Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh na scoláirí ó Chonamara atá anseo. Is deas an rud é go bhfuil daoine ag tabhairt cuairte ar Thithe an Oireachtais arís. Tá an costas maireachtála ag cur brú millteanach ar oibrithe agus teaghlaigh ar fud an Stáit ar bhonn laethúil. Ní chuireann aon rud béim níos mó ar an dúshlán atá ar theaghlaigh ná an costas uafásach a bhaineann le cúram leanaí. I go leor áiteanna agus do go leor daoine, cosnaíonn sé sin níos mó ná dara morgáiste ná cíos míosa. I mBaile Átha Cliath, tagann táillí cúraim leanaí isteach ag níos mó ná €1,200 in aghaidh na míosa de réir suirbhé a rinne Newstalk ar na mallaibh. Ar fud an Stáit, tá na costais sin os cionn €800 in aghaidh na míosa ar an mheán. Is é sin an táille do pháiste amháin. Is í an fhírinne nach féidir le tuismitheoirí fanacht níos faide agus go gcaithfear táillí cúraim leanaí a laghdú go suntasach. Níos moille inniu, foilseoidh Sinn Féin ár bpolasaí, ina leagfar amach go soiléir an dóigh inar féidir linn táillí cúraim leanaí a ghearradh do theaghlaigh. Is féidir é seo a dhéanamh trí mhaoiniú suntasach a thabhairt don earnáil mar mhalairt ar na taillí a laghdú dhá thrian.

The cost-of-living crisis is crippling workers and families throughout the State on a daily basis. Nothing highlights the challenges faced by households more than the outrageous cost of childcare. It is the equivalent to, or sometimes more than, a second mortgage or a month's rent for many people. In Dublin childcare fees come in at more than €1,200 per month per child according to a recent Newstalk survey. Statewide they are more than €800 per month on average.

Many parents, especially women, are forced out of the workforce as they struggle to afford to go back to work due to these crippling costs, if they are lucky enough in the first place to be able to secure a place for their child. It is a scandalous situation and one that needs to be rectified. The reality is that parents cannot wait any longer for actions to reduce childcare fees. Later today, Sinn Féin will publish its policy proposals to set out how we can cut childcare fees so they are affordable for the many families who are being fleeced at present. This can be done by providing significant additional funding to the sector in exchange for the providers cutting fees by two thirds. This is in the gift of the Government.

If the Minister listened to "Morning Ireland" this morning or yesterday he would have heard the struggles of parents, staff and providers. They are at their wits' end. Parents cannot afford the fees they are being asked to pay. Highly-skilled staff are struggling financially to remain in jobs they love. Services are equally under enormous financial pressure to remain viable. The system is broken.

Our proposals would cut fees for parents and ensure that providers received crucial funding to invest in their services. They would also ensure fairer pay for a highly-educated workforce. A total of €270 million is the additional public investment required. It would be the best money spent in any budget. It would be an important investment in our children's future. It would be a major step in helping families hit by the cost-of-living crisis. It needs to be done. It must be done. Families simply cannot keep waiting for the Government to take this crisis seriously. It is time to cut childcare fees by two thirds. Does the Minister agree with me that this year's budget is the opportune time to slash childcare fees to ensure families get a much-needed break from these ludicrous costs? Will he commit to the ambition that we have spelled out and want to achieve and that Sinn Féin would deliver, which is cutting fees by two thirds?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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This year's budget and last year's budget were designed together. Anyone listening to "Morning Ireland" this morning would have heard the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, set out that there are real challenges but there are ways we can fix it. There are three challenges. The first is the economic sustainability of the providers. This is why last year's budget was important. In it the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, secured €221 million for providers on the understanding that there would not be an increase in fees, as provided from this September, with the transition fund in the meantime.

The second key issue is low pay for workers in the sector. There is a real issue that we do not value enough the caring work in our State. As part of addressing this, the Labour Court has published the first draft employment regulation orders for early years educators and providers of school-aged childcare. I understand the joint labour committee for early years services will meet shortly, with a view to agreeing proposals for one or more employment regulation orders, EROs, to set minimum rates of pay for different roles in the sector.

