Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I understand the pressure on households and families as a result of energy price increases. We are living through a period of huge issues around energy, particularly since Russia invaded Ukraine. The Government has intervened, particularly at the height of that crisis, in a substantial way. However, retail prices are influenced by several factors, as the Deputy knows, including wholesale energy prices and supplier hedging. In Ireland, our long-standing reliance on fossil fuels, specifically gas, for electricity generation has been a driver of higher energy costs. That is a reality that the Deputy would have to acknowledge. It is a fundamental problem with our energy mix. Our location, as an isolated island, and our low density and widely dispersed population, also influence prices and have necessitated substantial investment in the grid.

The programme for Government committed to an independent review into the speed and level of pass-through from wholesale prices to retail prices, with an additional assessment of the overall price dynamics and an overall focus on the competitiveness of our economy. The Minister established the national energy affordability task force to identify, assess and implement measures that will enhance energy affordability for households and businesses while delivering key renewable commitments and protecting security of supply and economic stability. That task force will shortly publish an interim report and will consider measures to support customers throughout 2025 and 2026 and the forthcoming winter. More crucially, it will provide recommendations in respect of structural reforms that can be undertaken to reduce the cost of energy and electricity. There have to be structural reforms. I know, politically speaking, that everybody wants to have their usual soundbites and have a go at this and that, but how prices in the energy market are determined is fundamentally a structural issue.

The Minister will meanwhile continue to engage with the companies. We in the Government will take measures to protect people, particularly those on the lowest incomes. For those on the highest incomes, the Deputy is saying we should continue with the energy credits.

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