Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I very much welcome the Bill. It is appropriate and timely, however, that I address issues of which Ministers are aware, particularly in the Department of the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, but on which they have not acted. The most obvious injustice and inequality is that full-time residents of mobile homes are locked out from the excellent €600 to €800 of electricity credits. That support is being denied to those who are most vulnerable and in need. Everybody in this House and all the fat cats and millionaires in the country get the credit but the most vulnerable of cohorts do not and will not under the present Minister, who refuses to deal with the issue. I have raised it with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and I am raising it now with the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth. I have raised the matter under freedom of information. It is now before the Office of the Information Commissioner. What the hell is going on in the Department that it cannot find a way to ensure those who are full-time residents in mobile homes can get this money? They can prove they are full-time residents and have their pensions at that address and so on. They cannot get it because the Department will not see a way to give it to them. It will tell them to go the community welfare officer. If they go to the community welfare officer, they will have to prove they have an engagement with the ESB. They do not have engagement with the ESB because they do not have a meter. It is supplied by the owner of the site. I am very unhappy with this response and I will continue to embarrass and to raise it here with every Minister in the Department, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste until something is done for these vulnerable people. Many of them are in poor health. They may not have long to live as many of them are of advanced years. Some of them had very tough lives. They are identifiable and real and they are in my constituency and I will continue to stand up for them. There is at least one other Deputy in the House who has submitted a request under freedom of information. The Deputy in question, who is in Kildare, can name himself later on if he wishes to do so. He is the only other person in this Dáil to have raised the issue. I cannot understand why in the name of God you guys in power - the Ministers and the officials - cannot do something about it.

We have been talking a lot about energy companies having to do this or that but what are we doing about them? What is the Government doing about them? The ESB proudly states on its website that it is a vertically integrated company that controls the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. It is all-powerful, unfettered and out of control. Although it is a State company, the Government has refused to tackle it on the issue of the vertical integration of that company. How come EirGrid has the use of the transmission but not the ownership of it? What are the costs associated with having a vertically integrated company? It means the ESB controls everything. This Government and previous Governments have not tackled it on that matter. In other countries, the generation, transmission and distribution of energy is separated out, but not here. It does not look like it will happen any time soon. We need to step up to the mark. I am not on the energy committee but those who are, whether in government or opposition, should bring in the ESB and ask it to tell the committee three things it can do as a company to further reduce the cost to homeowners. They should bring in other energy companies or those who supply energy to the grid, such as Bord na Móna, and ask them to explain how their profits are greater than ever before. I welcome the increased profits at Bord na Móna but the fact is the chief executive of that company has a car which cost almost €130,000 and he also has other taxable benefits. I am not saying that is his fault - it is not - but the company policy is obscene. It is an insult to the people of this country, who are put to the wall under the cost-of-living and energy crises, to have to face these issues.

We need to make State companies accountable. NewERA was supposed to do that. Once upon a time, I was the Minister of State with responsibility for NewERA. It did not happen because the Government could not agree on what needed to happen there. We need to control State companies - not to run them, but to control them - make them more accountable and examine their operations to make them accountable to this House in a transparent and obvious way. Until we do so, they will continue to run riot over us all and do what they like.

The Bill is good and it is welcome. I agree that it has come late in the day, but it is there and people will welcome it. We are heading into a tough winter, however. The weather has been particularly mixed up to now. God knows how many poor people will suffer even more greatly if we face a very cold winter. Let us get our act together.

I speak to many people who wish to improve their homes. Every person to whom I speak would like to have greater energy efficiency. They ask me whether they can get a grant for solar panels. One cannot get a grant for them. It is a joke. A person has to spend €40,000 or €50,000 doing up his or her home with energy refits. The Government needs to make common sense of its policies. It needs to make sure that every homeowner in this country can put solar panels in their home if it is appropriate and if the house has the right orientation. The Department must ensure such people get a loan, if needed, at a very low percentage rate of 1% or 2%. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, told me before the summer that it was on its way. I have not heard whether it has arrived but it has not come as yet. It is time for the Government to get the finger out and do the business for the people. That is what it was elected to do. I am very unhappy with the lack of determination and conviction to bring about the change we all want but which is not there at the moment.

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