Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

I too welcome our guests in the Gallery. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward the motion tonight. It is timely. Many households will be looking in on this debate with eagerness because winter is approaching. We broadly agree with most aspects of the motion before us this evening. We live in a country where energy prices are among the highest in Europe. That reality is hitting households hard, with hundreds of thousands of families in arrears and many more just keeping their heads above water. The truth is that energy poverty is now a daily reality for far too many people and it very clearly demands urgent and serious attention.

Where we do disagree with the motion is on the proposal to roll out universal energy credits. Not everybody in the country needs them. Clearly we are a country of haves and have-nots and there are very many people who are cutting their cloth close to the bone. Lots of people can pay their energy bills but many more are really struggling. We believe the measures should be targeted. What resources we have should be spent on those who really need support, such as low-income households, people who are already in arrears, families, and schools who are being pushed quite close to the brink. This is where targeted action is most effective, otherwise we are spreading the money too thinly and it becomes more about the optics than the outcomes.

In our constituencies schools are feeling the crisis in a particularly acute way. Rutland Street school is one school I have spoken about in this Chamber on more than one occasion. Their electricity costs are among their biggest annual expenses, like so many other schools. They have now reached the point where they are relying on the so-called advance funding. This is not extra money or new investment; it is just borrowing from their own future budgets. This does not solve anything, or lessen the anxiety that comes with knowing how they are going to keep the lights on come January, rather than simply keeping the heating on come October. It is a sign of the reality that schools across the country are in financially precarious positions and it punishes children in the process. If we are serious about tackling the cost-of-living crisis, and particularly targeted energy costs, then schools such as Rutland Street have to be part of the conversation.

There is a wider point here too. A transition that leaves behind our most vulnerable is not a just transition. We need a people-first approach where nobody is left behind. Right now too many households are being asked to shoulder costs when large corporations continue to consume vast amounts of electricity at a fraction of the budget. It is quite clearly not fair. It is very obviously not sustainable. The failures are clear also when we are looking at housing. My colleague, Deputy Whitmore, recently pointed out the Dublin City Council figures that just 17% of apartments under the council's remit have been retrofitted. This is shocking. It is not a Dublin-only issue. The same story is playing out in towns and cities right across the country. If we are not retrofitting our public housing stock, we are condemning thousands of families to remain in energy poverty indefinitely.

Yes we agree with much of the motion. We need emergency measures and we need stronger oversight of energy companies. We need to ensure that the profits of the few do not come at the expense of so many, including our schools. We do, however, also need to be clear about what must be targeted directly to those in arrears, to those in our school communities, and to those who are on the brink. That is the only way we can alleviate the current crisis and build a fairer, people-first energy future.

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