Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)

Ireland's energy bills are among the highest in Europe. Households across the State see their bills continue to rise and have to balance paying their bills, keeping a roof over their heads and putting food on the table. Sometimes this balancing act is simply not possible. I meet people across my constituency forced to make the most difficult of decisions. Families are forced to choose which essentials they must do without to stay on top of bills. We are seeing record levels of energy arrears. There are now over 300,000 households in arrears on their energy bills.

Despite this trend of rising energy costs, rising energy arrears and rising energy poverty, Government refused to include energy credits or a broader cost-of-living package in this year's budget. This decision flies in the face of the Government's national energy affordability task force.

Its interim report detailed the critical impact that energy credits played in supporting households. Today, our colleague, Lynn Boylan, MEP, has uncovered that the decision to remove energy credits was also made despite evidence from the Minister's own officials, who noted that the case for energy credits was stronger this year than last, that households would have to find an extra €321 to cover energy costs and that an energy scheme for struggling households was shelved. How can this be justified? This decision not to support families and households was a political choice. Realistically, the only difference between this year and last is that last year we had a general election on the horizon.

As well as having their energy credits pulled, households are hit. Once again, Energia, SSE Airtricity, Pinergy, Bord Gáis Energy and Flogas are all imposing fresh price hikes, with energy companies refusing to pass on the full reductions in wholesale costs. The Minister refuses to take on the energy companies, to empower the regulator or to reform hedging prices, the pricing system, the PSO or network charges. It is time for the Minister to act and intervene on behalf of customers who are being ripped off.

In recent weeks, we have heard of the cost of home heating oil shooting up by €80. We know the cost of driving continues to be very high, which is an absolute necessity for people in rural Ireland. Yet the Government continues to proceed with carbon tax increases that will continue to push these costs up in the months and years ahead. Whether the Minister wishes to acknowledge it or not, a cost-of-living crisis is happening. He needs to wake up to this reality, provide supports in the here and now, help people to get through this winter and tackle companies that are ripping people off.

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