The third aspect is the high cost for parents and the Deputy is correct. This is where this year's budget connects to the previous budget. By providing in the budget this September improvements to the national childcare scheme subsidies to parents, they will not be gobbled up by the providers who have already got the fund and agreed they will not be able to increase fees. This is strategic thinking fixing a real problem and causing a huge improvement for households that are in real difficulty because of high inflation, caused mainly by international factors. We are delivering it in government two years in, in the same way we are delivering in a range of ways.

I welcome it if Sinn Féin is coming out today with similar proposals to support childcare. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has been at it for the past year and a half, planning strategically and making sure the public money invested is spent well and goes to the parents and, more than anything else, goes to care for our children. We have to look at other areas. We have to look at children raised by parents in the home to make sure they are not disadvantaged with whatever we do in the budget. We must look at ways we leave the choice with parents who are best placed to decide the right way to go. There has been a transformative change in the past two years under the leadership of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, towards recognising that we need to pay people properly in the sector and that the operators were not in a viable economic model and needed support. The €221 million was not insignificant.

The third leg of this multi-annual approach, so that it works effectively, is increasing the subsidy to all parents this year as a way of reducing the cost of living. I am glad if Sinn Féin is looking at something similar or is similarly interested. We are delivering it and doing it in government. We will do so this September and did so last October. We will continue to review it through the Labour Court through improving the pay of workers. This is all real change. There will be a real benefit to parents throughout the country. I commend the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, on what he is doing.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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We have been trying to get Governments to slash childcare fees for years. Let me put some of the facts here because the Minister spoke about delivering. In the past four years, half of which he has been in government and Deputy O'Gorman has been the Minister responsible, childcare fees in Dublin have increased by 20%. This is what the Government is delivering. It is not delivering the cuts we need to see. I will put it very clearly. Sinn Féin has a very clear policy on this. We can cut childcare costs by two thirds for families. The Minister spoke about delivering no increases in September. We need to see substantial reductions. We need ambition. Families know. This is why they are spilling onto the airwaves on "Morning Ireland" or on local radio stations. They are being fleeced by the cost of childcare. It is the highest in Europe. It is one of the highest in the OECD. I ask the Minister again. We put forward a proposal to slash childcare costs by two thirds. The ambition is there in Sinn Féin. My question is whether the ambition is there in government to meet it. This can be done. The budget is the time to do it in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Sinn Féin in its documentation for budget 2021 committed to providing €167 million for childcare. The Minister's budget delivered €221 million, which is €60 million more.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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You do not understand the budget process.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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This is what actually happened.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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No, it is not. You do not understand the process.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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This is what was committed. It is not just this. It is also supporting parents and recognising the real importance of getting early years care right, right down to the early weeks. We increased paid parental leave from two weeks to seven weeks. We need to go further but this is a real practical change. The increase in subsidy in the budget will not be done until September but it will be significant. Every member of Government parties has said the same thing. We will invest in childcare in the budget.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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They have been saying it for five years but the fees keep on going up.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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That is clear. The clever thing about it is that it was done in a way, by what the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth did in last year's budget, that every penny of that goes to the parents. That is the real practical improvement.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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My apologies, but not one penny went to the parents.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I want to raise again the issue of the housing crisis, the crisis that our President has described as a disaster. Yesterday's Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, report has confirmed yet again the scale of failure over successive years to ensure that people have adequate homes and the right to a home. Since this Government assumed office, rents have increased by 15%, house prices have risen by 22% and homelessness has increased by 19%. There are outrageous numbers of individuals and families on the homeless list. There are over 3,000 children, 1,366 families and over 5,000 single people on the list. There is an unacceptable level of homelessness and poverty in Ireland, a relatively wealthy country in the EU, in 2022. The ESRI has confirmed to us that an impending crisis for older people renting is also facing us. Renters can barely cover the cost of rent, let alone save up to buy a home or save up for retirement. While the Government's current strategy is predicated on an assumption that rental is short-term and that people will somehow morph into homeowners by the time they retire, we know that can no longer be assumed. We know that failures to deliver on housing and housing supply now means that many people will be renting into older age and will be continuing to pay unaffordable rents. Indeed, in my own constituency and that of the Minister, Dublin Bay South, there is a much higher level of households in the private rental sector than in other constituencies across the country. It is a particular issue there, with over 40% of households in the Dublin Bay South constituency renting. I am receiving, as I am sure the Minister is, more and more communications from older people who can no longer afford their rents, who are facing eviction, or who simply cannot find a place, let alone an affordable place to rent.

