Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

As we are only too well aware, energy prices have continued to rise to unprecedented levels. The Government is keenly aware of the impact this is having on consumers and the need to take action at scale. Therefore, I commend the Electricity Costs (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measures and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022 to the House.

I will open the debate by setting the context for the action to be taken on foot of this Bill, which will establish an electricity costs emergency benefit scheme II, under which a total of €550 will be paid to domestic electricity accounts in three payments between November this year and March next year. The House will be familiar with these issues, particularly in light of the first electricity costs emergency benefit scheme, which was enacted earlier this year. It is important to take this opportunity to set out the complex situation we find ourselves in with regard to energy costs and wider pressures on the cost of living. I will also describe the sections of the Bill in detail, and, in regard to its main provisions, set out some background on why they are needed for the operation of the scheme. My overarching message today is that while the scheme this Bill will establish is just one of a suite of measures, it is critical that it be put in place in order that payments can begin from 1 November. I seek Deputies' support to achieve that. I will first outline the main factors affecting electricity prices in Ireland. Second, I will provide an overview of the domestic response to rising electricity and gas prices. As colleagues will be well aware, addressing the huge cost-of-living pressures on our citizens was the focus of budget 2023. Third, I will outline the provisions in the Bill.

I now turn to the first point, namely, factors affecting Irish electricity prices. The most immediate factor affecting electricity prices in Ireland is sustained high international gas prices, with the unprecedented increases and volatility continuing as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This, in turn, has led to increases in energy bills, given the link between the wholesale price of gas and electricity prices. It is a matter of serious concern to the Government that rising electricity and gas prices caused by these international conditions are putting increasing pressure on consumers, particularly those in a more vulnerable economic position and at risk of energy poverty. That is why the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has been meeting with electricity and gas suppliers to convey a clear message as to the critical importance of doing everything possible to support financially vulnerable energy customers.

It is important to say that all European markets are experiencing these price increases. While Ireland has its own specific circumstances, the rise in energy costs is not unique to us. In response to rising electricity and gas prices in the EU, the European Commission has put in place a number of measures available to member states to mitigate the impact of energy price rises on households and businesses. The Energy Council agreed a Council regulation on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices at its meeting on 30 September this year. The new EU emergency market intervention regulation consists of three main measures. First is a mandatory 5% cut in electricity consumption during peak hours. This will require member states to identify the 10% of hours with the highest expected price and to take appropriate action to reduce demand during those hours. The overall target is a 10% cut in total electricity demand until 31 March 2023. Second is a temporary revenue cap on inframarginal electricity producers.

Power generation technologies with lower generation costs than natural gas, including renewables, nuclear, and lignite, will have their revenues capped. The surplus revenue will be collected by member states and used to help energy consumers reduce their bills. Third, there will be a temporary solidarity contribution on excess profits generated from activities in the fossil fuel sector. Member states agreed to set a mandatory temporary solidarity contribution on the profits of businesses active in the crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, and refinery sectors. Member states will use the proceeds from the solidarity contribution to provide financial support to households and companies and mitigate the effects of high retail electricity prices. Intensive work is now under way to implement these measures.

I will now turn to the Government's response and the part that this scheme plays within that response. In terms of the overall cost of living, it is vital to stress that a co-ordinated whole-of-government response is being followed and is essential in tackling this issue. The forthcoming energy poverty action plan will set out a range of measures to be implemented this winter, as well as key longer term measures to ensure that those least able to afford increased energy costs are supported and protected. This work is being undertaken by a steering group consisting of relevant Departments and Government agencies. This area of work also includes interactions with the NGO sector. In response to rising energy prices, the Government has already taken action throughout 2022 and has introduced a suite of measures worth €2.4 billion to assist households with their energy costs. Budget 2023 provides a further €2.5 billion in once-off measures for households. Budget 2023 provides a number of targeted measures, including: a €400 lump-sum payment to fuel allowance recipients; a €200 lump sum payment for pensioners and people with a disability getting the living alone increase; a €500 cost-of-living lump sum payment to all families getting the working family payment; double payment of child benefit to support all families with children; a €500 cost-of-living payment for people in receipt of the carer's support grant, which will be paid in November; and a €500 lump-sum cost-of-living disability support grant, which will be paid to all people in receipt of long-term disability payments.

It important to draw attention to the additional needs payment operated by the Department of Social Protection. This is a payment to help with expenses that a person cannot pay from his or her own weekly income, including increases in fuel and electricity costs. Furthermore, in light of current situation, the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has announced enhanced consumer protection measures for this winter. These include an extension to moratoriums on disconnections. Under the new measures, the moratorium has been extended from 1 December until 28 February, and for vulnerable customers, it has been extended from 1 October to 31 March. Extended debt repayment periods of up to 24 months have been introduced, along with a reduced debt burden on pay-as-you-go top-ups. New measures mean that debt repayment levels will reduce to 10%, from 25% previously, on pay-as-you-go customers top-up payments. For example, on a €20 top-up only €2 will go towards debt repayment, instead of €5. There is better value for those on financial hardship meters. Customers with a financial hardship meter will be put on the cheapest tariff available from their supplier. There will also be promotion of a vulnerable customer register. Electricity suppliers must actively promote the vulnerable customer register and the protection it offers

Solar photovoltaic, PV, panels convert energy from the sun into electricity, thereby reducing the amount of electricity a building draws from the national grid, and lowering electricity bills. Since 2018, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, has supported the installation of domestic solar PV systems for over 12,000 homes. With demand for the domestic solar PV grant increasing significantly throughout the year, we expect that grant applications will exceed 12,000 in 2022 alone. I also understand that approximately 40,000 micro and small-scale generators have successfully registered for export and over 26,550 of this cohort have smart meters, which means they are already accruing the value of the clean export guarantee, CEG, tariff for their exported electricity.

Government is acutely aware of the importance of protecting jobs, in order to protect families, during this energy crisis. This has been key in the design of the new temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, which will provide up to €10,000 per business per month until spring 2023 to help meet rising energy costs. The scheme will support eligible companies, covering 40% of the increase in their energy bills.

However, while this immediate action is taken to support our citizens to deal with the rise in the cost of living, it is critical that we do not lose sight of the bigger picture. I will now outline the long-term approach for Ireland, and in that context, the Government's energy efficiency and renewable energy measures are key. Government policy is driving investment in energy efficiency, investment in renewables, enhancing electricity interconnection and deepening the internal energy market. I will take energy efficiency as a particular example. Energy efficiency measures are not just essential to reduce emissions from our housing sector. They are also central to addressing the root causes of energy poverty, improving health and social inclusion outcomes, while at the same time contributing to decarbonisation. Alleviating energy poverty is a key consideration in the new national retrofit plan, which was published as part of the climate action plan last year. More generally, the Climate Action Plan 2021 commits to improving how energy poverty schemes target those most in need. As is clear from the supports in relation to energy efficiency and the specific measures introduced in budget 2023, the Government is committed to protecting the most vulnerable. As we transition away from fossil fuels and progressively decarbonise, we must ensure the way we decarbonise captures this unique opportunity to improve quality of life for all. Making our homes energy efficient not only means they are warmer, healthier and cheaper to run, but it also means we are taking concrete action on social deprivation that is sustainable and enduring.

A total of €244 million has been allocated for Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, residential and community retrofit schemes and the solar PV scheme in 2022. Of this, €118 million has been allocated to energy poverty schemes. More than 4,500 homes will benefit from the free upgrades targeted at those in energy poverty this year. In addition, €85 million funding has been provided by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for the local authority energy efficiency retrofit programme for this year. This means that of the total Government retrofit budget allocation of €329 million, approximately 60%, or €203 million, has been allocated to dedicated energy poverty schemes and local authority retrofits this year.

Budget 2023 also provides €337 million for SEAI residential and community energy upgrade schemes, including the solar PV scheme, for medically vulnerable electricity customers. Some €291 million of this allocation will come from carbon tax revenue, which is the highest ever allocation for these schemes. This will facilitate the delivery of home upgrades to 37,000 homes, including 6,000 free upgrades to those in energy poverty. A further €87 million has also been allocated for the local authority retrofit programme for next year. Additionally, the review of the national development plan, NDP, resulted in an unprecedented level of investment earmarked for retrofit. Indeed, €5 billion of additional carbon tax revenues have been allocated to support residential retrofit to 2030. This means that the overall allocation for residential retrofit will be approximately €8 billion to 2030.

My remaining remarks will be on the subject matter of the Bill. Notwithstanding other measures, the Government is determined to act quickly to help people further with these higher energy prices. The Bill provides for the establishment of a scheme for the purpose of making the electricity cost emergency benefit payments of €183.49 to domestic electricity accounts to be paid in November-December 2022, January-February 2023 and March-April 2023. The moneys for the scheme will be allocated by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and reform, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas. This amount will not exceed €1.211 billion. This figure makes provision for 2.2 million domestic electricity accounts.

The CRU will provide oversight of the scheme and it will be operated by the distribution system operator, ESB Networks, and electricity suppliers. The mechanism by which the scheme will operate is as follows. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications will provide, under regulations, for a date, to be known as the relevant date, on which the distribution system operator will calculate the total number of domestic electricity accounts in the State, on the basis of meter point registration numbers, MPRNs. The MPRN is the unique identifier for electricity meters and as such, must be used to ensure each €183.49 payment reaches each account. ESB Networks will notify the Minister of this number, and this will allow the estimation and necessary allocation of moneys for the scheme. On the effective dates for each payment period, which will also be set out in regulations, ESB Networks will notify each electricity supplier of the assigned MPRN for each domestic electricity account they supply. ESB Networks will also, on the effective dates, notify suppliers of the amount of money it will transfer to them for the purposes of the scheme. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications will set out in regulations the payment periods within which ESB Networks will transfer the funds to suppliers for the sole purpose of making payments under the scheme. Following receipt of these funds, suppliers will then, within the payment periods set out in the Act, credit each domestic electricity account held with them on the effective date with a payment of €183.49.

The CRU, as independent regulator, will have oversight of the scheme. It will put in place administrative and operational arrangements to ensure that ESB Networks and suppliers perform their functions under the scheme.

The CRU, on the basis of its existing powers to issue directions and secure compliance by licence holders with their obligations, will ensure that ESB Networks and suppliers perform their functions under the Bill. Suppliers and ESB Networks are required to repay any monies received by them which have not been used for the purposes of the scheme.

The Bill also amends the National Oil Reserves Agency Act 2007 to provide for a reduction in the petroleum product levy, more commonly known as the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy. The NORA levy is a charge of 2 cent per litre applied to most petroleum products sold in the market for the purpose of funding the operations of NORA and the Climate Action Fund. The levy will now be reduced to a nominal amount, with the reduction to come into effect from 12 October and to remain in place until the end of February 2023. This levy reduction will offset the carbon tax increase on petrol and diesel road fuels, which will apply from 12 October. It should be noted that NORA has a significant financial reserve and that this temporary levy reduction will not impact its ability to carry out its functions in the event of the occurrence of an oil emergency.

Sections 10 and 11 are drafting amendments to section 34 of the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 and section 35 of the Electricity (Supply) Act 1927. These amendments make it clear that relevant market participants can enter into an agreement for connection to, or use of, the transmission or distribution systems and sell electricity or supply electricity for sale. These amendments are necessary in light of EU directive requirements and to facilitate CRU further in its implementation of the registration framework for relevant market participants.

I would now like to refer to some particular aspects of the scheme that will be of interest to Deputies more broadly. As Deputies may be aware already this scheme uses the same eligibility criteria as the electricity cost emergency benefit scheme enacted earlier this year. Under the previous electricity costs emergency benefit payment, a credit of €176.22, excluding VAT, was applied to all domestic electricity accounts through April, May and June 2022. Upon the scheme's conclusion on 30 June 2022, over 2.1 million domestic electricity accounts had received the payment with the value of these payments totalling almost €377 million. This means 99.36% of all eligible domestic electricity accounts had the credit applied. The use of the meter point registration number, MPRN, as the unique identifier ensured a broad reach and no application or means testing.

The scheme will apply to domestic electricity accounts using their unique MPRN to allow the payment to be credited to individual bills automatically without the need for application or approval, including pay-as-you-go meters. Therefore, the payments will help both bill pay and pay-as-you-go customers with their electricity costs.

The Government is aware that the need to use the MPRN as the identifier resulted in a small number of certain households not being able to access the payment. A particular cohort, since identified, includes approximately 1,000 Traveller households in certain local authority accommodation where the MPRN is registered to the local authority and supplies multiple households. This issue has been raised by Traveller organisations with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, given its responsibility for Traveller accommodation. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is working with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on how best to reach such households with this support. While the majority of household tenants who rent their homes have their own electricity account, in anticipation of a small minority for whom electricity costs are not separate from overall rental costs, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage worked closely with the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, on a public information campaign to ensure that tenants were aware of the scheme and entitlements and of mediation services available to tenants in the event landlords did not pass on the payment to tenants in these situations. The RTB has reported that contacts with them on this matter have been extremely low. These mediation services remain in place for the forthcoming scheme under this Act.

