Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

Beidh mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama leis na Teachtaí O'Hara, Ní Fhearghail, O'Rourke agus Newsome Drennan. I have come from the committee the Minister mentioned and apologise for being a couple of minutes late.

Workers and families across the country are being hammered by soaring energy costs and it is happening on this Government's watch. Despite all the promises made before the election to protect workers and families from further increases in energy bills that were already eye-watering, the opposite is being done. For the first time in five years, there are no energy credits. At precisely the moment energy companies announced a fresh round of price hikes, the energy credits were withdrawn. Energia, Bord Gais, SSE, Airtricity and Pinergy all piled on, adding hundreds of euro to household bills. Then the supports were ripped away, contrary, as we now know, to advice given by Government advisors that they were very much needed. As if people were not frustrated enough, the fact this was done despite the warnings of how badly it could go is a total slap in the face to hard-pressed energy-bill payers. Does the Minister seriously think ordinary workers and families can afford the extra €321 on their bills when they already pay some of the highest prices in the EU? The officials warned bills would skyrocket and the number of households in arrears would further spike, and this has happened. The one lifeline people had to help them keep the lights on and stay warm this winter was ripped away.

Already we have a record-breaking figure of over 300,000 households in arrears. Disconnections are up 50% on last year. Those are not just statistics; they are real people and families terrified of what is about to come. Rolling out the tired excuse or explanation that the Government's hands are tied will not cut it. The extortionate cost of energy here is not inevitable; it is a result of political choices made. Promises were made last year but it seems to ordinary people they were just an attempt to buy the election. This is the result of inaction since then. The report we received today could not have made that any clearer. The Government was warned of the fallout but chose to proceed in any event. It was also made clear by the Government's complete failure to end the price gouging by the energy companies. It continues to prioritise the corporate bottom line over the needs of workers and families. More and more households cannot afford to pay skyrocketing bills while energy companies ride off into the sunset with massive profits.

Let us look at the facts. Wholesale energy prices have fallen 75% since their peak in 2022 but retail prices remain sky high at between 50% and 70% above 2021 levels. Average household electricity bills have basically doubled in the past five years from €976 to an expected €1,877 this winter. Who in their right minds thinks this is okay? It is a total rip-off and the Minister knows it.

Energy companies are riding roughshod over consumers and being let away with it. The energy regulator has no effective powers to regulate hedging practices or standing charges despite legislation Sinn Féin introduced to fix that and mandate the regulator to prioritise energy affordability. Unsurprisingly, those pieces of legislation were blocked by the Government.

The Government betrayed households once again with carbon tax hikes on home heating oil. The cost of a tank of home heating oil has already risen by €220 and last week we learned the Government - Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Regional Independents and the Healy-Rae brothers - plans to increase this by a further €150 over the next few years. Last week there was a motion here and a chance to vote against these carbon tax increases and to support our Bill but once again the Government failed to do so. Nearly 1 million households rely on oil to heat their homes, especially in rural Ireland. Ministers cannot continue to shrug their shoulders. Enough is enough.

We are calling for immediate action to reintroduce the energy credits of three payments of €150; reverse the carbon tax increase and scrap further hikes; give the energy regulator real powers to hold the companies to account and stop profiteering; and make data centres pay their fair share. Treat energy as a public good, not a commodity for profit. Translate our national resources into national wealth for all.

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