We have called for a radical shift in housing policy, for budget 2023 to deliver a drastic ramping-up of the building of social, affordable and cost-rental homes. We, and my colleague, Senator Moynihan, our housing spokesperson, have called for the Government to bring vacant homes back into use with a vacant property tax. Such a tax rate must also be accompanied by resources and proper enforcement measures. We need to see an increase in the percentage of Part V units for social and affordable housing. We have consistently called for a three-year rent freeze in order to see a reduction in evictions. That must be introduced. Targeted supports must also be provided for communities particularly at risk of homelessness. There must be an end to speculation and land hoarding. We need to see a referendum on the right to housing, something we have called for consistently. I ask the Minister to push, at Government level, to ensure that there is a radical shift in housing policy towards seeing a home as a right and towards delivering on a policy of reducing and eliminating homelessness in Ireland. Will the Minister push for that in budget 2023? It is an urgent issue for many households and families.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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It is true. The Government has a range of work to do, but the three key objectives central to Government are addressing the housing crisis, reforming healthcare and advancing the opportunity we will get from taking climate change from going to the max in what we need to do. In housing, there is not just the Housing for All strategy, which I believe engages on and commits to many of the measures that the Deputy has just mentioned. There is also the national development plan. The clear commitment among every Government Department is that housing comes first, it gets the largest allocation and it is the critical area in which we have to spend up to €4 billion a year. The Deputy mentioned a referendum on the right to housing and various other measures. I think this week the Housing Commission initiated its public consultation on how such a referendum might be framed. As a country, we have learned that referendums require us to think about the question that is being asked and the wording of it. The Deputy called for the introduction of a vacant property tax. Yesterday, the Minister of Finance committed to introduce such a tax, as well as a zoned land tax for land that is not being used. That has been committed to. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage will be discussing the shared equity scheme today, perhaps even as we speak. It is one of a series of measures that we need to introduce in the area of affordable housing. I agree with the Deputy that cost-rental housing is central and key to delivering affordable housing. The Housing for All plan commits to the provision of 18,000 cost-rental homes, and to go further if we can. We will work with the Land Development Agency, LDA, on the matter. I agree that the situation can be frustrating. A lot of the time we would like to see things done faster. Many of the developments for which planning applications have been approved are not being built. In Dublin city, for example, the real question is where the housing is being built. A lot of the housing is being built in the peripheral counties around Dublin. Not enough housing is going into Cork city, Limerick city, Galway city, Waterford city and Dublin city. Houses need to go back into the city centres. We have to think where we are building houses, as well as how many. On the plan to move towards delivering 33,000 houses per annum, which we must do, the latest analysis presented to me shows that this year we will be on target. It is expected that 25,000 houses will be completed this year. It is never going to be enough, but we are on track to deliver what we committed to do. I do not disagree with the points the Deputy raised. I think the real job is ensuring that we accelerate the programme now. I do not believe there is a huge difference in the policies. It is about delivering them. The Minister for Finance announced measures yesterday and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is announcing measures today. I could list a number of other occasions where the Government is acting.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I agree with the Minister. It is about delivery. In fact, in this case it is about the lack of delivery. What I am hearing from renters or those aspiring to own a home but cannot do so, and indeed from people who are seeking to build homes to deliver on housing, is that there is a lack of delivery and urgency in delivery by Government. Certainly, very welcome measures have been announced by Government. However, what is so frustrating for people is that we have not seen the impact of those measures. There has been no outcome in terms of the supply of homes available to people who need them now. Each number on the homeless list represents a person who is looking for a home, but who cannot currently be housed and has not yet felt the impact of housing policies that have been announced. We have not seen the urgency and delivery of policies. We, in Labour, have sought to put forward constructive measures, such as our renters' rights Bill and Senator Moynihan's idea of a rent-to-buy scheme to convert rent paid in a property over three years into a deposit for a property for individuals. The measures we have proposed are constructive. We brought forward a homeless families Bill to prevent the risk of child poverty and child homelessness. We need to see more concerted action. We need delivery and outcomes from Government on this.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Some of the affordable purchase schemes that have been introduced have some of the characteristics of what I understand Senator Moynihan was proposing with her Bill. Under the shared equity scheme, part of the equity can be bought back by the State. We need those schemes. We are starting. Progress on the delivery of cost-rental housing in Shanganagh is slower than I would like, but the work is starting. There are practical examples of work being done in Enniskerry and Shanganagh. I have been engaging with different councils around the country. We also need local authorities to start picking up on that opportunity and to start working with the LDA at greater speed. The Colbert Station Quarter project is underway. It is at planning stage and preparations for the development are being made. As I understand it, the project could be transformative. It is a good example of what we need to do with city housing. The Deputy is correct, and I agree with the ESRI analysis, that there is an older age cohort that is worrying about how they will continue renting. However, we are starting to deliver. The 25,000 homes that will be delivered are real.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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A key driver of inflation is the cost of fuel. It feeds into absolutely everything. It is true to say that the issue is EU-wide and that the war in Ukraine has contributed to the problem, but we have our own fiscal tools that we can deploy here to bring inflation under control. The truth is that every country is dealing with the war. However, not every country is like Ireland. We are unique, we are an island and we have almost full employment. Yet, we have not taken one measure to deal with costs. The economist, David McWilliams, has said that we need extraordinary measures in extraordinary times, and we must control the controllables. He said we need to take away the excise on fuel and reduce inflation accordingly.

