Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Ireland's electricity grid is not fit for purpose. It is holding back housing delivery across the State. It is stalling renewable energy projects and limiting development in towns, villages and rural areas. It did not just happen by accident and it did not happen overnight. It is the result of years of underinvestment, poor planning and mismanagement by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments. For too long, they have treated the national grid as something to be managed around rather than something to be built up for the future, and now we are paying the price. Builders cannot build homes. Families cannot move in. Businesses and communities cannot grow. The grid simply does not have the capacity. This failure to plan and invest properly has become a brake on the entire economy and especially on our ability as a society to tackle the housing crisis.

The Bill before us provides for €1.5 billion in investment in ESB Networks between 2026 and 2030. While that level of investment is very welcome and very necessary, we wait to see if it turns out to be more than pie in the sky and if the delivery on the ground will be felt, because we have heard it all before.

Government press releases have never been in short supply but they have been like confetti in the past few months. What is missing in all of this is consistent delivery, transparency and fairness.

We do support investment in the grid. We see it as essential but we have concerns about the way the Government is going about this. Ramming a Bill through without proper safeguards, accountability and a clear focus on the public good will only repeat the mistakes of the past. Sinn Féin wants to see a grid that serves people, not corporate interests. We have submitted amendments to guarantee proper parliamentary oversight of ESB borrowing, to ring-fence investment for housing and community needs, to protect consumers from higher prices and to ensure independent auditing of how this public money is spent.

We also need to think about this moment in a broader and historical sense. In the 1950s, the State undertook the rural electrification project, which was a national effort that transformed every parish and townland in Ireland. It was driven by determination, ambition and a simple principle, namely, that no community should be left behind. That same drive is needed again today. If we applied the same vision and determination that our grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ generations once did, we could end the housing crisis that is hollowing out the social fabric of our towns and villages and driving young families from rural communities.

The investment must be about connecting homes before data centres, building fairness into the system and ensuring that no community is locked out because the grid cannot cope. It must be about energy independence, affordable electricity and balanced regional development and growth. The grid we build now will shape the kind of country we become. It must be built for homes and the communities they sustain, and for the future we hope to deliver for our children.

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