Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

Twenty-nine per cent of Irish households are now living in fuel poverty. That is the highest number on record. The percentage of domestic electricity customers in arrears is heading towards 13%. Some 300,000 electricity customers and 183,000 gas customers are in arrears. Since 2021, electricity costs have increased by 69%. The cost of gas has increased by 102% in the same period. Electricity companies are still jacking up those prices. It is incredible.

The Minister and the Government always talk about the fact that we have high wholesale prices in Ireland. The fact of the matter is that we have the biggest gap between wholesale prices and retail prices practically throughout the EU. It is not the wholesale price that is the significant problem for so many people. It is the fact the Government allows these companies to price gouge.

It is not just private companies that are doing it. The ESB is a semi-State body that is meant to be delivering Government policy. It is one of the biggest players in the market and it made a profit of €706 million last year. A profit of €706 million made by a semi-State body during a cost-of-living crisis is absolutely wrong.

We then come to the level of taxation on fuel this Government is implementing. It is quite incredible. A reply to an Aontú parliamentary question showed that the Government took in €4.1 billion of taxes on fuel last year, which is the highest total ever, in the jaws of a cost-of-living crisis. Last year, the Government took in €1 billion in carbon taxes, the most it has ever taken, in the jaws of a cost-of-living crisis. In fact, the Government has increasing carbon taxes set in law for the next five years irrespective of the economic situation of families across the country. It has built in taxation on fuel irrespective of whether people are in fuel poverty. That is absolutely a sin. It is incredible. I do not think this Government actually cares. It has built a dysfunctional energy market, and that dysfunction is hitting customers in the pocket.

Deputy Barry Ward talked a few minutes ago about the fact the cost of renewables is lower than the price of gas, yet that is not being passed on to customers. The truth is that the Government's law has built in a link between the price of electricity and gas. Electricity is priced at the highest input costs in terms of electricity, and that is the Government's law.

The Comptroller and Auditor General has said that only 2.1% of the €190 million fund that was collected to help people in energy arrears has been paid out. It is only €3 million of €190 million that has been collected. The Government has the urgency of a half-cut snail when it comes to helping people with the difficulties with which they are dealing.

I have heard other TDs talk about advancements in renewable energy. Some of the information here is quite amazing. Does the Minister of State know how many biodigesters are linked to the gas grid at the moment? There is one. For all the talk over decades about biodigesters and the fact that they can bring in renewable gas and help farmers, only one biodigester is plugged in.

There were seven offshore wind turbines but they are being decommissioned. We now have no offshore wind turbines in the country. There have been more offshore wind conferences held by the Government than there are individual turbines in this country. The Government is worse than useless in the delivery of infrastructure that is necessary for people to survive and as a result, prices are spiking and families are being hurt.

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