Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein)

I second the amendment proposed by Senator Cullinane and echo the comments of Senator Daly in asking the Leader to bring the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to the House before the recess to discuss the proposal by Bord Gáis to increase electricity prices later this week.

These increases will further exacerbate the difficulties experienced by a large number of households when they receive their energy bills. They will push many people into arrears, increase the number of disconnections and lead to many people being unable to heat their homes during the colder winter months. I remind the House that Bord Gáis made a profit of €120 million last year. It persuaded a large number of people to make the "big switch" from their previous electricity supplier on the basis that they would make a saving and get a better deal. As a result of this move bills will increase and customers will lose out by more than €300 a year. This measure has been proposed at a time when more than 114,000 customers of Bord Gáis are in arrears of more than two months. That figure has increased by 300% since last year. The degree of price-matching in this sector makes it inevitable that the other two major players in the sector will-----