Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Gould. I thank the Minister of State for his statement. We have been over this ground a number of times in discussing similar legislation. I broadly welcome this initiative as we go into the winter. I do not agree, however, with a number of provisions in the legislation. The assistance given should have gone further this winter. We will deal with that further on Committee Stage, which takes place later today. There are significant shortcomings in the Government's approach. We recognise, however, that ordinary workers and families need swift and urgent relief from high energy bills this coming winter. Therefore, Sinn Féin will seek to amend rather than reject the Bill.

Ordinary workers and families are facing into yet another extremely difficult winter. Households remain crippled under the weight of Ireland's exorbitantly high energy costs, which are far above the European average. Energy prices remain 70% to 80% higher than they were in 2022. More than a quarter of a million households are in arrears with their electricity bills, with more than one in five gas customers also in arrears. Calls to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and other organisations continue to skyrocket. Energy poverty is once again on the up.

Two credits of €125 each simply do not go far enough. This is compounded by the fact the first instalment of €125 will almost certainly be totally wiped out by the rise in network costs and in the public service obligation, PSO, levy announced by the energy regulator last month. Those increases, which are already in place, have the potential to add a staggering €140 to consumer bills over the year. Ordinary workers and families need more support to get through the cost-of-living crisis that continues to wreak havoc in people's lives. The Government must do more to provide relief. Sinn Féin has proposed an energy credit of €450 to account for the fact consumer bills have not fallen far enough or quickly enough. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are great at spin and bluster and claiming they have people's backs, but they are not prepared to put their money where their mouth is. Instead, they are content to waste millions of euro on phone pouches, bike sheds, security huts and the like.

In Sinn Féin, we recognise that these short-term measures, while essential in the face of Ireland's stubbornly high energy costs, are not enough on their own. This is because Ireland's energy market prioritises the corporate balance sheet over the needs of ordinary workers and families. Energy companies have almost free rein to run roughshod over consumers. Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and Fine Gael stand idly by, while rolling out the red carpet for data centres and acting as mere commentators when energy giants run off into the sunset with windfall profits in the midst of an energy crisis. The Government is content to keep applying a sticking plaster over a gaping wound that is bleeding the country dry. Ordinary workers and families are always left with the short end of the stick.

This is borne out by the fact Irish households pay the highest electricity prices in Europe. Before the market was liberalised, in which the Green Party had an important role, Irish energy prices were some of the lowest in Europe. Decades of bad planning and mismanagement by successive Governments led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have created this mess. Yet, the Government is doing absolutely nothing to resolve it. To make matters worse, energy prices have fallen much more slowly here than they have in other EU states. Wholesale energy prices have fallen significantly and are now 75% lower than at their peak in 2022. After two years, those decreases have yet to be passed on to the consumer. The reason, we are told, is hedging. The regulator has absolutely zero ability to monitor or regulate such practices. There is zero oversight and that is totally unacceptable.

In Sinn Féin, we have a real diagnosis and real solutions. We have brought forward a suite of measures to tackle Ireland's high energy prices. We will hold energy companies to account, rather than the Government's approach of treating them with kid gloves. In our effort to fundamentally reorganise the energy market, our measures include steps to decouple wholesale gas from the price of electricity and reform the structure and distribution of the regressive PSO levy. We will regulate and restructure network charges to end the disproportionate burden these charges place on ordinary workers and families. We want to ensure large energy users such as data centres finally start to pay their fair share. Our legislation also ensures the regulator will have the mandate to hold energy companies to account when setting the standing charge, which is how network charges are passed on to consumer bills. We would curb excessive market freedoms. We would revise existing governance mechanisms to direct and support commercial semi-State bodies to meet higher renewable energy targets. We would amend the existing dividend policy to allow for greater levels of investment in renewable energy this decade. Achieving our climate targets can be part of a just transition.

To address the chaos in the energy market and tighten up the regulatory regime, we would strengthen the CRU's mandate by giving it new powers to regulate hedging practices and anticompetitive behaviours of energy giants. We would establish a hedging monitoring unit. There would be enhanced transparency and accountability via increased reporting responsibilities, bringing us in line with our European counterparts. We would also increase the resourcing of the CRU to carry out these new responsibilities.

In order to reduce energy prices, we need to build more renewables. It is the lack of progress by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in this area that has left us overdependent on expensive imported fossil fuels and overexposed to the vagaries of the international market and geopolitical crises. This is why we in Sinn Féin have proposed the establishment of a renewable energy investment fund to invest in Irish energy independence, with increased public ownership of renewables in order that our vast natural resources can be translated into national wealth for all.

While we will not object to this Bill, we believe the credit should have been much higher. Sinn Féin is committed to addressing the inequity and dysfunction at the heart of Ireland's energy market for good, leading to lower prices over the long term.

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