Furthermore, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is also engaged with the Department of Social Protection to examine how this group could be further supported using existing social protection measures. As there is no data set identifying this cohort, and arrangements could vary with bills being split in potentially different ways, increasing awareness of entitlements under the additional needs payment scheme, which includes provision for help with household bills, may be the best way to support people who need support but cannot be reached with this scheme.

The scheme can only become operational following the passing of this underpinning legislation. As Deputies will appreciate, this emergency measures Bill aims to ensure that the credit can be made to domestic electricity accounts as soon as possible. The scheme will apply to domestic electricity accounts using the unique MPRN to allow the payment to be credited to bills. This does mean that premises, other than principal residences, such as holiday homes, with a domestic electricity account will be included in the scheme. The scheme uses the above single eligibility criteria to enable payments to be made next month. The scheme does not have additional eligibility criteria. For example, it is not means tested as the application of such criteria would override the automatic nature of the current scheme, require input from customers through formal applications and cross-checking by administrators, which would significantly delay the roll out of the payments. This scheme is not perfect but it does have a very wide reach and can be delivered quickly and, therefore, is firmly in the national interest.

I will provide a section-by-section summary of the Bill if I have time. There are 13 sections in the Bill. Section 1 is a standard provision which provides for definitions.

Section 2 provides for the establishment of the scheme. It provides the basis for the estimation of the amount required, as well as for the allocation of the monies for the scheme up to €1.211 billion by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

Section 3 provides the legislative basis for the transfer by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to the distribution system operator the moneys, up to €1.2111 billion, for the operation of the scheme. This will be paid to domestic accounts in three payments, each of €183.49, excluding VAT, in the November-December 2022, January-February 2023 and March-April 2023 billing periods.

Sections 4 and 5 provide for the functions of the distribution system operator and suppliers, respectively, for the purposes of the operation of the scheme.

Section 6 provides for the amendment of section 9 of the Electricity Regulation Act to create functions for the CRU including for the purposes of oversight of the functions of the distribution system operator and suppliers and to ensure that the administrative and operational arrangements necessary for the functioning of the scheme are in place.

Section 7 deals with an amendment to the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. This amendment is to exempt the electricity costs emergency benefit payment from income tax. I would like to advise Deputies that a small drafting amendment will be required to this section on Committee Stage regarding the numbering of the section to be amended in the Taxes Consolidation Act.

Section 8 provides for the Minister of the Environment, Climate and Communications to make regulations, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, for the purposes of the Act.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Go raibh maith agat, a Aire.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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There is a sense of déjà vuwith this Bill because we have been here before. In February this year, we debated an almost identical Bill. During those debates Sinn Féin submitted amendments to the original electricity credit Bill removing the references to it being a once-off measure as we said that was not reflective of the crisis we were facing into and more assistance would be needed down the line. At the time, I said:

A once-off discount is short-sighted and it is clear that more needs to be done. There are no indications that the energy price hikes are going to stop any time soon. With political instability in Ukraine and Russia, international gas prices could increase further this year. Our amendments would give the Minister power to make further payments to households, removing the need for more primary legislation down the line and ensuring that it could be done quickly.

Unfortunately, the Government ignored the constructive proposals from the Opposition, as is so often the case, and rejected all the amendments. As a result another piece of primary legislation has had to be drafted and rammed through the parliamentary process in an uncomfortably quick timeframe. I ask the Minister to take on board some of the Opposition’s amendments this time around. Those amendments cover a number of areas.

The broad, blunt nature of the original electricity credit Bill gave rise to a number of issues that we asked to be rectified. Those included people being excluded from the payment altogether, households with a shared meter not receiving the full amount and people with vacant holiday homes, empty houses or multiple properties receiving a number of payments. With almost 12 months to prepare and re-prepare this legislation, it is inexcusable that none of these issues seem to have been adequately addressed. People with holiday homes lying idle for most of the year will now get even more money to help keep the lights on. The most recent census identified 61,204 holiday homes in the State. It is outrageous that these vacant holiday homes have still not been excluded from this scheme. On top of the previous €200, they will now get another €600. That is a total of almost €50 million of taxpayers' money to keep the lights on in the second homes of predominantly well-off individuals. It is an atrocious waste of money. Yet again, those with the greatest means will benefit most while those in severe energy poverty will get the same support as a millionaire.

Similarly, people living in halting sites or in mobile homes were excluded from the original payment. We repeatedly asked for that to be addressed in recent months. The briefing note we received, which was reflected in the Minister's comments, states that approximately 1,000 Traveller households in local authority accommodation were excluded from the original payment. It goes on to say the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is working with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on how best to reach these households with future support.

That is simply not good enough. It is eight months since the original scheme was introduced. Some of these households are living in extreme energy poverty and need immediate assistance. Saying that we are working on it is not good enough. The Minister needs to commit to ensuring these families will receive the full €600 this winter on top of the €200 they did not get originally. If the Departments cannot find a way to do this, they should give the money to local authorities or groups like the National Traveller Money Advice & Budgeting Service and ask them to distribute cash payments to these households. It is essential that they get immediate support to help cover their electricity bills.

A number of Sinn Féin amendments to this Bill seek to prevent disconnections of pay-as-you-go customers. The Government has been caught asleep at the wheel on this issue. Despite 346,000 households using prepay meters, the Government has no plan and seems to be making it up as it goes along. The Taoiseach went on national radio a couple of weeks ago and assured people they would not be disconnected this winter, but the Government did not have a plan for pay-as-you-go households. Last week, when my colleague an Teachta Doherty raised this on Leaders' Questions, the Tánaiste threw the ball back to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and said that the latter was meeting with energy companies to come up with a solution. Meanwhile, pay-as-you-go customers are none the wiser as they face into a dreadfully unaffordable winter.

The Minister must commit to extending the moratorium on disconnections to all pay-as-you-go customers. They should not have any less protection than bill pay customers. It is simply a matter of fairness and equality. Whether this is achieved by increasing the emergency credit limit, removing the limit altogether, extending the so-called friendly credit period when disconnections do not take place or moving people to bill pay without financial penalties, the Minister can pursue a number of options. This should have been done already. In addition, we want to see the moratorium for all households extended from now to the end of March; December to February is not enough. We are in a time of extraordinary price increases, so much greater protections are needed.

Sinn Féin has made its position clear . We believe an electricity price cap is needed this winter to give households certainty. We need to reduce electricity prices back to pre-crisis levels and cap them. Price caps have been introduced right across Europe but the Government has chosen a different path of giving three energy credits this winter. Although we disagree with this approach, we will support the Bill because the €550 in electricity credits will still help offset some costs for people this winter.

EU energy reforms are badly needed. Last October, the Government opposed proposals at EU level to decouple electricity prices from the gas market. At that time, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications co-signed a statement to the effect that "we cannot support any measure that conflicts with the internal gas and electricity market". Currently, the price of gas is dictating the price of all electricity, which is pushing electricity prices to extortionate levels. The energy market is fundamentally broken and needs to be radically reformed. While I welcome the Minister’s recent change of heart and his newfound support for decoupling gas from electricity prices, his conversion came very late in the day and a lot of time has been wasted on this front. Can he provide an update on the proposals to decouple at a European level and provide some details on how much Ireland could expect from the windfall tax on non-gas-fuelled electricity generators? Why is the rate of €180 per megawatt hour being considered, given the much lower cost of producing electricity by wind and solar or other renewable sources? Will the Government look to introduce a lower rate? We accept that renewable energy companies still need to a make a profit to reinvest in renewables, but pegging electricity prices to another inflated price is not a good solution.

Another matter that is pushing bills to unaffordable levels is the increase in standing charges utility companies are announcing. Some energy companies have increased their standing charges by €300 in the past year, thereby compounding the financial hardship people are facing. Suppliers are now charging up to €700 a year in standing charges, which is a massive cost before people even switch on a light. The CRU confirmed to the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action a couple of weeks ago that no one is regulating the hikes in standing charges and that it lacks the legislative remit to deal with these charges. It seems that energy companies have free rein to hike standing charges by as much as they want without having to justify it to anyone, or prove a corresponding increase in their fixed costs. It is an absolutely crazy situation. Given the energy price crisis households are facing, every line of their bills must be tackled. Will the Minister commit to introducing legislation or regulations to give the CRU the power to regulate standing charges on energy bills?

I will touch on the revelation last week that domestic electricity customers have been subsidising the energy bills of large energy users for the past decade without anyone seemingly knowing. The Minister, during his stint as the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in 2010, introduced the large energy user rebalancing subvention. Since then, ordinary households have paid €600 million to subsidise the bills of big companies. This is an extraordinary revelation. The subvention in question did not appear as a line item on people’s bills, so no one was aware they were paying this levy. Can the Minister explain why this charge was never removed on domestic bills, the companies that benefited and how long he intended it to be in place when he originally introduced it? These are important details that need to be known.

We will support this Bill but hold the position that reducing electricity prices to pre-crisis levels, and capping them at that cost this winter, is a better solution and will give households much greater certainty. Reform of the energy market is needed. It was needed 12 months ago when this Government opposed it and it is still needed now. A windfall tax on non-gas electricity generators and a solidarity windfall tax on energy companies should also be introduced. I also encourage the Minister of State to look at the amendments tabled by the Opposition and commit to supporting them.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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I am glad to see the Minister of State in the Chamber to take this debate. The Government was warned that the legislation it introduced previously was not going to be enough. It was warned by an Teachta O'Rourke and others in the Opposition and yet it persisted. It did not accept reasonable and decent amendments that were tabled at the time but chose to ignore them and press on. I hope that now we are again discussing this matter the Minister of State will see the value of the amendments tabled by an Teachta O'Rourke and supported by others in the Opposition.

The simple fact is we are back here again because ordinary people are facing a crisis in their homes, because this winter will be cold and because people will need support. We are again debating legislation, however, that will provide subventions for holiday homes. If people are lucky enough to earn a good income and to have multiple properties - many people in this House are although I am not one of them - they will get multiple subventions. That is simply not tenable. The Minister of State did not need a crystal ball to see what would happen. Just in case he did, it was advised by an Teachta O'Rourke, yet we are again discussing this. I hope the Government will take this opportunity to listen to those amendments that are tabled and to ensure that, as the Minister of State indicated: "The Government is keenly aware of the impact this is having on consumers and the need to [take] action at scale."

There are still people, such as Travellers on halting sites, who have not had the full benefit of the €200 credit. Before we even start, the Government has already left a significant portion of the population behind. Failure to acknowledge that means the Government is doomed to repeat the mistakes it made previously. It is not fair that people with multiple properties and holiday homes, however big or small they are, will benefit multiple times from this scheme, while people who desperately need it will not.

Some 346,000 households have prepay meters. We have been told by the Taoiseach that they will not be cut off but they want to know how this will happen. Amendments have been tabled by an Teachta O'Rourke. I urge the Government to take those on board and do right by the people on prepay meters in the same way it has seen fit to do by the people who own big holiday homes.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State referred to additional needs payments that can be accessed through the Department of Social Protection. Does he know what that involves? I raised with other Ministers the fact that it is impossible to get payments from that Department.

There is ten-week waiting list for exceptional needs payments, payments to meet critical needs when, for example, one's house burns down. Staff are overwhelmed. It is simply not working. Not only the Minister of State, but other Ministers have urged people to go to the Department of Social Protection for exceptional needs payments but they are simply not paid out. Ministers either need to stop saying that or to fund the offices, put in the staff and provide money for them to give out. Staff ring us after every debate in which this is raised because people are coming to their offices but they have nothing to give them. We have to stop pretending there is money for exceptional needs payments when there is not. I have replies to parliamentary questions from the Minister for Social Protection proving this.

We will be supporting the Bill although we would have preferred that a different approach be taken to address the rising cost of energy for households. The approach we had proposed, freezing energy prices and capping them at summer 2021 rates, would have offered households certainty on their energy bills. That would have been a real break for many families. It is not an exaggeration to say that households are living in fear of their next energy bill. Along with the cost of rent or mortgage repayments, energy is the biggest cost for householders across the country. While we believe the proposals contained in this Bill do not go far enough, they offer some assistance to people over the coming winter. The €600 energy credit will have some positive impact on citizens' bills over these months and that is welcome.

While supporting the Bill, we have submitted a number of amendments to ensure the electricity credit is delivered equally and to all customers regardless of their electricity set-up. To this end, we have submitted an amendment with the aim of identifying those households that did not receive the initial €200 such as those in multi-unit complexes that share a meter, many of whom are local authority tenants, and those members of the Travelling community whom the Minister of State referred to although he had no solution to the problem they face apart from talking to them. Deputy O'Reilly gave the Minister of State solutions. She suggested that the payment be made at local MABS or welfare offices. My time is up. We welcome the Bill although we have great problems with parts of it.

Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The cost-of-living crisis is one of the main issues raised in my constituency office every day. The rising cost of energy and the fear that people will not be able to keep the lights on should be a priority for Government. I acknowledge the measures in the Bill in respect of the energy credits to be given over the coming months but my constituents are telling me that, despite these measures, they do not have certainty. What good is the credit if the bills continue to rise? For those on prepay meters, what good is the credit if they have no guarantee they will not be cut off? People want certainty.

In our alternative budget, Sinn Féin gave certainty. We set out to cap the energy prices at pre-crisis 2021 levels. This is what a government that priorities the needs of hard-working people and families would do. As has already been said, Sinn Féin has tabled several amendments to the Bill, including one proposing the extension of the scheme to 2025 to allow the Government to react quickly if more payments are needed down the line. We also have proposed amendments to provide certainty that prepay users will not be disconnected. The arrears limit needs to be removed for this to happen.

People with multiple properties should not receive multiple payments. The current scheme does not prioritise those who need the most support. For example, no one in this House should be receiving the same credit as ordinary workers and families. I did the maths on this and €132,000 worth of energy credits will be given to Deputies and Senators. That is not right. This money would be better spent on those who need it most, people who are really struggling. There are people in my area who are accessing food banks because they cannot afford their shopping bills. Again, that choice between eating and heating is coming up. If the Government is serious about giving certainty to people, it will accept and support our amendments, which prioritise those who need support the most. Everything must be done to ensure the lights stay on this winter. We are already facing a winter of discontent; we must not face a winter of disconnect.

Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein)
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Households and businesses must be to the forefront of any debate on the energy crisis and payments. Families are struggling and, as has previously been said, households are having to decide whether to eat each day. Businesses are also under great pressure. However, it is also important not to forget that sports clubs around the country play an important role in improving our mental, emotional and physical health and that they are also under great pressure. I acknowledge the Government's allocation of €35 million for sports clubs. It is important and welcome but it was announced two weeks ago and clubs are still waiting for clarity on and communication about how that payment will be distributed. There is a concern that the €35 million will go to clubs that have a large number of professional members and that smaller and less well funded and resourced clubs will miss out. We have to ensure that does not happen.

With regard to swimming, a national swimming strategy is being formulated while, at the same time, swimming clubs are very concerned that they will have to close. It is not cheap to run a swimming pool. Clarity will be needed as to whether swimming pools will close over the winter months. Sports clubs are switching to training one day a week to ensure the cost of running the flood lights will not put them out of business and into massive debt. Swimming is one of the most popular physical activities across all ages. It is really important that swimming pools not be allowed to close. Pools like those in Rathmines and Markievicz Sports and Fitness Centre need to be funded. We need to ensure these facilities are supported throughout the winter months.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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We are in the midst of an unprecedented trilemma comprising three crises. There is the housing crisis that our President has rightly described as a housing disaster and which is hitting many families and households very hard. There is a cost-of-living, energy bills and energy security crisis that is affecting millions of people across the country, exacerbated by Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine and his escalation of the war in that country. Of course, there is also the climate crisis, the existential threat that destroyed towns and communities across Europe this summer and which threatens all of our existence. These emergencies demand bold leadership.

I will start by discussing the matter at hand, the energy and cost-of-living crises of which people are so fearful as we face into the winter ahead with rising energy bills. We cannot divorce the crisis in people's ability to pay for energy from the wider economic model we have because the cost-of-living and energy bill crises expose the deep insecurity baked into our economy. Well before the onset of the awful war in Ukraine this spring, there was already a serious issue with our economy, a low-pay, high-cost economy in which many people were living from pay cheque to pay cheque without any savings or security with which to face any sort of crisis. I am not just talking about those on the lowest incomes. Many middle-income earners are seeing their economic security undercut by rising prices. Of course, that has increasingly been the case this year. I have spoken before about meeting couples and families in my own constituency who have told me that, a year ago, their incomes were perfectly adequate to meet the costs of childcare, rent or a mortgage, food and energy but that they are no longer enough as the inflation rate rises and energy and food bills spiral. Fixing the broken economic model of low wages is the fundamental challenge if we are to change our country for the better. An increase in take-home pay is the best way to help working people and families to keep up with rising costs. We need to see the power of employees to negotiate pay rates and salaries with their employers strengthened. As a lifelong trade unionist, I want to see stronger rights for unions to bargain collectively on behalf of their members in respect of employees' pay and conditions.

Along with ensuring that Ireland gets a pay rise and that we see pay rises for employees, we should also look at solutions being pursued by our European partners and must review policies that have already been implemented in this country with a view to supporting individuals through the crisis. That is why measures in the budget were disappointing to us in the Labour Party.

Increasing numbers of households are now facing stark choices between heating and eating, and up to half of all households may be in energy poverty in the months ahead. Ireland is just not working for far too many people, including individuals, families, households and businesses. Sadly, rather than providing a more sustainable pathway forward in the budget, it might have been better described as a treadmill budget, or a budget for standing still, without the sort of long-term sustainable measures we needed. Lots of money was put forward by the Government for once-off measures but ultimately there was no sense of forward momentum or progressive movement and no sense that the budget will do anything other than provide a short-term quick fix, which is likely to wear off very quickly, before the new year. The signs are grim that we may need another budget in the new year once the benefit of the short-term measures has faded away.

In respect of the specific measure contained in this Bill, it will be welcome in easing the burden for many households and families. We in the Labour Party will certainly support this initiative but it bears repeating that it may not be in any way sufficient to meet the real hardship due to rising energy costs. Over the last 18 months, average household annual electricity bills have doubled to more than €2,000, with an additional €1,200 expected to be added on to the average Irish household bill. Coupled with wholesale natural gas price increases, we are looking at average bills of up to €4,000 per year. Businesses are facing astronomical increases in bills. I met today with business owners who told me about the sort of bills across hotels and the hospitality sector. In retail, small food businesses are facing massive hikes in their energy bills.

For households looking at the increases that are already in place and envisaged in the months ahead, a €600 energy credit, while welcome, will cover only a small portion of the higher cost of electricity. While any assistance is better than none, we would have preferred to see measures such as those included in our proposed alternative budget instead. For starters, we would have implemented a cap on energy prices. We want to see what the Government is going to about this at a European level. It appears that there will be some sort of EU-wide cap, and that will be very welcome, but we could have done that at a national level. We would have provided a €60 per pupil energy capitation grant winter payment for schools. We would have provided a once-off €400 refundable carbon tax credit for 500,000 of the hardest-pressed families. We would also have invested more in the fuel allowance in order to increase eligibility and provide lengthier payments.

The Labour Party led the way in back in January in calling for a windfall tax on the profits of energy companies, when the Government wanted to adopt a wait-and-see policy within Europe. Action could have been taken then and a measure could have been adopted that would have provided real help through a tax on the windfall profits of energy companies. We need that to be done now. I listened with interest to the contribution of Pat Fenlon of the ESB to the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action. He said that increased profits in the power generation wing of the ESB could not be used to offset prices by Electric Ireland as the two sections must operate independently. I do not intend to use the ESB as a pariah but its profits soared in the first six months of this year. It is hard to accept that it is not within the Government’s gift to pass the benefit of those profits on to ordinary households and small businesses.

We would also have liked to see a cap on energy prices. Such a measure is undoubtedly complex to design and cost and we acknowledge that. In our alternative budget, we allocated €2.1 billion to support such a measure for households and business, not just through this winter but into next year as well. A cap would have ensured that all sectors of society could benefit from lower energy prices. Many EU countries have already taken this approach at a national level while awaiting EU-wide initiatives. Indeed, Spain and Portugal have provided a model where they limited the price of gas in electricity production, effectively subsidising gas generators since June and reducing consumers’ bills by between 15% and 20%. This so-called Iberian model was the subject of some debate at an emergency meeting of energy ministers from EU member states last month.

Fundamentally, energy should be viewed as a common good, especially at this time. The central point to any political debate on energy price caps is that there is more the Government could be doing but there is an unwillingness to address the issue in a meaningful way. The Iberian model brought forward by our sister social democratic parties in Spain and Portugal has shown the type of proactive measures social democratic and left-wing governments can take to protect their citizens from the fallout of Putin’s brutal war on Ukraine. At the very least, domestic electricity credits should feature clawback mechanisms such as the withdrawal of income tax credits from those earning over €100,000. A levy equivalent to the electricity credit could be applied to holiday homes and vacant housing, modelled on the previous non-principal private residence charge, to avoid those with multiple properties benefiting to a disproportionate degree.

I also want to relay the concerns of constituents of mine who are tenants in the private rental sector. I represent a constituency in Dublin Bay South with more than double the national average of households in private rental accommodation. This is a serious issue for so many of the people I represent. A tenant in rented accommodation who pays the landlord directly for their electricity rather than paying the electricity provider should have the benefit of the credit passed on by the landlord. If the landlord pays the electricity bill, it will likely be up to them whether or not they pass on any of the money. This was the case for the previous electricity credit earlier this year. Has the Department gathered any data on the number of cases adjudicated by the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, where a dispute arose as to who should receive the energy credit in a rental household, in respect of the earlier credit granted? This was a serious issue. It is merely anecdotal at this point but I have heard of cases where tenants have been threatened when they raised the matter of receiving the credit with the landlord. In recognition of the power imbalance that exists between tenants and their landlords, which is very marked during the housing crisis with so little supply of private rental accommodation available, I am asking the Government to examine how to ensure renters receive the full sum of the credit where it is owed to them.

We have also been pressing for an eviction ban to be introduced by the Government over the winter. I believe it can be done in a constitutional way that is short term and limited, with necessary provisos. Without the introduction of such a ban, the reality is that many of the measures the Government is proposing in order to ease the burden on renters will fail to address their core concerns. For example, I raised earlier with the Taoiseach the issue of the €500 tax credit for renters. There is a serious concern that it will not apply to all renters. It will not apply to those renting under a licence, for example, or renting a room in a landlord’s home that does not fall within the rent-a-room scheme. I sought clarity on that from the Taoiseach and he was unable to give me that clarity. It is a minuscule amount compared to the levels of rent people are paying. Some are paying €2,000 per month in my constituency so a €500 annual credit is very little but it is essential that it be applicable to all renters, at the very least.

I also wish to highlight the call of the Irish Traveller Movement for the Government to ensure equitable treatment for Travellers under the credit scheme, just as I am looking for equitable treatment for renters. The Irish Traveller Movement has heard from a number of Travellers who did not receive the first €200 credit earlier this year. The group pointed out that on a site where 22 families share six meter point reference numbers, each family was credited with just €22. While the credits are not adequate to address the real hardship of rising energy bills, it is nonetheless important that they be applicable equitably to all people, particularly those in vulnerable communities such as those who are renting and those in the Traveller community.

I would like to acknowledge, as I am sure we all would, that yesterday marked the seventh anniversary of the Carrickmines fire disaster. That anniversary reminds us all of the need for the State to address the systemic inequalities faced by our Traveller community.

On the matter of energy bills, there is a strong correlation between those who live in well-insulated homes and those who do not have the same struggles with energy costs. Clearly, the way of the future is to have a high BER-rated home, one that is powered in a sustainable way by renewables and where the issue of rising energy costs and reliance on fossil fuels no longer arises. Let us acknowledge that there is a small number of households across the country, in new homes built to appropriate standards with reliance on renewables, where energy bills do not induce the same fear as they do for so many households that are utterly reliant on fossil fuels. I would use this opportunity to reiterate the need to ramp up retrofitting supports and remove the red tape in the so-called one-stop shop initiatives to ensure retrofitting is made available and accessible to all households, rather than how it is at present.

Again, I hear from so many constituents who tell me about the difficulties, obstacles and bureaucracy involved in trying to access supports for retrofitting. Retrofitting is a fantastic initiative but it may be better described not as a one-stop-shop but as the several-steps and an upfront lump sum shop and a long delay shop when it comes to trying to access the grant subsequent to installing solar panels. It becomes unaffordable and inaccessible for many households and businesses. A number of issues regarding the accessing of retrofitting have been brought to my attention in recent times and I can engage separately with the Minister in written correspondence.

I would like to seek the Minister's views on something I have raised with the Taoiseach on a number of occasions in Leaders’ Questions. It relates to the management of household energy costs and those suffered by small businesses in Ireland. That is the prospect of nationalising - if even on a temporary basis - the Corrib gas field. Those who are reliant on fossil fuels are facing massive costs exacerbated by international factors, notably the war in Ukraine. High gas prices and indeed electricity prices have been driven by the spiralling cost of natural gas. In Ireland, we have significant levels of gas consumption coming from our own Corrib gas field on this island. We know that Vermilion's revenues last year increased by a massive 267%. The cost of production for that gas has not increased. It should not be subject directly to international price increases yet the price of gas supplies is now costing multiples of what it did one year ago. What is the Minister's view on nationalising the Corrib gas field and bringing it under State ownership - even on a temporary basis - to ensure that we can bring greater certainty to those struggling with fuel bills? The State has the power to do so under the Fuels (Control of Supplies) Acts 1971 and 1982. Powers under this legislation were invoked during the oil shortages that followed the Middle East conflict of the 1970s so these powers exist, are available to Government and were used previously. However, the Taoiseach has dismissed that proposal. I ask the Minister and Department officials to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of this initiative to see if it can be carried out. It may sound a radical measure and it is a radical measure but it is also a sensible one. We are facing into this crisis exacerbated by international factors yet we have a domestic supply available.

