Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the introduction of this Bill. It is coming before us late in the day but it will help in clawing back some of the massive profits the energy providers have made. I understand that the estimated proceeds from the temporary solidarity contribution are in the range of €200 million to €450 million and that these proceeds can be put towards financial supports for households and businesses affected by high energy prices. As I have said, this is welcome but many small businesses have already closed. I know that for a fact in my constituency. Businesses could not sustain the energy costs. Like many Deputies, I was very aware of the situation and I raised it here on the floor of the Dáil, calling for the energy companies to be brought in. I did that a number of times during Leaders' Questions with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste. I am glad there is some movement but it is deeply frustrating to see it so late in the day, when businesses that should still be operating are gone. They were also customers the energy companies could have had for the long term but, because they were so focused on short-term gain, greed got the better of them and they lost these customers.

It is also annoying to hear that some of this windfall may be diverted to support investment in areas such as renewable energy. I would like to see very clear detail and data on precisely what that means. The Bill is lacking in many respects. There are many gaps because it does not give detail with regard to what that means. For example, will it mean reducing the excessively burdensome cost of deep retrofits? Will it be used to reduce costs or increase grants in respect of the installation of solar panels on farms or other businesses? What exactly will these hundreds of millions be allocated to? Will it be taken from energy suppliers only to be given back to them by circular routes to support their renewable energy efforts?

People are fed up with these totally baffling levels of energy costs, even when recent reductions from some suppliers are taken into account. People are also angry that what we are talking about here is a very limited and short-term measure. Energy companies need to be brought before the Oireachtas committee to explain what they are doing and will do to support customers, not just in the short term but in the long term. I call on the Government to make sure they are brought in. That is the fairest way to proceed. Would it be better to send a signal to these suppliers that price gouging will no longer be tolerated and that, if they persist, measures such as the one we are introducing today will be a permanent or annual feature they will have to contend with?

Let us not fool ourselves here. While this measure will generate a few hundred million, the rise in excise duty will take in multiples of that as the scrapping of the lower rate of duty on fuels could add €10 to the cost of a tank of fuel. Before the recess, the Minister for Finance, Deputy McGrath, confirmed to me in reply to a parliamentary question that, in a full year, the additional receipts from the increases in excise duty of 21 cent per litre on petrol and diesel are estimated to amount to more than €700 million. I call on the Government to reduce excise duty and take that burden off ordinary families and motorists and our haulage sector, which does such great work in generating employment in rural counties, such as those comprising my constituency of Laois-Offaly, and is also keeping the cogs of our national economy and supply lines moving. I call on the Government to take that burden off and cut excise duty. The €700 million I mentioned is made up of €478 million over a full year, higher VAT receipts of €35 million for diesel and an extra €159 million, plus VAT of €35 million, for petrol.

While the Government makes a song and a dance about a windfall tax and coming down hard on energy providers, let no one be under any illusions; this is the same Government that is taking its own people to the hilt and using the same tactics it criticises the energy companies for using, that is, taking as much as possible, as fast as possible. The hypocrisy of this approach will not be lost on people, even if this Bill is a partial step in the right direction.

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