great strides that need to be made to turn us into a wind superpower. We obviously have the capacity with our offshore wind. We really need to make sure we have this planning-led model where all the pieces are put in place as soon as possible. A number of people have commented that we are dealing with the fact that we do not have the powers we would like to have relating to the entire energy sector because of privatisation. It has not worked out very well for people. Unfortunately, we are where we are. I would like to think, with regard to this legislation, that we could have something that was harder biting for the energy companies and which provided that extra support for the Irish people.

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