Let us not lose sight of the real reason families are so vulnerable to the fluctuations of the free market. The energy bills crisis is caused by the fact we are exposed to the roller-coaster of fossil fuel prices. We must not allow the immediate need to reduce hardship while people struggle to pay their bills to serve as a distraction from the urgent need for action to tackle the climate emergency. We all know that it is only by addressing the climate crisis that we can give people that guarantee that their homes will be warm, the air they breathe will be clean, their roads will be safe, and they and their families will not suffer a massive increase in bills because of the State’s addiction to fossil fuels and an international addiction to fossil fuels that is not unique to Ireland. The Paris Agreement signed in 2015 at COP21 has been called the last beacon of hope for renewed multilateral co-operation and international convergence on the global climate emergency. Since then, we have seen a rapidly closing window of opportunity to avoid climate chaos. In its recent assessment report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, warned that global warming is happening sooner and more quickly than earlier projections and that its effects are more profound. The World Meteorological Organization recently predicted that the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement for the end of the century could soon be breached. Evidence of global warming multiplies in every part of the world on a daily basis. The exception has suddenly become the new normal. This must come as no surprise when we see that global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by 6% in 2021. The Environmental Protection Agency stated that Ireland’s emissions increased by nearly 5% last year and rose above pre-Covid levels.

It was noted that the rise was largely due to the energy industries sector, which tripled its oil and gas use in electricity generation last year. While measures to support families, households and businesses through the winter are necessary, we also need to be mindful of learning the long-term lessons. We know that in the short and medium term, we must shift fundamentally how we consume and produce energy in this country. I welcome the long-anticipated announcement this week of the waiving of planning permission requirements for the installation of solar energy and recent indications from the Minister that our modes of transport will be changed drastically but we need more of that. Words must turn to action and we must address in the short as well as long term that elephant in the room of systemic change. It is time to reject the neoliberal doctrine of the free market when it comes to something as important as energy. It is time to take drastic action to combat the climate crisis and alongside that, the cost-of-living crisis. We must see no more missed targets, no more moving the goal posts and no more "whataboutery". The hour is too late and the moment is too serious. It is cheaper to save the planet than destroy it. In all our interests and those of future generations, we must be mindful of that as we debate these measures - urgent though they are - to address the real hardship being faced by so many through the cost of living crisis into this winter.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Bill. It is very progressive and is most welcome. I spoke to a woman in Killorglin at the weekend who told me that they really appreciated the credit received earlier in the year and that the three waves of further credits will be really important to her and her household as they get through the winter ahead. People have definitely noticed the increase in their bills despite huge efforts by householders to economise, turn off the lights, use fewer appliances and do all the things we should be doing anyway. Despite these huge efforts by everybody, the bills are still soaring so the credits are important. Almost €800 in the space of 12 months is a significant amount of money for a household and is something I would certainly welcome. You always have people saying it is not enough. I am tired of hearing this from the Opposition benches. This is unprecedented intervention. The package is significant and most welcome and from speaking to people in my constituency and meeting people in shops and on the streets, I can guarantee that they are very grateful and are looking forward to having one less chunk of a bill to pay throughout this winter and into the spring. We will have to reassess the situation when we come to February and March 2023. God knows where we will be. I suppose this time last year, we could not have comprehended that we would be in this situation but we are and we do not know whether matters will improve or disimprove. The Government needs to be ready to intervene should the situation deteriorate and should householders throughout the country face further financial crises but this is a big help to people.

In conjunction with the other measures implemented, it is positive intervention from the State. I welcome the movement around Easter on excise. That is important. I come from a predominantly rural constituency and we were seeing the price of a litre of diesel or petrol heading towards the €2.50 mark had there not been State intervention. It is important and it is appreciated by people even through prices are still too high and it is very difficult for people. The fact that the price of a litre of petrol or diesel is quite a bit under €2 at the pump is some relief for people compared to where it might have been without the intervention so it is important that has been continued and I welcome that. I also welcome the extension of the 9% rate for energy bills because that is all money that people would otherwise be spending on energy and would mostly be exported from this economy. At least, it gives people money to spend on other things or at least allows them to not be as stretched as they would otherwise have been. We need to keep the supports for people. In my time as a Deputy, almost 12 years, the challenges householders are facing are quite reminiscent of 2011 and 2012 when we were in the depths of despair in terms of unemployment and emerging from the financial crisis. They are the types of scenarios people are facing. The prospect of increasing interest rates is creating an awful lot of worry for people. They are worried they will not be able to make ends meet so any bit of support that is there should be made available.

Businesses have already seen a huge increase in the cost of raw materials, depending on what sector we are talking about. In construction, it is wood, concrete and other things. Energy bills on top of that were making many businesses unsustainable so the rebate scheme for businesses has been broadly welcomed by businesspeople throughout the country. Without businesspeople keeping their doors open, we would have huge unemployment. They create jobs, provide jobs for people and pay people to run their households. It is important that this intervention was made in the budget. It will not solve the problem and only gives back a little of the increase but is significant and, in many cases, will be the difference between people being able to keep the doors open and not being able to do so. I welcome that.

While we are on the topic of electricity, something that needs to be examined is that the system discriminates against rural people on the price of units of electricity, connection fees and standing charges. These things need to be looked at. As a rural dweller, if I compare my bill to someone living in an urban area, there is a significant difference. I do not think that is acceptable and ask the Minister of State to engage with the regulator on that because it needs to be examined further. It has been brought to my attention by a number of people in my constituency. There was a time when it cost much more to maintain rural lines but with investment in the system and new technologies, there are not the types of costs that were incurred years ago for the ordinary, routine, day-to-day running of electricity grids. That is a legacy of the past the making redundant of which is long overdue. I would like to see some fairness for people living in rural communities being introduced to the equation.

I restate my support for the liquefied natural gas, LNG, project. I note the Minister of State is not the biggest supporter of that project, but for energy security on this island in the medium term, it is an important opportunity for us. There is an application being considered. I will not say too much more about it but I support the principle and I support the project going ahead in north Kerry to provide the State with some additional control over its energy security.

Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Bill. We are all aware of the extent to which the cost of living has risen and we are witnessing the highest inflation rates seen in this country for over two decades. Therefore, any help in reducing high energy bills must be welcomed as a buffer against what we know will be a tough winter for many. The energy supply markets, the unknown factors surrounding Ukraine and the unpredictable duration of the war are not in our control. What is in our control is the capping of electricity units at the rate they were in June or July 2021. This would have given certainty, reassurance and stability to domestic customers and small SMEs, including our retail industry. It would have meant they could plan their budgets and turnover without fear of inevitable drastic increases that will possibly cause many of them to close. We also believe a scheme should ensure people with vacant holiday homes or owners of multiple properties should not benefit from the €600 credits.

I would like to see more flexibility in the Bill to allow for an extension of the date to 2025. This would give the Government more scope to introduce further emergency payments should they be urgently needed.

I ask the Minister of State to clarify the Government's position on MPRN accounts. The Bill states the credit will be paid directly to the holder or name of the MPRN account. What happens in the case where people living in multiple-unit complexes share a meter through a domestic connection, or for members of the Travelling community living in a halting site with shared meters? Will they receive their €200 credit? I had such a case in Wexford town, concerning old people living in a small, purpose-built estate with only one MPRN meter between them.

We have been calling for a windfall tax all along. The recent announcement from the European Union to allow each state to fix up to 33% on the extra profits energy companies make is and will be an essential part of protecting workers and their families from being at the mercy of those companies now and in the near future, which are making opportunistic profits on the back of a war that threatens food and energy supplies across Europe.

Leaving the levy until next year must be questioned, along with the Government's refusal to support decoupling gas from electricity prices, considering that over 80% of Ireland's energy output was provided by wind in June, July and August of this year, yet companies charged each wind-produced unit at the top rate of a gas unit.

We are supportive of this Bill and call on the Government to introduce the windfall levy as early as possible. As we have already seen, the first payment of €200 in credits will be gobbled up by the staggering further increases of 38% in electricity and 37% in gas prices which came into effect on 1 October.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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I have an incredible sense of déjà vu today as we talk about this Bill. In December 2021, the Government announced a €200 energy credit to deal with the energy price hikes people were seeing. That Bill was debated in March of this year. That was also called an electricity emergency Bill. I find it staggering that less than a year later we are debating essentially the same Bill, also termed an emergency Bill, without the Government having learned any of the lessons or taken on board any of the comments the Opposition made in March. To have to rush through a Bill once without proper oversight, debating and governance is unfortunate but to rush it through twice without proper debate is simply bad planning and poor governance.

It is unfortunate that yet again this Bill is going through without pre-legislative scrutiny and after a truncated debate, particularly when we are talking about a €1.3 billion investment by the State. When added to the €400 million previously given out, it is €1.7 billion. It is an incredible amount of money to be giving out to assist in this crisis.

The majority of it is needed by households all over the country. We have spoken many times about how difficult people are finding these price hikes. However, it has been given out in a non-targeted fashion. The primary concern of the Social Democrats in respect of the previous Bill was that the Government was giving it out on a universal basis.

When it was raised with the Minister of State in March that this was not a targeted measure, he said we had to do it this way because we did not have the systems in place to allow us to target the measure and this would get it out to people quickly. That was the rationale. That was announced in December. In April and May, the money hit people's electricity accounts. It still took five or six months for that to be felt by people. Most astounding was the fact that 62,000 holiday homes received that credit. I listened to the Minister of State's speech today and it is clear that will happen again. Some 62,000 people who have a holiday home, which by its nature uses very little energy, will receive another €600 essentially into their back pocket. These are people who have two homes. They are wealthy enough to have a holiday home and the Government is handing them €600 on top of the €200 they have already received.

To look at exactly where this €1.7 billion, I will include it all altogether, is going, when you cost up how much these holiday homes will cost the State, it is €50 million. The Government is handing over €50 million this year to people who have holiday homes to help them with their energy bills.

Compare that with the LauraLynn Foundation which gets €1.5 million a year to help with its children's hospice services. This year's budget provided €9 million for Traveller mental health. Yet this is where the Government decided to spend the money because it was not prepared. It has not used the last year to actually work out a system whereby it could target this money. That is not acceptable.

Let us look again at the €1.7 billion total. Even setting aside the issue of holiday homes, 10% of households in this country earn over €120,000. We do not know how long this crisis will go on for or how deep it will get or how difficult it will get but one thing that has been made repeatedly clear to us, whether by the Central Bank, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council or the UN, is that any measures that are taken by governments to address this crisis need to be targeted and "targeted" means towards those who are at risk of energy poverty. Incredibly, 50% of households in this country are at risk of or are already in energy poverty. We do not know how long this will go on for. We do not know how much money the Government will have to put aside to help people but we need to make sure the Government is helping the people who need it most and by not targeting this money, the Government is actually giving €800 to people who do not need it. Granted, many of those people may find the coming winter difficult but they will manage. No Deputy or Senator in these Houses should be getting €800 from the Government to help with their electricity bills. There are many people who do not need this money. Ten percent of the households in this country earn more than €120,000. If you look at the Government's €1.7 billion, the Government is giving €170 million in subsidies to people who have a household income of over €120,000. Incredibly, it is giving €34 million to people who have a household income of €200,000. That is where the Government chooses to spend its money. It is incredible that this Government has not used the last year to learn and to make changes to the system in order that this is distributed fairly and is targeted to those who most need it.

The other thing that this money is not doing is that it is not future-proofing. When I look at the €34 million that the Government is giving to households with an income of over €200,000, it is more than twice what it has allocated for solar rebates and supports this year. Surely what we should be doing with this money is helping on a short-term basis but also using this money to make sure that people are protected next year. When I talk about people, I mean those at risk of energy poverty. It absolutely has to keep those at the forefront of every single policy decision it makes when it comes to energy but it is not. It is just throwing the money around as though it is going to be available forever. It will not be. We in the Social Democrats wanted to see a targeted approach to this similar to the assistance during Covid because that was very successful. First, it should have been done on an income basis and then it could have been targeted. A credit could have been given to individuals in the same way that the supports were given throughout the Covid pandemic. That would allowed it to be targeted. Second, all the homes at risk of energy poverty that currently get zero money towards solar installations should be given free solar panels. That would cut their electricity costs by 40%. It would take a day to install a house with a solar panel. It is very quick and easy to do and that is where the Government should be focusing its money and efforts. For some bizarre reason it is not doing that. It would rather give people who have a holiday home €800 to spend. It is absolutely incredible.

