Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)

I very much welcome this Bill, given the urgent need to take active steps towards financing and upgrading our creaking energy grid. If that requires amending an outdated series of rules around ESB borrowing, we should get on and do exactly that.

Clearly there is a need here, if the existing laws and limits go back to the 1950s or the 2000s.

The Bill deals with the current ESB fund of €13.4 billion for the PR6 investment programme and the construction of the North-South interconnector, which is a critical piece of infrastructure, but my concern is more on the micro level than on the macro level. It is all well and good investing in the grid and energy infrastructure, but what good will that do if we continue having homes in entire communities, and indeed businesses, living with blackouts. If we do not do the simple things right, like cutting back trees that knock down power lines, we are missing the point entirely. A reinforced grid is one thing but maintaining continuity of supply often comes down to the small, local and practical details. Given that the State will grant an additional €1.5 billion in shares or capital stock in ESB, we also need firm assurances that this level of taxpayer investment will be protected.

I have major concerns around the persistence of moving towards such levels of so-called renewable energy for our grid. I am not at all convinced that the economic, environmental or infrastructural arguments relating to wind energy, for example, are as credible as people think, and I am extremely concerned about the lack of protections for many communities throughout the State. In my constituency of Offaly, I have constituents complaining about infrasound from a wind farm. They are not being listened to. We have no guidelines and we have absolutely no protections for those communities. I have called time and again for a moratorium on wind farms until the guidelines are published but, more importantly, until the guidelines give balance to this whole debate and argument and protect communities and their rights and so far that is not happening. It is shocking to see wind farms being imposed on communities that are completely opposed. I have also had an issue with farms in Offaly where it is affecting animals. Not alone is it affecting the residents, but it is affecting the animals in the fields. I have had reports of livestock having to be moved when a wind farm went into north Offaly. That is not fair. We need a balance between communities and corporate entities.

I will end on electricity prices. As I have stated here previously, giving energy credits, which were welcomed by many struggling households around the State, was letting the energy companies off the hook. Why are the energy companies allowed to continue to profiteer? I call on Government to tackle that issue head on. It has to be tackled. We are all elected here to represent communities throughout the State, not to represent the energy companies. That needs to be tackled and there needs to be fairness.

I ask again for the energy companies to be brought in before the Oireachtas committee on energy and climate. That needs to happen quickly. I have had constituents, including pensioners and ordinary hard-working families who are stretched trying to pay bills and, indeed, businesses, into my offices and I know for a fact that many small businesses have closed because they just were not able to meet the high energy costs.

It is wrong that Government is continuing to sit back and allow the energy companies to profiteer when people and small businesses are struggling. Are we not here to represent the ordinary people and the small SMEs around the State who create huge employment? Is that not our purpose here? My understanding was that was why we were all elected here. It was not to represent corporate entities; it was to represent communities and our constituents. I am calling for Government to tackle this issue of extortionate electricity prices once and for all.

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