The Government has instead added tax by increasing the carbon tax, but I do not care what the tax is called. It can be called the carbon tax, the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy or excise. It is tax. Remove it. The tax is causing cost-push inflation and we are getting into a spiral of demand-pull inflation. The Minister is not solving the problem. The proposal to reduce inflation through this measure is a realistic one. Fuel is the lowest common denominator of any economy and even more so in Ireland as we are an island dependent on transport of every kind. We import most of our energy, so we are totally exposed here, yet the Minister has done nothing except add to the cost of living by adding carbon.

The reality is this probably suits the Green Party. Its policy is driving demand destruction because people will have no choice but to stop using fuel and energy, or reduce usage to bare minimums. In response, the Minister will say he is saving the planet. He will say it is a just transition. What is just about people freezing in their homes? What is just about being pushed into abject poverty? What is just about not being able to go to work because it no longer makes financial sense to work, while the price of everything in the supermarket goes up? The Government could, if it wanted to, cut excise on the fuel but it will not. It is gouging the people by increasing taxes instead. Is it the case this so-called just transition we speak of has driven people into penury in rural Ireland? Whatever chance we had of a just transition without a war, we certainly have no chance now. To continue with this high-tax regime when we are, as an economy, extremely reliant on fuel and the transport of goods means this policy will contribute in a negligible way to the world targets on carbon emission reductions while we see our squeezed middle opt for unemployment benefits rather than work. In particular, if the proposal kited this week is anything to go by, the squeezed middle in rural Ireland, where there are no transport alternatives, would absolutely be financial better off to have joined the social welfare queue. Does the Minister realise what is happening?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As the Minister with responsibility for energy and for transport I absolutely realise the need for us to protect our people through these extraordinary times. War is setting the price, though thankfully the price of Brent crude oil went down to $101 per barrel yesterday. It had been up as high as $120 and $130 in recent weeks. In two weeks' time there will be that slight reduction but it is high beyond compare. The price of gas is even higher and is of a real concern with respect to the impact on fuel poverty. We absolutely have to do everything of every political perspective to try to protect our people in that time.

There are certain constraints on what you can do. I had a meeting with the Irish Road Haulage Association, IRHA, on Tuesday where we discussed at length what we can do and recognising that we had already in its case introduced a licensed haulier support scheme with €100 for every truck a week for the eight-week period to help through incredibly difficult times and try to counter some of the inflationary effect. The IRHA asked, as the Deputy has, could we cut excise further. I will explain why that is not an option. We have to follow European law. The European energy taxation directive-----

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Our masters.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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If I can explain it; it sets a minimum 33 cent per litre tax.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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We are Irish. We are not European.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Prior to the war, our rate was 53 cent per litre in excise. It and VAT are the largest element of the tax. We reduced it by 15 cent per litre. There is, as Deputy Verona Murphy knows, a diesel rebate for the haulage sector of a further 7.5%. That brings it down to 33.04 cent, so there are certain areas where you cannot manoeuvre. There are certain areas where you have to stick to the law. We were talking to hauliers to see if there are other ways we can support people through this difficult time.