The Government has not used the last year to prepare or to plan. From now on, I ask that it would bring some forward planning into its decision making and that it look to see what the risks are from this energy crisis and what is the potential for it to go on into the future. Many parties have called for an energy cap. At this time, the Social Democrats do not believe an energy cap is the way to go because it is not targeted. An energy cap would mean that the likes of Google's energy costs would be capped and that is not a good way to spend it. The principle of targeting supports must be there. However, we do not know where this is going. Therefore I ask the Government to use the next months to look at the concept of a cap and how it could be applied in a targeted fashion. Whether that would be through a clawback, I am not sure, but that examination must happen because we do not know where this is going to end. We cannot fail to prepare in the same manner that the Government has failed to prepare for the second emergency electricity rebate, particularly when all the problems with the first one were pointed out.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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As Deputy Whitmore said, there is some merit in the proposals in the Bill before us. The €1.7 billion investment will do some good but that needs to be put in the context of the level of suffering and need in the country. The failure to target this will mean that people in this country will continue to have to choose between heating and eating. That is something that cannot and will not go unchallenged by the Social Democrats. Today, Focus Ireland said more people will become homeless if the Government does not act now. Last week SPARK, the one-parent family organisation said that this budget was the most regressive for one-parent families which are traditionally the most vulnerable group in this country. It is in that context we are speaking up. Deputy Whitmore highlighted what I call the holiday home dividend. We see where the Government's priorities are. We all know that inflation will wipe out the effects of these energy credits within several weeks at most, never mind six months, pushing thousands of families closer to the edge of poverty and, indeed, to survival. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul called its report published last March, "The Cost of Surviving". The money many families would have saved from these measures will already be gone by the time they come into effect.

The Government had a choice last month. It could have done more to prevent gas and electricity bills from crippling families or it could continue to ignore the needs of those on the margins. If it targeted energy credits properly, low- and middle-income households could have benefited from a more suitable amount of savings but as it stands, the relief the credits will provide will be gone as soon as they arrive, while 62,000 households will get a holiday home dividend of over €600.

The Government faced criticism in February for not targeting energy credits. It has not learned from what my script here calls a mistake but is it a mistake or was it done on purpose? It is often said that when you show your budget, you show your priorities. We cannot side step the fact that one in five people is suffering from poverty but 62,000 holiday homeowners will get €600 extra.

The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan admitted in March that owners of holiday homes were given the same energy credits as those struggling to keep the lights and the heat on because the measure was rushed as an emergency. The crisis and the emergency continued. There was time to give consideration to concentrating on those on the margins but the Government chose not to. Over seven months later, millionaires who own several properties get tax breaks while a record number of people are without homes. Rates of homelessness and poverty continue to rise. The Government had a year to adjust and fix this measure and failed to do so. It is the worst off who will face the consequences of what I wrote in my script were mistakes but again, I ask whether it was a mistake or a choice.

What has the Government been doing all this time? Did it choose to ignore the scheme’s flaws out of laziness or did it intend to make the rich richer while more and more people languish in poverty? Poverty is a word often used. Sometimes we use euphemisms in this country. We call it the cost-of-living crisis but poverty is very real. It attacks the senses of everyone who experiences it. It is corrosive to the human condition. One in five people in this country are experiencing that. It is hunger and inadequate access to basic provisions, such as a second jacket, and struggling to keep the lights on this winter. The Government chose that the budget would blindly give the same amount of help to those who do not need it and to those who need much more to keep their head above water. By doing so, it put money into the pockets of the well-off while the most vulnerable in our society face unimaginable struggle.

The Government has shown a lack of nuance, competence and compassion when drawing up its plans for what may prove to be one the most difficult winters in decades.

We should have seen a pandemic-scale response in this budget, but we did not. As I stated earlier, I have received messages from several people in my constituency today, yesterday and last week, and I guarantee I will get them next week, who are going homeless, facing the ever-increasing cost of survival in this country. How on earth can the Government throw millions of euro at millionaires who have holiday homes while more and more children are without a home? It is unfathomable. Once again, those on high incomes will be most rewarded by the Government, with tax cuts and an array of universal lump-sum payments that disproportionately benefit the better-off. Temporary supports and lump sums will not help people in the medium to long term, not the people who need help the most and who are crying out most for assistance. They will not provide sustainable relief to those who can no longer afford the soaring prices of basic necessities like food, a warm coat, fuel and rent.

Those struggling are being left to suffer on all fronts. For example, in the midst of the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, the Government only increased core social welfare rates by €12. The across-the-board failure of budget 2023 will have devastating consequences across the country, and the blame lies with the Government and its incompetence. Yet, it will be cheered on by 62,000 people who have holiday homes who will receive an extra €600.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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I am being contacted by people who are at their wits' end. Rising energy prices are terrifying, especially for those experiencing poverty or on fixed incomes. One constituent on a prepaid system told of having literally seen her money run out and of having to choose between keeping the lights on or going into arrears. This has massive implications for individuals and families. Not only does it erode their quality of life but it has real and lasting health implications. It will worsen existing conditions and the sheer mental strain also has a profound impact.

We are facing into a winter where one of the most common causes of people going to a doctor or an accident and emergency department is the individual inability to pay energy and heating bills. This legislation cannot come quick enough. While of course I welcome any action the Government is taking, this legislation has major flaws. These measures should be targeted to those who need them the most, those who are most at risk. It is unconscionable that Deputies, Ministers, senior civil servants, CEOs and banking executives are all getting the same payments as pensioners, carers and people on disability allowance, not to mention, as my colleagues have referenced, that somebody with a holiday home gets double what somebody on the disability allowance will get.

The Government is intentionally misspending money. Transferring vast amounts of public funds to wealthy individuals at the cost of older people scared to turn on their heating is truly disgusting. That this measure is coming for Green Party Minister makes it even worse. Any system that treats millionaires the same as people living below the poverty line is unjust. The Social Democrats are calling for a cash transfer to individuals that reflects their income levels in order that those who are at risk of poverty will be most protected. Deputy Whitmore has consistently articulated this position but unfortunately the Government will not listen.

A fundamental principle for us is that we must ensure any financial supports or measures are targeted towards those who needed them most, which is something we have repeated frequently. This is much-needed emergency measure albeit deeply flawed, but what is the Government doing to address the underlying issues in the medium and long term? We need a robust energy system that takes advantage of renewable resources for the benefit of everyone. If previous Governments had moved away from fossil fuels, families would be somewhat insulated from some of the worst effects of this energy crisis. Today households across the country are witnessing the results of failure to invest in climate action. Unfortunately, the lack of ambition in the budget means that many families simply will not be able to afford solar panels, which continues to lock them into using fossil fuels. The Government is simultaneously failing to meet their current and future needs and even worse, is keeping those households vulnerable or in poverty.

The Social Democrats proposed an ambitious roll-out of solar panels to ensure that 100,000 low-income homes received panels free of charge. These are homes in energy poverty which need Government support to make the climate changes we require of them. We focus on solar because it is quick, practical and cheaper to do. Most importantly it could reduce the annual energy costs for those in energy poverty by 40% in the first year. Our proposals involve the State bulk-buying panels at greatly reduced prices with teams of trained installers fitting out entire estates at one time. This is the most efficient, effective and lean way to deliver.

Although this Bill concerns payments to domestic users, I cannot fail to mention the drastic needs of our SME sector. I was contacted during the week by the manager of the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery, whose energy bill in August 2021 was €8,833 plus VAT. The bill for the same month this year is €24,669. That is terrifying for small businesses. He and others have pointed out that the temporary business energy-support scheme will not apply to July and August. Local employers need to be prioritised and supported. Again, there is inequity in this scheme as larger more secure players, such as data centres, will benefit while many family-run shops, cafés, restaurants and takeaways are near closing.

In both domestic and commercial sectors, the Government needs to radically change its priorities. Those most at risk need to be supported most.

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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I call Deputy Higgins, who is sharing time with Deputy Leddin.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this measure today. In recent weeks we have all started to notice a chill in the air, darker mornings and evenings closing in. For most people when it is colder and darker, we use more electricity. Those spikes in electricity usage are being compounded by the spikes in electricity prices as is being seen up and down the country. Lights are going on earlier, the heating is being switched on probably for the first time since summer in many households. However, it is also the first time since many of the price increases. It is fair to say that people have never been more conscious of the choices they are making, the appliances they are using and the switches they are flicking. While canvassing last weekend I met a lady who told me that boiling the kettle is costing her twice as much as it did this time last year. I was struck as to just how conscious people are of the direct impact that their choices are having on their pockets.

While limiting our energy consumption should be something that we all think about year-round especially given the climate crisis we are facing, in the colder autumn and winter months it is really important that people are not forced to choose not to turn on the heat or electricity because they are afraid of the cost of doing that. Unfortunately, that has become a real threat for people from a cost-implication perspective in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the rising energy costs being experienced across the globe. That is where the Government must intervene and has intervened.

Despite the challenges people are facing with the cost-of-living crisis, the feedback that I am getting on the doorsteps after the budget has been pretty positive overall. That is because people, from our children to our older people, are getting the help they need and deserve. The payment of three €200 electricity credits to every household in November, January and March is one of the really welcome measures. No one is arguing that €600 in energy credits will completely cushion households from rising costs, but they are a helping hand. Putting €600 back in people's pockets - €600 that would not otherwise be there - during the coldest and darkest winter months is a good move.

Targeting assistance to those on low incomes at the greatest risk of energy poverty with a major expansion of the fuel allowance scheme is also a good move. A lump-sum fuel allowance payment of €400 will be paid in November. We are increasing the fuel allowance threshold from €120 up to €200 above the State pension and extending the fuel allowance to give 80,000 people aged over 70 an increased means threshold of €500 per week or €1,000 for couples.

We have also moved to extend the lower 9% VAT rate for gas and electricity until February and we are helping with fuel costs by extending excise cuts for petrol, diesel and marked gas oil also until February. The 20% reduction in train and bus fares will continue up to the end of next year. Those are all welcome measures.

There has been much discussion on energy price caps at a European level. While it is important not to rule anything out, we need to be frank about this. Most energy companies in Ireland are price takers in the international energy markets and capping prices that energy companies can charge here could risk energy security.

Price caps have unintended and unforeseen consequences. We see that in places like Spain where a price cap has led to the country's highest ever gas consumption. Even countries that had price caps for several years before the pandemic or the Russian war have now had to change their approach. What we do not want to do is benefit energy companies; we must benefit people and that is what the electricity credit does.

Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
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Households across Ireland and Europe are under severe financial pressure this year because of the energy crisis created by the Russian tyrant, his occupation of an independent and sovereign state and his control of the natural resources we in Europe rely on so heavily to light and heat our homes and to run our industries. Nobody should be under any illusions about this. The reason energy costs are surging is because of Vladimir Putin. It is important to state that because speaker after speaker, with the exception of Deputies Bacik and Griffin, have ignored this fundamental point. I welcome the €600 electricity credit that will help people with the increased cost of living in the short term this winter but I am a bit confused by the Sinn Féin position. Deputy O'Rourke stated his party disagrees with the Government's approach. It seems Sinn Féin disagrees with it so much that its members will still vote for it. This makes no sense to me. If it disagree with the Bill, I suggest they should have the courage to vote against it. I say the same about the Social Democrats.

In addition to the electricity credit, this Bill provides for a temporary elimination of the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy, as a cost-of-living measure. The levy is being eliminated so that we can continue with the planned increase in carbon tax. The increase in the carbon tax is offset by the reduction in the NORA levy so that oil prices to consumers are not increased while revenues from the carbon tax are protected. The NORA levy is important for funding the climate action fund. I am very happy to hear that the fund will be replenished by the Exchequer to ensure that important climate projects such as the installation of solar panels on schools can go ahead.

I mentioned the carbon tax and how this Bill is utilising the NORA levy to keep the agreed carbon taxation plan on track. The money collected through carbon tax is ring-fenced for retrofitting, extensive social welfare payments and for agriculture to transition from unsustainable practices to those that support and improve the viability of family farms and restore the damaged environment. It is vitally important to maintain the carbon tax fund at a national level so that we can keep funding the green transition in a just way. Almost €10 billion will be raised by the carbon tax and this will flow back to families and communities while also nudging society towards less carbon-intensive practices.

I commend the Bill. It is the right thing to do to pay energy consumers €600 to help them deal with the surge in energy costs caused by Vladimir Putin's war of aggression on Ukraine and on Europe. I especially welcome the Minister's efforts to address anomalies that surfaced the last time a payment like this was made, in particular that a payment will be made to those members of Traveller families who do not have a dedicated meter point reference number.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach says that no one will face disconnections this winter. He says that people will not be left sitting in cold, dark houses. What he has not said is how this is going to be accomplished or how the 400,000 people with prepaid meters will be looked after. These are vulnerable people who are now terrified because of the lack of information and direction from the Government. This winter they will have to choose between heating their homes or what they can buy in the shop.

