Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)

I add to Deputy Crowe's congratulations to the Ceann Comhairle on the manner in which she hosted the visit of President Zelenskyy and his entourage yesterday.

Rising energy costs in Ireland seem as if they are inexorable and progressive, without restraint or any hope of correction. They are punishing and unsustainable. They affect families, businesses, the economy and competitiveness. While I accept this is an international problem because of the rapid economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, reducing investment in fossil fuel production in the past decade and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we must still be cognisant that households are opening bills with a sense of dread. Our electricity costs are among the highest in Europe. People do not need another index; they need fairness.

Something is deeply off about this market. Ordinary people cannot understand why electricity retail prices are 200% to 300% higher than wholesale prices. I can understanding hedging, but there is deep suspicion of profiteering. There is a moral hazard. Our energy suppliers are no less susceptible to this than anyone else. Try to explain hedging to ordinary people and families.

Ireland has vulnerabilities. We rely heavily on natural gas and an expensive grid. The drive to sustainable and clean solar and wind-generated energy takes time. Thankfully, 40% of our energy is already renewable and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has suggested we will get to 60% in the next couple of years. None of this, however, explains why the gap between wholesale and retail electricity prices is bigger here than almost anywhere else in Europe in spite of the assertions of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU. People are not naive. They are asking who is watching the watchers. Right now, the State regulator cannot cap prices. It cannot directly stop unjustified price hikes or intervene when retail prices diverge far from reality. We need a market that works, not one that hides behind complexity because complexity reeks of anti-competitive behaviour.

Here is what I believe must happen. We need real transparency around pricing, not vague statements; strong regulatory powers that ensure competition; and a rapid transition to Irish-generated renewable energy. We must continue to protect the households with the least resources.

The Government has done that with targeted supports, such as increasing the fuel allowance and the maintenance of the 9% VAT rate.

I will paraphrase a recent successful election campaign: a country we can afford; running for office to lower the cost of living for working-class people; building affordable housing; childcare for all; reducing the cost of energy; ensuring affordable groceries. That was not in Ireland; it was in New York city. It went on: life does not have to be this hard, life can be more affordable and it is a government's job to deliver it. That was the campaign of Zohran Mamdani in New York city. These issues are international but we must solve our own problems by disruption of the status quoand with a meaningful, determined strategic development of affordable, clean, abundant, sustainable energy.

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