It is the same with motorists. No-one is pointing the finger or blaming. We recognise people have to take journeys and must have choices. We had to do what we did to try to help with the alternatives. We cut public transport fares by 20% or for those aged under 24 years by 50% to try to help in that way. We will continue to do that but this is not easy. Most of the measures we are going to have to do are probably through the social welfare system and it is not just those on the basic social welfare rates but those on the likes of the working family payment and others. Those families who are not just in receipt of social welfare are the ones we have to particularly target. There was some good ESRI analysis that the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien was informing me about. Those are the sort of targeted supports we are going to have to do in the budget. Many of them may be a one-off because, please God, this war will not last forever but we all recognise that needs to be done and we are doing it, in a variety of different ways.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I have no doubt the Minister's objectives are well intentioned and I applaud his aspiration but I am not sure he understands the unintended consequences of the Government's lack of action. If a person is living on the Hook Peninsula on the Wexford coast and has to drive to Wexford town every day to work, there is no use in the Minister telling that person to use public transport as the cost will be reduced. There is none. There is no use in telling the carer who might cover as much as 30 km to 40 km on their day visiting those who are at home and incapacitated and most in need of support. That carer is now giving up work. The question is why we are not doing something to prevent this.

I am sorry but the Minister is completely offside when he says we cannot control our own excise duties. I have listened in relation to VAT and I accept the EU may have governance over our VAT regime but it does not have it over our excise duties, carbon tax or NORA levy. All of these the Government could remove but has not. We have people who are drawing social welfare because they do not feel the need to go hungry or freeze in their homes. The Minister himself said the Government would look after those on social welfare, and that is where we will drive them to.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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On the carbon tax, one other thing has changed in the last week. At the Council of Ministers meeting on energy last week, the Council committed to introducing effectively a Europe-wide carbon tax on transport and home buildings. It will go up to about €50 per tonne, is what I think the Parliament recommends. It must go through negotiations with the Parliament but there is no-one expecting it will be reversed. Therefore, Europe will be going towards introducing this. It already has a carbon tax on the industrial side and it will now introduce it on the domestic and the transport side. Ireland will not be included. We get a derogation because we have already gone in that direction. However, as I said at a meeting of the transport committee yesterday, if we were to change tack by giving up on the carbon tax and not having a similar scale of measure, the first thing we would have to do is start paying the European one. Then we would not have the funding that currently comes from that to support the retrofitting of our homes, to provide targeted social welfare increases and to help small farmers out.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Extraordinary measures in extraordinary times.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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It was extraordinary we were able to get a derogation from that European proposal.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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But we have the tax. It is not a derogation.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Second, for those in Hook Head, what every representative in this Chamber and in councils around the country should engage in is the new Connecting Ireland rural bus transport plan, which has the potential to be transformative. It will provide new services so we have options in rural Ireland. That is where I am hoping to put money in the budget because it is our number one transport priority.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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To move on from the last debate, food and energy security is the most important matter for any country. Yesterday evening, as the Minister is probably aware given he is the Minister over it, the EU diktat voted that gas and nuclear are basically going to be classed as green resources, which I do not have a problem with. The Minister is probably also aware of some of things going on in Europe such as in the Netherlands. The Minister is proposing to bring in climate targets on the agricultural sector whereas the Netherlands Government is actually closing down farms. Funnily enough, our own national media do not seem to be interested in it. They would rather show something in Australia or somewhere else than show farmers being kicked around the place.

The Minister is probably aware, particularly if he has been talking to fuel merchants, that coal is becoming scarce. There are only a couple of places from which we are importing coal. It is getting scarce and has more than doubled in price. Fuel merchants to whom I have talked estimate that a 40 kg bag of coal will cost €50 or more this winter. The Minister referred earlier to the price of oil coming down. He should consider why that happened. The American dollar has become strong and the euro has collapsed. That is why. The price of oil has come down by damn all in recent days. It was at $120 per barrel. In euros, a barrel of oil is now probably €105, €106 or €108. The reality is that it costs €1.60 per litre. A litre of white diesel costs €2.20. The Minister spoke about Europe and said the Government cannot do this, that or the other. Europe exports food. Is there an agenda in Europe to reduce food output in order that it will not be exported and the figures relating to the green agenda will stack up? Is Europe going to starve people in other parts of the world?