The Taoiseach made empty promises about people not having cold homes this winter. It is all very well and good for members of the Government to tell people to go to their social welfare office. What happens at 7 p.m. on a Saturday or Sunday evening when people run out of money and they have to make a choice between whether to put money into the prepaid meter or to go to the shop to try to get lunches for their children or if one of their kids is sick they have to get Calpol or other medication? What do people do? They are the questions people are asking me. I have never seen a social welfare office open at the weekend or at night. We all know what will happen. The likes of Penny Dinners, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and other charities will step in like they always do, but they should not have to. People will then have to turn to moneylenders or other ways of getting money because at the end of the day they have to keep their homes warm in the wintertime and they have to put food on the table and pay their bills. It is going to force more and more people into borrowing money they do not have from people who can overcharge them. This is the Government's job. The Taoiseach has made his statement and he needs to deliver.

We are supposed to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world with our GDP regularly ranked in the top five globally. The reality is that in rich countries like ours no child should have to go cold or hungry. No older person should be standing in their local shop trying to soak up the heat before they go back to a cold home and put on two or three coats to try to keep themselves warm. One older person spoke to me last week about the cost of boiling the kettle. Someone said earlier that it is double the price it was this time last year. Is it not shocking that an older person is worried about boiling the kettle, the one luxury a person might have, because of the cost of energy?

We welcome the €600 credit. For some people this will make a real difference, but for the majority of people it will not. People are being forced to pay off bills for their prepaid meters that they cannot afford. Unfortunately, the €600 is not enough. The energy companies need to figure this out. We need to stop disconnections this winter. We need to bring in a windfall tax for these companies that are making huge profits. I will leave the Minister of State with this point. Today on 96FM there was a gentleman from Youghal who said he had to close his café because he could not afford his energy bills. This is the start of it.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I wish to share time with Deputies Boyd Barrett and Barry.

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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We will speak in that order. I am first of course. I welcome the temporary respite these three tranches will give people. They are not tranches of €200, but €187 in three bundles. The way I describe them is as temporary life-saving devices for people who are drowning in debt. The underlying problem has still not gone away. These grants will help to cushion up to 20% of the price hikes people face, but that means they will still have to shoulder 80% of the massive hikes.

I reject the idea that this is caused solely by the war in Ukraine any more than the impact of Covid cannot be blamed on one bat in Wuhan. The pandemic impacted and played out so badly for us across a social and health system riven by inequality. The dysfunctional health service and years of creeping privatisation worsened the outcomes of the pandemic. Similarly, the war in Ukraine is not the sole cause of the massive energy and fuel hikes. The crisis has simply laid bare the dysfunctional market system and the gross, obscene profiteering by the fossil fuel industry that goes on in ordinary circumstances.

As a member of the Green Party, I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, will not disagree with me, or with António Guterres, who stated:

The combined profits of the largest energy companies in the first quarter of this year are close to $100 billion. This grotesque greed of the fossil fuel industry and their financiers is punishing the poorest and most vulnerable people, while destroying our [planet].

The Minister of State should hold on to that thought because I want to come back to it when we drill down into what is happening in this country. It is incredible that months into the crisis, we have a situation where generators of wind and solar energy, or indeed those who profiteer from Corrib or North Sea gas, can rake in massive profits because of fluctuations in gas prices across the world. This shows that the market in energy is not only totally inefficient, but it gives us a system determined by the profit needs of large corporations. It exposes as utter nonsense the pretence that we have choice and that we can shop around, get the best tariffs, change provider and use smart meters to get the best deal. It is all a way of pretending that markets and competition deliver something they do not, which is cheap prices and efficiencies.

Up to 1991 we had a company, the ESB, that was fully owned and had a not-for-profit mandate. When we went to deregulate, the most efficient and cheapest energy company in Europe ended up in this present sorry mess. That is a story that could be echoed across other elements of services in this society such as health, broadband and housing provision where market mechanisms have been exposed for what they are: a shameless grab of public goods and services for private profit.

The notion of industry being in private hands must be reversed and we have to move beyond the liberal dogma that insists we cannot assert public control over key services. That is why People Before Profit will introduce a Bill to bring in measures to renationalise the energy industry, which will do over the coming weeks and months.

Turning to the Bill, we will seek to introduce an amendment on Committee Stage to deal with one of the most egregious side effects of the deregulation of energy here, namely, the growth in prepay meter use. This is why I asked the Minister of State earlier to hold the thought. Prepay meter use is often presented as a measure to help people exert personal control over energy use but, in reality, it is a direct effect of private, for-profit companies seeking to shore up and increase their profit streams. In the prepay energy market in Ireland, the three big players are owned by multimillionaires. While I will not use their names here because I will be told to shut up, the net worth of one of them in the top company is €65 million. He hits the rich list every year. Shareholders in one of the prepay power companies received a €16 million windfall following an internal restructuring. The profits for 2020, before the war on Ukraine, had risen by 27% to €14.2 million in one of those companies. Our amendment will try to help the Government deal with what it has not been able to do, namely, to show us how it can say, whether it is the Minister for Justice, the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste, that no one will be cut off this winter. We are going to show the Government how it can do that by tabling an amendment to the Bill, which I hope it will not be reckless and reject. There are up to 400,000 customers on prepay meters and the bluff of Ministers in the past two weeks has not given any guarantee they will be able to prevent people from cutting themselves off simply because they cannot afford it. Moreover, it is bizarre that seven months after the first scheme, we still cannot guarantee, although perhaps the Minister of State can answer this, that those from the Travelling community who do not have a MPRN will not be cut off. It beggars belief that we have not learned this lesson.

As COP27 approaches, it is worth pointing out that this crisis, and the misery it has inflicted on people in terms of energy processes, is not only highlighting the failure of the State to protect people during the energy crisis but also showing a greater failure of the market in dealing with and addressing the climate crisis. Last year, big corporations, namely, Shell and Equinor, withdrew from major offshore wind energy projects in Irish waters, while their cheerleaders complained and blamed the planning system and the State's failure to give these companies everything that they ask for. This again highlights that if we are to address the climate crisis, just like the energy crisis, we have to do it by State-run, not-for-profit means.

If we had insisted that a bizarre market system like that which we now have be used to electrify this country in 1927, there is every chance large parts of Ireland would be still in the dark. If we are to address the climate and wider energy crisis, it means reversing those neoliberal policies of the 1990s that brought us to this sorry position. It is instructive to look back at the debates in this House in 1927 - my parliamentary assistant did some of this work - when the same ideological arguments were trotted out. The danger to the State was the idea that there would be a publicly owned, not-for-profit energy market. It was labelled as Bolshevism and Deputies were warned about creeping communism. Oddly enough, I want to quote the Minister who introduced the Bill and set up the ESB. He was no Bolshevik; rather, he was a member of Cumann na nGaedheal. The then Minister, Patrick McGilligan, explained that the State could not deliver the energy revolution it needed if it was to leave that to for-profit companies. He stated that “the dangers of handing over to anybody operating for gain such services as [energy], with all the attendant circumstances, were so great that it simply could not be attempted.” That was a Cumann na nGaedheal Minister in 1927. I echo what he said, and it is very odd for me to do that. Leaving such a key sector to those companies, which seek to gain massive profits from the disaster, poverty and misery of ordinary people in this energy crisis, would be an even worse disaster than that which faced us in 1927 because it also doubles and triples up with the climate crisis we face.

I look forward to the debate on the Bill and to the Minister of State accepting, I hope, the amendment People Before Profit will put forward on Committee Stage to ensure that users of prepay meters will not fall through the cracks. Moreover, when we one day attempt to reverse the damage done in the 1990s and to renationalise the energy sector, I hope the Green Party will fully support us.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Last week in the House, we discussed the issue of disconnections for users of prepay meters. On Friday, after holding my weekly clinic, I went to meet senior citizens who live in council accommodation. While I was meeting these elderly residents, an emergency occurred. They informed me of a man who had just got out of hospital, having spent five or six months there following multiple strokes, and who needed a nebuliser to allow him to continue breathing and so on. He had been released from hospital earlier in the week and when he opened the door of his house, he discovered that the prepay electricity had been disconnected while he was in hospital. Unbeknown to him, while he was in hospital, he was being charged €1.50 a day, which had clocked up to a grand total of €365. Unless he had the money to pay that debt of €365, he would have no electricity. For the next three or four days, therefore, he had nowhere to plug in his nebuliser, no cooker, no lighting and no power in his house. When we walked into the house to meet him, he was bawling crying. This elderly man had been reduced to tears and was terrified as to how he would address this.

Luckily, we got him sorted that day, although it was extremely difficult and involved phoning PrepayPower and the council and, eventually, after much argument, getting a code from them because we stressed that this man's life was danger, that his health was at stake and that he had been left in this utterly unacceptable position for several days. Even we had difficulty putting in codes and so on to finally get his electricity turned back on. Quite honestly, that man is lucky to be alive, given he had nowhere to plug in his nebuliser. When the Government states that there should be no disconnections and commits to doing its best or endeavouring or whatever the expression is to ensure that people on prepay power will not be cut off, here is an example of what actually happened to a sick and vulnerable elderly man. We need certainty, and people like that man and many others who could find themselves in that situation this winter need cast-iron guarantees that they are not going to be disconnected. What is particularly shocking in this case is that people can be disconnected and find themselves with a €365 bill without even having used the electricity. It is beyond belief. We hear these somewhat abstract debates in the House or abstract assurances from the Government, but that is the reality of what goes on.

I will now similarly set out the situation for people who use district heating systems. The Government, and in particular the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, should know this because Clúid, Tuath and Respond, all of which provide social housing to people on the lowest incomes, wrote to him earlier this year warning him of the dire situation facing many of their tenants in social housing who had experienced increases of up to 600% in their energy costs, with bills rising from average figures of about €50 a month to €150 a month.

These massive increases are completely unsustainable. They appealed to the Minister in February or March to do something about this but, as of now, nothing has been done.

I have some bills in front of me from one of the district heating companies. Thousands of people are caught in these situations, but I want to underline the fact that many of them are social housing tenants. People are also affected by this more generally, however. The bills are quite extraordinary. People are paying unit rates that are approximately treble what most people pay. The energy hikes are affecting most people but this is far worse. The biggest component of the bill is a network heating charge. The latter is approximately 50% of every bill. Even if a person does not turn on the heating, he or she is paying this charge. A person pays a standing charge and a network heating charge, which is the biggest component of the bill. I am looking at a bill for €489 for 59 days. Some €91 of that is for user charges, €26 is for standing charges and €110 is for a network heating charge. In other words, a person pays it regardless of whether he or she uses any electricity. Something has to be done about the extortionate rates that are being charged to people on district heating systems.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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The three €200 energy credits will be refused by no one. However, many people see that they are of particular value to the for-profit energy companies that are increasing their prices while making massive profits and will end up with this money in their accounts boosting those profits. The Government argues that fixing prices at 2021 rates would be to write a blank cheque for the big energy companies. That is why socialists call for price controls, on the one hand, and the nationalisation of energy companies, on the other. Energy provision in this country used to be in the hands of the State-owned ESB. The people of Ireland were promised that deregulation and liberalisation, in other words, opening the energy market up to the private sector companies and big corporations, would result in cheaper electricity. What has been the experience? The three key EU directives relating to liberalisation where those of 1996, 2003 and 2007. What happened in that time? In the 20 years between 1994 and 2014, electricity prices rose by 267% in this State. That is more than three times the rate of inflation, which for those 20 years was 78%. In terms of household bills, if one excludes VAT and the extra public service obligation, PSO, levies. etc., this equals an increase of €758 per household. Essentially, what happened is that the ESB's prices increased sharply in order to facilitate the private companies coming into the market. The ESB would have been unable to compete with them if its prices had not increased. Households were forced to pay a heavy price to facilitate the entry of those companies into the market.

The deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation of electricity has, therefore, been a disaster for ordinary people. It has, of course, been a bonanza for the big private energy providers. At the sharp end of this neoliberal drive has been the pay-as-you-go companies, which charge a higher tariff to generally lower-income households with the threat of disconnection at the very core of their business model. It is the refusal of the Government to stand on the toes of these companies that has got it into the tangle in which it finds itself in the context of the current pay-as-you-go controversy. The liberalisation, deregulation and privatisation process should be completely reversed. Energy provision, both pay-as-you-go and non-pay-as-you-go, should be renationalised and energy run for people, not profit.

There needs to be a debate about the decommodification of electricity. If we strip out profit and VAT and other taxes, it costs €3.3 billion to provide electricity to every household in the State at wholesale prices. In other words, electricity could be provided free of charge to every household in the State for €3.3 billion, or a free electricity allowance could be provided to every household for half of the average household usage for €1.6 billion with an allowance of one quarter for €820 million. This is not 1927; electricity is a basic utility without which a decent life and participation in society are impossible. Like water, it is a basic need and a basic utility.

