Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)

Once again, we are asked to hand the Government and the ESB a blank cheque of €5 billion in borrowing authority and €1.5 billion more in taxpayer capital, with no plan, no accountability and no guarantees of benefit to the Irish people. Let us be honest in this House: the Government record on energy policy is a record of failure. Ireland now has the second highest household energy prices in the entire European Union. Eurostat confirms we now pay around 48 cent per kilowatt-hour, compared with 31 cent across Europe, 27 cent in France and 30 cent in the Kingdom of Spain. Ireland is an energy-rich island paying poverty prices, but the only constant has been Government complacency.

Ordinary people are being crushed. This winter, working families - not just the poorest of working families but working families who are doing everything right, paying their bills and getting up early in the morning, going to work and putting in their shifts and time - are choosing between heating their houses and what they are purchasing in Lidl, Aldi, Dunnes or SuperValu. The are picking between whether they can afford this or that for the child or how merry Christmas will be because they have to heat the house as well.

Last week, I met with a pensioner and sat in his home, a cottage in Rathcooney in County Cork, wrapped in a blanket with one heater going and a hot water bottle. That gentleman finds it so difficult to find the money to pay the electricity bills coming into his house because it is an old property. He does not have the moneys to do the property up, despite what is available from the Government in terms of grants. I have spoken to small business owners from Ballincollig to Little Island who are telling me they are closing early or closing one day a week just to save on energy and lighting costs. That is not progress. It is an absolute scandal. What has been the Government's response? It has been to let the ESB report profits of €868 million. While the State dividend rolls in, the households of Ireland have to tighten their belts, are told to put on an extra jumper or, as the Minister of State's predecessor suggested, share the heating with their neighbour and go from house to house. That is not an energy policy. It is daylight robbery, dressed up as climate virtue.

I support the investment in the grid but, let us be clear, the failure to build proper infrastructure lies squarely at the feet of this Government. Every builder, developer and employer in Ireland can tell you the same thing. The biggest barrier to growth is not the planning red tape; it is the supply of power and water. Projects have been delayed because there is no grid capacity, factories are stalled because there is no connection to take them and housing estates are refused planning because the system simply cannot cope, in respect of both energy and water. That is not the fault of the planner, the engineer or the local authority. It is the failure of national leadership. It is a failure of plans and a failure to invest in the future and think ahead.

Ireland has some of the highest taxes in Europe and the largest budget surplus in the history of the State, yet the State cannot guarantee enough electricity or water to build homes or businesses. That is the definition of incompetence on the Government's side. If this Bill is to mean anything, it must mark the end of complacency and the raising of the ESB borrowing limit to €17 billion must come with strict conditions. There must be full transparency around the borrowings, an independent audit and legally binding timelines for the grid expansion. Timelines for grid expansion are vital. Every euro must go on real infrastructure, stronger cabling, faster connections, rural upgrades and modern sustainability.

No more can we have the day of the consultant and report after report. No more can we have bureaucracy and another round of self-congratulating Ministers who have failed to deliver. Ireland deserves an energy system that works and fully supports families, industries and home building. The people who are paying the bills deserve answers, not excuses. I say clearly to those on the Government benches that before they lecture us on public sustainability, make sure people can afford to turn on the lights. The Government is not addressing that.

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