Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)

I thank the Social Democrats for bringing this topic before us today. This topic is in everyone's mouth, that the cost of everything has gone up. There is a major difference between one supermarket and another. There are different prices in different towns. No one can understand who the regulator is, what he is doing or where he is because he is not visible to any of us. The regulator does not seem to be playing an effective role. We see that oil prices fluctuate; they go up and down. We hear the oil price goes down but it takes two or three weeks for fuel prices to go down. If the oil price goes up, fuel prices seem to go up the following morning. They are the things people are talking about. There are monopolies, where certain companies distributing or selling different things seem to have a monopoly and can charge what they like.

People are being advised by several parties and different politicians in this Chamber to go electric. Yet, since Bord na Móna closed down in 2020 the price of electricity has gone up daily. I do not know where the regulator is or who is in charge of that. He does not seem to be there at all. Electricity prices are going up and at the same time people are advised to put in heat pumps and to go electric. They are coming to me with bills of €400, €500 or €600 for whatever the period is and they cannot understand it. Of course, there is a heat pump going and twisting the meter around all day every day, sunny or cold. This is what they were advised to do and it is what they did.

Farmers are not being paid a realistic price. For example, it would not make sense for farmers here in Ireland to sell potatoes to the supermarket because the supermarkets are selling them for less, wherever they are getting them, than they could pay the farmers. Deputy Toole talked about the price of grain, which is at an all-time low. It is grand to come up from Kerry and move into good land along the way and see all the fields of grain and corn turning yellow and gold. However, it is sorrowful to hear that farmers are not being paid properly for that. Where are the regulators? What is happening? Are we importing grain at a cheaper price? We are hurt when we hear that good land is being planted with solar panels - another idea by some geniuses. Food security is important to us. We need to understand that and keep it in mind all the time. We are a small nation and if we have to import a lot of our food, it will become far more expensive.

On the cost of insurance, we hear of all the different things that have been said and done to the insurance companies. Notwithstanding that, insurance goes up every year. Everyone inside here knows it and the people who are paying through the nose every day know it, and there is no regulation. Whatever these regulators are being paid, many of them are not worth their pay because they are not transparent and they do not seem to be acting. We need to see and hear more regulation from them because they do not seem to be visible to me or anyone else at present.

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