For now, my focus is on fixing prices at 2021 levels and renationalising the sector. This point about a free allowance of electricity as a basic right is a point to which I will return in future, however. This is my final point. The deregulation and privatisation process has also been a disaster for climate. The switch to profit being the guide has set Ireland and Europe back a generation in terms of the transition to renewables. In 2011, $131.7 billion was invested in renewables in Europe. In 2019, the figure was €58 billion. The amount being invested has more than halved because of the lack of a short-term profit fix for this. We need investment in renewables. This is only going to happen on a consistent basis if it is not a quick fix, quick hit for profit. It will only be if there is public ownership, which means nationalisation of the energy industry throughout the whole of the European Union, and if the sector is run on the basis of workers' control and management for society's needs, not for the profits of the few.

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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We will return now to a Government slot. I call Deputy Murnane O'Connor.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. I know only too well the impact the energy crisis is having on families and businesses across the country. Families who have never asked for help before have been coming to my clinics. There is a fear, and that is something on which we need to try to work.

Schools and many section 39 organisations have contacted me about funding, particularly in terms of the upkeep and what it will cost. Many day care services have contacted me. St. Clare's Hospitality Kitchen and other such groups really just want to know what the funding is and how they can apply for it. That is important. Real and urgent measures are needed to support those who need them most and to give us all the chance of meeting this challenge together as we did in the pandemic. That is so important. That is what I have been saying to the people to whom I have spoken.

A figure of €600 is to be paid in three instalments of €200. The first payment will be before Christmas. Again, communication is important. When we say Christmas, will that be early next month or mid-December? I know that we must wait for enactment. I urge the House not to delay the timeline for this. We need to get it through as soon as possible. There are also plans for two further instalments in the new year but again, I have been asked whether that will be January, February, March or late spring. Above all, people need to know what is happening. I emphasise to the Minister of State that communication to everyone will be absolutely critical.

I welcome the funding mechanism for Traveller families to receive a credit in addition to this amount, which is to be agreed with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. This was because using the MPRN as the identifier in the previous scheme resulted in a small number of households not being able to access the payment. A particular cohort since identified included approximately 1,000 Traveller households in a certain local authority's accommodation where the MPRN was registered to the local authority and supplied multiple households. Therefore, we need to make sure we get the information out there in order to best reach those who most need supports.

That is so important.

It is important for tenants to know there is an RTB mediation service available to them. This is concerned with arrangements tenants may have with their landlords whereby the landlord may hold the MPRN. If the landlord does not pass on the payment then there is mediation with the RTB. I have spoken to a lot of people in my area of Carlow-Kilkenny about the rising costs. Some of them have gone to the social welfare services for support. I know the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, has addressed this several times, but it is so important when people go for help, which is not easy as the Minister of State will know, that there are supports in place. When people apply for support with an oil fill, an electricity bill they cannot afford or whatever it is, the money should be there for them. We are in a totally different time and we need to support the most vulnerable in our community and let them know we are there to help them and that there are supports in place.

One lady rang my clinic yesterday - a lovely lady I have known for years - and she said she does not think she will put up any lights or have a tree for Christmas this year. She said she is too nervous to do so. I told her to wait and see and that there are supports in place. We do not want people going around at Christmas thinking they cannot turn on a few lights or turn on the light on a Christmas tree. Christmas is so important to all of us and it is a big family time for everyone. I told her to wait and see, that there are supports coming and that I would work to see how quickly we can get them through Government. It is crucial for people that information is there and that there is communication. In particular, when people go looking for supports they should be given as quickly as possible. Again, the €600 should be given out as soon as possible.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on this. Families are facing an unprecedented challenge this winter to meet their electricity bills. Undoubtedly, international affairs will contribute and are contributing to that crisis but there are factors under our control.

Sinn Féin supports this proposal to provide households with an energy credit, which will help to offset some of the costs households face this winter. However, we have also called for a windfall tax to be introduced on the excessive profits of energy suppliers. We cannot just wait to see what the European Union does. We are a Legislature and we need to act now. Without the introduction of a windfall tax this Government is simply writing a blank cheque to these large energy suppliers. As called for by Sinn Féin and as implemented in other EU countries, energy price caps would also give certainty to householders over the winter period, when they have their highest usage of electricity.

Sinn Féin will also be submitting amendments to remove the arrears limit on prepay meters and to prohibit disconnections for households with prepay meters for that period. Roughly 340,000 households use prepay meters and they are often charged a higher unit rate for electricity. I want the Minister of State to hear the following point. It is generally lower income households that use prepay meters. I know a lot of these people in that cohort, as will the Minister of State. The reason they have them is they cannot deal with bills every two months. They pay by the week and it is important that we protect them. We need to ensure that all households receive the €600 energy credit. This includes those living in mobile home parks and apartments that have shared meters with just one MPRN. This is important. In my constituency a number of people are resident in a mobile home park, some of them elderly. The owner of the park has an MPRN but the households, the people living permanently in these mobile homes, do not. They are caught in a situation where they simply have no way out and they need to be helped.

In the medium to long term we need to address our energy security. Sinn Féin has consistently called for more direct involvement in energy provision by the ESB, Bord na Móna and Coillte. Why do we call for that? We do so because the State owns them. Each of these are semi-State bodies that are well-established with deep roots in our communities. We should be looking to build up their capacity so as to increase supply and security. We cannot be left subject to a whim at the end of a pipeline, hoping someone else does not turn it off. We should also be able to get a clawback on the dividend from their profits. After all the difficulties it has gone through, this year Bord na Móna paid a dividend to the State on its profits from last year. It has returned to profit, from a company that was nearly closed, which shows the power of the semi-State bodies. Those companies have huge potential and I am asking the Minister of State, as the Minister of State with responsibility for this, to take that on board. We should also be building up our biogas and biomass industries. We have the resources; we just need the political will. Sinn Féin wants to see long-term solutions to the energy crisis and that means becoming more self-sufficient so that we are not at the mercy of international affairs or price-gouging private energy companies.

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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Irish households are facing into the biggest cost-of-living squeeze in nearly four decades in the middle of another significant jump in the official inflation rate. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, estimates that the share of households experiencing energy poverty increased from a level of 13% in 2015 and 2016 to 29% in mid-2022, with potentially more than 50% of all households considered to be at risk of energy poverty by the end of the winter.

With regard to the electricity credit announced in the budget, I acknowledge that it will go some way towards helping families struggling to keep up with rocketing energy prices. However, without a price cap the average energy bills will continue to rise, with some families stating it is like paying a second mortgage or double rent. In December 2021, the Government approved the original electricity credit scheme to credit all domestic electricity accounts. Payments were made to more than 2.1 million domestic electricity accounts through April, May and June. They were made automatically and without the need for an application. The scheme was operated by ESB Networks, the electricity distribution system operator, and electricity suppliers, with the oversight of the CRU. Using MPRNs, ESB Networks calculated the number of domestic electricity accounts and notified the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, which subsequently transferred moneys for the scheme to ESB Networks. Suppliers then credited each domestic electricity account held with it on the effective date with the electricity costs emergency benefit payment over the following billing cycle. I acknowledge that this measure and existing infrastructure is a huge help for most households, but not all.

The ESB and Electric Ireland told an Oireachtas committee last week that 125,000 customers are currently behind on their bills, up from 100,000 during the pandemic, and we are only in the autumn. What will happen when the cold weather really sets in and there is an essential need for heat in the home? This is catastrophic and causing major concern for most homes and businesses. The Government needs to engage further with the CRU and the energy companies on this to ensure that the most vulnerable will not be cut off this winter.

On people on pay-as-you-go energy meters, how are emergency payments going to be paid to those vulnerable citizens when the metering system cannot provide the data to identify these people? What are they going to do? There are approximately 346,000 households with prepaid electricity meters but because you cannot see when a pay-as-you-go customer's meter is running out, getting payments to these people quickly is a challenge. Although I acknowledge there is a €3 million hardship fund to help households top up their energy meters, administered by the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, and St. Vincent de Paul, this protective measure is insufficient. What protections are in place for customers on prepay meters? The Taoiseach affirmed that no vulnerable person will be disconnected this winter but there is evidently a mismatch between his definition of vulnerable, and that of the CRU, which characterises the vulnerable as having certain specific medical conditions. I would ask for clarity on this today.

With the definition of vulnerability in mind, I have a constituent who raised the issue of one electricity meter covering two dwellings; one home and one independent granny flat, where the inhabitant is in receipt of palliative care. The inhabitant in receipt of palliative care is deemed vulnerable and requires significant electricity use. One electricity meter covering two dwellings impacts both houses' entitlements to the electricity credit respectively. However, it costs approximately €4,000 to install an additional meter, which is not feasible amid the cost-of-living crisis. These dwellings are inhabited and maintained independently and the only combining aspect is the single meter. The Government needs to bring in the necessary legislation to grant eligibility of electricity credits to independent dwellings or granny flats that share one meter.

Similarly, the requirement of the use of the MPRN as the identifier within the first electricity credit scheme resulted in certain cohorts not being able to access the payment. A particular cohort identified includes approximately 1,000 Traveller households in certain local authority accommodation, where the MPRN is registered to the local authority and supplies multiple households. Additionally, while the vast majority of people who rent their homes have their own individual MPRNs, there is a small cohort of people whose landlords hold the MPRNs and the energy costs are subsequently paid to the landlord by the tenant. I refer to the reality of rural Ireland.

Those vulnerable groups need support, which was not provided for under the first electricity scheme.

Let us not forget the electricity businesses that are swiftly exiting the Irish market. I have had constituents calling me after being placed on the most expensive tariffs for electricity and gas as more and more suppliers flee the Irish market. When energy providers leave, their customers get transferred to other suppliers and are put on the most expensive standard tariffs. These are higher than the best rates that can be obtained from energy providers by locking into an annual discounted contract. For example, I had a local school principal in County Louth contact me regarding the school's spiralling electricity bills. On top of this, its electricity contract is due to expire and will revert to standard charges, which, as we know, have risen by 65%. This process is flawed.

These are examples of existing challenges that need to be assessed and incorporated into this Bill and the new scheme to ensure help is provided to those who most need it. It is imperative we do not compromise on people's health and safety. Legislation should incorporate a ban on any threat to turn off electricity supply to domestic customers and any critical social infrastructure, such as hospitals, nursing homes and schools.

In June, the Government enacted legislation and approved capital funding to support EirGrid's role in expediting the delivery of temporary generation capacity. However, the national grid has come under increasing pressure since the start of the decade, with a spike in the number of amber alerts. This requires immediate attention from the Government. It is all well and good throwing money at people under this second electricity scheme but there is a heightened need for the immediate decoupling of the link between gas prices and electricity prices. Electricity prices are inflating, whether generated by natural gas or not. On those grounds, I request that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, continue to assert his efforts in securing EU-wide agreement on the decoupling of the link between gas prices and electricity prices. In addition, are there any updates on the EU energy plan figures with regard to using EU windfall levies on oil and gas companies, the profits of which have risen along with skyrocketing prices?

The Government had an opportunity in the budget to address the electricity crisis facing ordinary people in this period and in the future but it refused to put a cap on electricity prices. While that is disappointing in the long term, I acknowledge the new scheme will help people this winter. Let us be clear. Whatever needs to be done now to keep the lights on for families this winter must be done as a matter of urgency. If a family is forced to freeze as a result of mounting electricity bills, the Government has failed. It must be remembered that behind every MPRN or, in some cases, lack thereof, are people, many of whom are in a difficult place. We must look after them and ensure they have a proper Christmas. They have been forced to make very difficult decisions based on income and human needs. Quality of life means so much and people are struggling every week. I offer my full support to the many great constituents and businesses in Louth and east Meath that have made great sacrifices over the past three years. We must support them now and do so urgently.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The next number of months will be some of the harshest many people will ever have experienced. For many families, utility bills are already out of reach before the winter starts. A large number of families are living from overdraft to overdraft, if they are lucky enough to have an overdraft, and many others will be reliant on moneylenders because that is the only way they have right now to pay for the necessities of life. There is a hierarchy of needs comprising food, shelter, heat and clothes. Incredibly, in Ireland in 2022, these necessities are out of reach for many working families. I have no doubt lives will be lost and health will be damaged this winter as a result of what is going to happen.

This generation is one of the first generations in which people will be worse off than their parents. It is likely to be the best educated and hardest-working generation in history and the people in this cohort commute further than those in any other generation. However, they will definitely have far less security than previous generations in terms of the necessities, including housing, health and being able to buy food and clothes. As a result of this, incredibly, emigration is now raising its shocking head, with a recent survey indicating one third of Irish families are considering moving abroad. The reversal of generations of economic progress and a return of the Irish curse of emigration is an incredible legacy for the Minister of State and the Government to leave.

