Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

ESB Group is enormously profitable. It receives significant funding from the taxpayer by way of the public service obligation levy. Yesterday, the CEO of the ESB stated that the cost of repairing damage to the network caused by the recent storm would be borne by customers in their bills. We have previously discussed the hardship that has been wrought by the storm, where so many of the ESB's customers went without power for weeks. Indeed, some 17,000 remain without power. Remember that over the past four years, ESB customers have been squeezed by rip-off prices, paying among the most expensive rates in the European Union.

3 o’clock

Now the ESB, which is sitting on vast profits, tells customers that they will foot the repair bill. What does the Taoiseach propose to do about this? It is very clear that there must be an intervention. People already pay too much.

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