Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I will take about four minutes and Deputy Connolly will take whatever time she needs. I welcome the introduction of a cap on market revenues for energy companies, just as I welcomed the temporary solidarity contribution, but it comes far too late. The damage was done last winter. We all saw the obscene profits energy companies made while people were freezing in their homes because they could not afford to heat their homes.

Some one in three people live in energy poverty, and those companies made billions out of pushing people into poverty. This was the time that we needed this legislation, when we could do something about the blatant price gouging and profiteering that was going on. The Government has dragged its feet on this every step of the way, just like the Government has dragged its feet in every aspect of reacting to the climate crisis. In its latest synthesis report this spring, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, put it simply, stating that we face a clear choice between fossil fuel profits or a livable future. So far, every time this Government has been asked that question it has answered "Profits". In the temporary solidarity contribution the Government was even allowing these companies to keep the 20% of excess profits they made from price gouging everybody, including the most vulnerable.

Where have we better seen this than in the Government's clear pandering to data centres? The Government has been hard at work in making Ireland a world leader in an economic activity that is one of the most destructive to the planet. It has been selling the public down the road, not just by the fact that these centres make it impossible for us to meet our climate targets, but in the massive strains they will put on our electricity production. Our last speaker made the point that the CRU said there will be an increase in the amount of gigawatts generated and that will support our grid. However, if the data centres keep getting built they will just gobble up those gigawatts over a period of time. Either way, it is the people of this country who pay the price, and everybody loses out in this increased destruction of the planet.

We need change in how we are facing down the climate crisis and we need real action, not targets that do not mean anything and that we have no intention of meeting. The Minister of State knows that the science is in. We need a fundamental shift in how we organise economic activity if we and our planet are going to survive this climate catastrophe. Capitalism's need for constant growth and profit is incompatible with a livable planet. There cannot be any more data centres, massive profits for fossil fuel and energy companies or missed targets. The only way we will all survive this is by a State response. We should nationalise these companies, socialise the consumption of energy and get rid of the profit motive that is, on one hand, pushing tens of thousands into poverty, and on the other hand, killing our planet and potentially everything on it. We need to tax these companies out of existence, not just for their price gouging and profiteering, but to save our planet. We need to nationalise them so we can have a proper State response to phasing out fossil fuels and moving to a renewable energy system. That needs to be done at EU or international level.

I support this Bill, I support capping market revenues and I support taxing back what these companies gouged out of people's pockets. However, it will all mean nothing if we do not implement fundamental change in how we organise our economy. If we do not do that, the horrors of climate breakdown that millions of people across the planet are experiencing, even now, will get us all. End this pandering to data centres and fossil fuels. Get out of the energy companies pockets and start acting on this climate crisis before it is too late.

I have been dealing with an elderly woman and I want to use that example to talk about how this impacts on people individually. She lives in ALONE older person's accommodation and she is facing an electricity bill of €1,250 that has accumulated since last September or October. She has had the Government credits and she lives frugally. She is not turning on her lights all of the time and she does not use central heating; she has another source of heating. However, she is now facing those arrears. This is an 82-year old woman on a pension and that is very difficult. We are looking into it and we are trying to support her and resolve the issue for her by making an agreement with the electricity company. These are the types of bills that some people are still facing, and they are entering into another winter when there will be huge pressure to heat their homes and keep people from freezing. That is a reality check for a lot of people who are facing these high electricity bills.

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