There is an application for a licence on the Minister's desk at the moment from a company in Mayo. There appears to be a large resource of gas there that would help this country. I understand the Department is sitting on that application. What is the Minister going to do to ensure that we have energy security? Whether we like it or not, we will need gas into the future.

The Minister is aware of the pressures - they were outlined earlier - that ordinary people face. The Minister mentioned that the fuel allowance has been increased and I admit that. However, the new poor are in middle Ireland. What is the Minister doing for the people through the fuel regulations he is bringing in at a time when those people are barely able to heat their homes? Where is he on the new fuel regulations? We need to know before the holidays are over.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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There were many different questions there.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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They were all about fuel and food.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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It will be difficult for me to address all of the questions.

We went to public consultation last September in respect of a process to issue regulations this autumn. The regulations will not affect the householder. They do not consider producers or someone who might be cutting a bog and so on. They focus on the retail side. They relate to smoky coal, wet wood and turf at the retail and sales levels. That was agreed in the consultation last September.

It is true that the world has changed since last September as a result of the war. It is true that the price of coal has increased because much of the coal on the market was Russian coal and the supply chain has been affected in that regard. Oil and gas have also been significantly affected. The key answer in this insecure time, for Europe and Ireland, is the European Green Deal. This was set out by the Commission in advance of the war, but it all the more urgent and requires to be committed to now. Europe imports so much of its energy, food and feedstock for its animal production system that it makes for an insecure world for us. We must start to become much more efficient and much more reliant on our own resources. We must create wealth out of the alternative renewable efficient economy, which is growing. That is where the jobs are and where the investment will be. That is where our country has a real advantage. Our population is relatively small for the size of the island. Our wind resources are beyond compare. Everyone can see this coming but we can now convert that wind to hydrogen gas, which provides real security. Rather than going out into the Atlantic Ocean at €100 million a pop and trying to drill on a 50/1 outsider bet, which is our record when we have gone out to explore in an attempt to find sources of fuel, we have the odds-on knowledge that the offshore wind is there. We can tap into that and convert it.

The green transition is central to the European strategy and the Government's strategy. It belongs to all three parties. It is smart, clever and obvious to use our natural resources in this difficult time. That is the best way to protect our people. I do not always agree with the finer details of what the European institutions decide. I did not agree with the Parliament's vote on taxonomy yesterday because I disagree with describing gas or nuclear energy as green in any way. However, that is not going to distract us from what we need to do, which is to tap into the resources we have in abundance and to use them with real skill, which we have in respect of balancing variable renewable supply and demand management to heat our homes, move our transport system and power our industry. That is the way forward and we have everything to gain from it.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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We all know the way forward. It is the present we have to deal with. People are struggling. The Minister said I asked too many questions. I will with one and specialise on it. I have said clearly that coal is getting scarce, as is well known. It will cost €50 for a 40 kg bag. People around the country will not be able to afford it. Will the Minister clarify something for me? There are 11 different types of bog ownership, as I mentioned in a motion. Will those people be able to cut for their own houses? Will they be able to give or sell people turf? Will the Minister clarify that? Will he explain where we are in respect of the draft regulations? Are we going to see them after the holidays? When will we see those drafts?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Out of respect for this House, I hope and expect it will be before-----

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Before what?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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-----we break for the summer. The regulation will be along the lines suggested by the Deputy, as we agreed last year. As we have said all along, this, critically, is about restricting all solid fuels that are affecting health. This is not about what we are doing on the bogs or what we are doing in someone's home. It is about public health. It is about having clear regulations that will stand up against legal challenge, which was threatened, to ensure we make this switch.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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They cannot get coal and they cannot bring a legal challenge.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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That is true, but that is an issue relating to the war in Ukraine-----

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I know that.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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-----which is a different issue. It is also true for those who are reliant on gas, as I said earlier. There is a significant problem in that regard, as there is with regard to oil. We have a real challenge across all energy areas. That will require significant intervention through the budget to allow us through this particular time. The 80% grant is available to help people retrofit their homes. We are changing the rules in order that people can sell their own power back to the grid. We have put new measures in place to give farmers additional income to be able to sell their excess power. That is happening.