Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

I appreciate that. What I would welcome in the Government’s response is an indication that it would be happy for such a resolution to come before us. We will work on the wording of the resolution with the Government. This should not go unpassed. We should not go into recess this evening when there are citizens in international waters being attacked by Israel through drones, including one of our own colleagues, Senator Chris Andrews. I ask the Government to say it is supportive of that. As I said, I welcomed the words yesterday from the Minister.

That was a point of order. I now move to the issue that I wish to raise today. Tá an Rialtas seo tar éis cead a gcinn a thabhairt dóibh siúd atá ag breith buntáiste ar dhaoine arís is arís eile. Níl a dhath déanta ag an Rialtas chun smacht a chur orthu ná chun stop a chur lena gcuid praghsanna atá ag ardú agus ag ardú arís eile. Má tá muid leis an fhírinne a insint, ní raibh na creidmheasanna fuinnimh riamh mar réiteach ná deireadh na bhfadhbanna. Bhíodar in ainm tuilleadh ama a thabhairt don Rialtas chun smacht a fháil ar an ghéarchéim seo, ach níl a dhath déanta. Arís is arís eile, tá moltaí curtha chun tosaigh againn ach déanann an Rialtas neamhaird orthu.

It is open season for price gouging and profiteering. Insurance companies, banks, large supermarkets and energy companies are making obscene profits on the backs of ordinary workers, all with the approval of the Government. Insurance companies are making two or three times more profits here than elsewhere. Bailed-out banks are making billions and paying no tax. We have the highest electricity prices in Europe yet, still, energy companies come forward and are hitting households with double-digit hikes in their bills in the coming weeks.

Last week, the Minister's party leader stood where the Minister is today and said: “I want people at home to know that we hear them on the cost of energy and know about the cost of living.” He said that the Government would take action. The very next day, SSE Airtricity became the latest to announce massive hikes in its electricity prices - over 10% - on the foot of four other companies doing the same. These companies know they have nothing to fear from Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil because they have let them rip people off again and again. They have done absolutely nothing to rein in the companies and nothing to stop them hiking their prices up and up.

Let me be clear. Energy credits were never the full answer. They were supposed to buy the Government time. They were supposed to allow it time to get a handle on the crisis but the Government did not do anything. Arís is arís eile, we gave the Government solutions, including powers for the energy regulator to hold energy companies to account, oversight of hedging practices to protect against price gouging, regulation of standing charges, making the PSO levy and network charges fair, and stopping electricity companies profiteering from expensive gas. These could all have cut bills and taken the pressure off ordinary working people but, instead, the Government chose to do nothing.

Instead of ending the rip-off and getting prices under control, the Government is actually making things worse. Landlords are allowed to increase rents, there are carbon tax increases after carbon tax increases, and student fees and local property taxes are going up as a result of Government decisions. This has all been pushed on people at the same time that they are getting hit by double-digit increases in their energy bills. People feel like they are drowning in the cost of living crisis.

We have heard Minister after Minister this week and last tell us what they have done about this measure and that measure, and I am sure the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will get to his feet and list off all of them again. I am not taking anything away from those measures. I am telling the Minister about the effect. There are more people today, as we speak, behind on their bills than ever before. That is the definition of things getting worse. Does the Minister accept there are more people today who cannot pay their electricity and gas bills than ever before? Will he do the right thing and put energy credits back on the table for this year's budget? Will he use that time to make the reforms that Sinn Féin has repeatedly called on him to make to ensure we end this rip-off on electricity prices and get costs under control?

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