The electricity credits that are being provided by the State are an absolute scam and I will explain why that is. Today, citizens are paying more in fuel taxes than they did before the cost-of-living crisis happened. All of the €1.2 billion in electricity credits people will get from the Government in three instalments have already been paid for by the recipients in higher taxation charges, carbon tax increases and ESB price increases. All of that money is being given to people with one hand while the same money is being taken from them with the other hand. It is absolutely shocking that the Government has increased the carbon tax in this crisis. Aontú was the only political party in the Dáil to vote against that tax.

The most frustrating element of the debate on the cost of energy is that the Government has within its gift the levers it could pull to reduce the cost of electricity for people. It could reduce that cost in a large number of ways at no real cost to the State. I understand Ireland is the only country in the whole of Europe that does not have a gas storage supply. That is laid at the Minister of State's door. It is as a direct result of the Green Party's actions that we are the only country with no gas storage and we are the most exposed to price increases and threats to supply. The Government has also introduced restrictions on the use of turf in the middle of an energy crisis. Again, there is absolutely no logic at all to that but Aontú was the only party in the Dáil to oppose it unequivocally. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications spoke recently in measured, proud tones of how he brought together the energy ministers from all across Europe to a conference in Dublin on offshore wind. In 20 years, however, the State has built only seven offshore wind turbines. It is incredible and very frustrating.

Aontú has called on the Government to reduce the VAT on fuel, which it refused to do, citing Government rules. Spain has reduced its VAT on fuel. We in Aontú have called on the Government to decouple the price of non-gas-generated electricity from gas-generated electricity. The Government refused, claiming such a move is an EU competency. However, Spain and Portugal have taken that step. Aontú called on the Government to introduce a windfall tax on certain types of energy companies that are making supernormal profits. It refused to do so, again outsourcing any such decision to the EU. Italy, on the other hand, stood up for its citizens and implemented a tax. We called for the reopening of Lanesborough and Shannonbridge power stations, the closure of which was a ludicrous decision to make at a time of short supply of energy in the State. The country is now potentially facing blackouts as a result. The Minister of State must get rid of standing charges. It makes no sense that we are increasing charges on electricity that is not even being used. It is not environmentally friendly and it hurts people as well.

There is a clear theme running through these Government actions and I would like the Minister of State to think about that. Time and again, we are deferring all the big decisions and all the levers we could use to the EU. This is not because the laws or regulations demand it but because of Government inertia. I believe there are a number of reasons for that inertia. First, we are ceding vast elements of Government responsibility to the EU due to a massive technical inability within the Government to do some of those jobs. Second, there is a bias towards EU subservience in the Government in that it honestly seems to believe the EU would do a better job on many of the issues I have raised. That is a major mistake. The EU has competencies in certain areas and surely does certain things well but it is also extremely cumbersome in taking such decisions. It is a slow-moving animal when it comes to fixing some of the issues we are discussing, such as the decoupling of gas-generated electricity from the rest of the system. We would be faster and more effective in doing that ourselves. Another factor is that, truth be told, the EU is not focused on Ireland; it is focused on the needs of the larger countries. If we keep deferring power to the Union on these issues, we will be waiting a long time and our citizens will hurt. I implore the Minister of State to use the levers that are in the hands of the Government to fix the electricity crisis. It must stop handing those levers over to the EU to work.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. Its importance has been brought to the attention of all of us in our constituencies, with people telling us they find it harder to live because of the cost of energy, fuel and all the other things necessary for living. It is important that people are supported but I am not sure about supporting them by giving them energy credits.

In my opinion, that might only fuel inflation. The energy crisis affects every facet of our lives. It affects home life, public buildings, the cost of doing business publically, and business more generally. A businessman contacted me yesterday evening and told me that his energy costs have risen so much that his reserves in the business are depleting. He employs a huge number of people in his homegrown business. He is fearful that if we do not arrest this and provide proper supports for business over the next 12 months, he will have to close his doors. The negative effect of that will be passed on.

There was a big emphasis over the summer on stopping people from displaying turf for sale. In the constituency where I live, turf is very important for keeping people warm during the winter. The arguments made were all about air quality, but if people end up with no heat in their houses, there will be a lot of flu, pneumonia and chest infections. I think it is important that if we are changing rules we do not change them until we actually have the alternatives in place. One of the big things that is talked about in heating is air to water and getting people to put in air to water heating systems. However, it takes electricity to run them. People who have done it and have tried to comply with the green agenda are left in a situation where they are paying more for their heating and they have no control over it, other than turning down the thermostat.

In relation to the credits that have been proposed, I think the pay-as-you-go customers need to be sorted now. There can be no dilly-dallying with this. Every pay-as-you-go customer must get the benefit of this credit. The Government has announced that it is giving all of this money out, so it must ensure that everybody gets it and not just some people. I also believe that the standing charges on ESB bills are gross and unfair and should be abandoned at this particular time. We are in a crisis. The standing charges should be removed. People can refer this to the energy regulator. We are all in this House to make sure that we have good laws and good governance. The standing charges should be taken out as a matter of urgency, as should the PSO levies.

It is very important that we talk about the smart meters that have been installed, the investment that has been put into them and what use they are to people who are trying to use them. I have heard some people say that one way of saving energy is to put on the tumble dryer at night. It is actually risky to do that, because the heat build-up in a tumble dryer could cause a house fire. We must be very careful about the advice that we are giving out on how appliances should be used. It is important that the Government steps up to the mark and issues proper guidance on how to conserve energy, rather than leaving it to other people. Energy providers are taking advantage of the current situation. They are making profits on the back of people who are suffering. It is important that they are challenged at every opportunity.

I welcome the fact that last week there was an announcement that solar panels on roofs would be exempt from planning regulations in most cases. However, there are two things that I ask of the Government in connection with that. Whatever ministerial directive to local authorities is required, it must be given now and not in a month's time or two months' time. The announcement has been made. The Government must ensure that the local authorities know how to deal with the matter. For instance, if a person is putting solar panels on his or her roof, whether the property is a farm, a house or a business, will planning permission be required? If the answer is "No", will the person need to apply for a certificate of exemption from planning permission from the local authority before the work is carried out? We have to be upfront with people and tell them what they have to do, because they are anxious to get involved in this. The second point I wish to make on solar panels relates to experiences shared with me by a number of constituents in Galway East. They have told me that they invested in solar panels in the past and did everything to try to create green energy, but they were sold a pup in terms of the energy credit they would get for what they were feeding into the network. That was supposed to happen in July of last year and people still have not got their money. It is a failure of Government that we would lull people into a false sense of security and tell them that they would be getting a return on their investment. Likewise, the rate that they are getting for the energy that they are feeding back into the system is way too low and should be looked at seriously.

Lastly, I wish to make the point that we are at a stage where we are facing a huge energy crisis. There are two parts to it. There is the issue of supply and the fact that we are putting all of our eggs into one basket when we do not know how we are going to deal with it. Offshore energy is a case in point. I will leave my thoughts with the Minister of State.

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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There seems to be a broad consensus that something needs to be done. I am hearing from Sinn Féin that they will be supporting the passage of the Bill through the House. I understand that there is a difference in the approach that Sinn Féin would take over the Government parties. I happen to disagree with the Sinn Féin approach. I think it is too close to the Tory model. I think it would result in a huge wealth transfer to people who need it least, energy companies included.

Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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Not if there is a wealth tax.

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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Putting that to one side, everybody in the House agrees on one thing, which is that people who are living through this energy crisis absolutely need help, and need help urgently. That is something that this Bill provides. The provisions of the Bill are reasonably straightforward. They were rehearsed when the previous energy credit was put in place. Deficiencies were identified in the previous iteration of the electricity credit, which I hope we will put right in this legislation, for example, in the specific case of members of the Travelling Community, where there might be one MPRN across a number of families. A basic equity test is failed if each of those families is not getting what they are entitled to in terms of the energy credit. Similarly, if the energy account is in the name of a landlord and the benefit is not being passed onto the tenant, it fails an equity test. It is not something that we should be standing over as a Government. I very much hope that we have put provisions in place that will prevent that happening again.

I think it was a good idea to make changes to the NORA levy. I support that notion. As the Minister of State said, there is sufficient energy supply already there in terms of the NORA levy. I think it is a wise decision.

I want to broaden out the scope of my contribution. I was thinking that there are four basic objectives, that as a consumer, a customer and a policymaker, I want to consider in respect of energy. First, I want to reduce my energy costs. Everybody wants to reduce their energy costs. Hand in hand with that, I want to reduce my energy use. I want to figure out when is the best time for me to use the energy that I am going to use in terms of price. There is also a third element, and I must say that I do think people want to play their part in mitigating the energy crisis, and particularly the issues with the supply of electricity. I want to know when to use energy in a way that is going to relieve the stress that is on the system that we all know is there. I think people have that broader sense of civic duty.

The fourth element is that I want to promote the microgeneration of renewables so that energy is putting money back into people's pockets. However, I get the sense that my four priorities may not be priorities that are shared by our energy companies; in fact, we may be at cross purposes. It may be the case that what the energy companies want me to do is not to reduce my usage and bills and not to promote microgeneration. Presumably, they would like to see less pressure on the grid, however. What can I say in support of this assertion? First, I had a look at microgeneration tariffs and payments today, before making this speech. Bord Gáis has no published tariffs for microgeneration. If I make any errors here, I will be happy to correct the record afterwards.

There is no published tariff and payment can be expected once per year. I could find no information online on rates or payment frequency for PrepayPower. SSE Airtricity's payments will be 14 cent per KWh, with two payments per year. I could go further with this but suffice to say there is a variation in the price being offered per kWh. I do not think paying somebody once or twice a year is acceptable. I do not think that is the carrot we need to promote microgeneration. From talking to constituents who have installed solar panels on their roofs, I can tell the House it is not easy to get that feed-in tariff. Obstacles and hurdles are being put in people's way and they are finding it difficult to access that payment. Energy companies are dragging their heels.

I had a smart meter installed in my house recently. I was expecting the world of information to open in front of me to allow me to figure out when I should use energy and how I am going to save my money. However, I have no access to that information. The only way I can access that information at present is if I sign up for a smart meter tariff. I do not currently have the information to know if I will do better on a smart meter tariff. Somebody has that information and one can be sure they are using it for their corporate benefit. I do not have access to that information. How am I to know what plan is going to benefit me most?

I had a research note prepared, which states that the number of tariff options out there could be described as baffling. That is from a Green Party researcher. There was a similar discussion in my local membership WhatsApp group. Members of the Green Party were trying to compare, contrast and understand the different tariffs out there for people with smart meters. We could not make head nor tail of it. Those are people who are highly literate in respect of energy policy. If I cannot make head nor tail of it, how can I expect people of a low literacy level to be able to understand when they do not have access to information and the information they have is difficult to decipher?

Deputy Whitmore rightly pointed out there is a €1.7 billion wealth transfer of taxpayer money. Deputy Barry was correct that consumers will benefit from it but eventually that wealth transfer will end up with the energy companies. Should be we be considering conditionality? Should these tariffs be easily comprehensible to people? Should we make sure that people have access to the information that their smart meters are generating? Should we ensure that energy companies are not putting hurdles in the way of people who want to benefit from microgeneration on their homes?

Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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I echo the concerns that have been expressed about the members of the Travelling community and some tenants who may not see this money. I say to Deputy Ó Cathasaigh that the Sinn Féin position is that a price cap, as we have clearly stated, must go hand in hand with a windfall tax on the profits of the energy companies.

While this Bill will be welcomed by many ordinary workers and families who are struggling to keep food on the table and send kids to school and sports etc. and who are trying to make sure they have a warm home, this will be temporary. A cash payment sounds great at the moment but the energy costs will soon outstrip that payment. While the electricity costs emergency benefit scheme is a stopgap on large bills, it will do nothing to stop the rise of energy costs and the crippling rise in the cost of living in general. What will stop the rise for citizens, as I said, is a price cap, as Sinn Féin has called for.

I see and hear weekly that families are struggling to choose between food and heat. Why is the Government not hearing that and doing the right thing? In 2022, when children ask if the heating is on as they go to bed cold, the answer should not be to put a coat on the bed. In fact, what these energy credits do is to allow the cost of energy to rise to an unimaginable amount for most ordinary people. This is, in essence, the Government providing funds to keep energy costs at the status quo. A cap to pre-pandemic prices would mean more money in people's pockets and would alleviate some of the cost-of-living crisis in households across the country.

This initiative by the Government will cost up to €1.21 billion. It will enable prices to rise and profits to rise for providers. The Government is approaching this cost-of-living and energy crisis in a piecemeal way instead of taking the necessary steps to make an impact on people's lives. I will share one statistic that stopped me in my tracks. The ESB saw revenues increase to €3.7 billion, an increase of €1.5 billion on last year. Profits rose to €128 million for the first six months of this year. Where is this money coming from? It is coming from our pockets. It is coming from the pockets of families and individuals. It is coming from businesses. That is where that money is coming from. That needs to stop. I urge the Government to step up and listen to what all of us are hearing in our communities and constituency offices. Workers, families and businesses are all struggling. They need help. They need more help than is being provided at the moment.