Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What is clear after the budget is that there is no Government plan to alleviate the pressures placed on households by the energy companies. While short-term measures are needed, Sinn Féin knows that to address the dysfunction in the Irish energy market, longer term measures also need to be taken. Wholesale energy prices have fallen by 75% since their peak, yet households are still paying 70% to 80% more, and 30% to 40% are in energy poverty because the energy market does not function for ordinary workers or families. The Government continued with the weak regulatory regime despite Sinn Féin introducing legislation to empower the regulator to hold the companies to account.

I disagree with Deputy Devlin. Although households need a one-off payment, which we welcome, the approach being taken is the problem. The first credit will be wiped out by the PSO levy and the network costs announced recently, so it is not all roses. Most of the money is gone after the first increase and that is why we would have increased the energy credit to €450.

The issue goes deeper, however. The design of the levy itself is wrong. It focuses on the peak rather than the total demand, which obscures trends and results in the burden being borne disproportionately by households relative to the data centres or other large energy users. The restructuring of the PSO levy and the reform of the electricity market are needed. Sinn Féin would address the dysfunction, which was enabled by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. These parties were all instrumental in putting up the prices in the Irish market.

See this speech in context