Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

I am glad the Minister mentioned the discussion he is having with the energy companies. Many of them say they had to put up prices due to the network charges, but network charges only rose by about €29 this year. At a recent meeting of the climate committee, the justification for the price hikes by, for example, Energia came under scrutiny. There are concerns that these are being used as an excuse but we in Sinn Féin introduced legislation to enable the Government to hold energy companies to account and it was rejected by the Government. There is no point in sitting down with energy companies, who not only have to make profit this year, but have to make increased profit next year and the year after that, without proper structures to hold them to account and challenge their narrative that it is all due to the war in Ukraine or to network charges. They should be held to account and have to justify their price increases year on year and month after month.

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