Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I welcome the Minister to the House yet again. I endorse what he said in his opening remarks that this important legislation has passed all stages in the other House without any controversy. The minor amendments tabled in the Dáil, important as they are, have been accepted by the Minister. I hope it will have an equally speedy passage through this House. For our part on this side of the House, we will be supporting the broad thrust of the measure.

The unstated objective of this Bill concerns our future energy needs. There are those who prophesise that if there are to be any further wars - and please God there will not - they will be fought around three ingredients: food, energy and water. I suggest that the Bill is coming before us in that context. It is to help us comply with the EU objective that Ireland will increase an increase of 20% energy efficiency by 2020. I am sure the Minister would agree that that is a somewhat modest ambition in light of the time involved and the fact that we are a relatively small island, although our population is expanding. In addition, the unbundling and deregulation of the electricity market has allowed many independent contractors into it.

I wish to deal with one or two particular issues. Last May, the Minister launched the Better Energy - National Upgrade programme last May in the context of the Government's jobs initiative. In his presentation, he said his Department is introducing changes in the structure and eligibility criteria of the programme to reflect the Government's affordable energy strategy, and that the warmer homes scheme remains open to eligible applicants. Perhaps he can clarify that point. I understand that there are currently 8,546 homes nationwide on the better energy warmer homes waiting list. Will the Minister indicate what will happen because there has been a reduction in the budget proposals for 2012?

I acknowledge that in the early part of last year, after a few months in government, the Minister said he had received an additional €30 million from the Minister for Finance which was allocated as part of the jobs initiative to the Better Energy programme. He also said that an additional 2,000 jobs would be created in 2011 on top of the 3,800 jobs already supported. However, budget 2012 shows that there has been an average 35% reduction in grants which implies cuts of almost 2,000 jobs. It does not seem therefore that it was even budget neutral; it looks like we have gone into reverse. Despite the Minister's best efforts in convincing his colleague, the Minister for Finance, to give him €30 million last year, all his good work seems to have been undone. Perhaps he might clarify that matter in his response. Nonetheless, I fully acknowledge the difficult job he is going in trying to keep his budget in line with the Government economic targets, as well as the fact that we are broke and must find €20 billion annually to make up the gap.

I also wish to raise with the Minister the impact of rising energy costs. A recent Irish League of Credit Unions survey found that one in four cannot cope with rising energy costs, that 15% must dip into their savings in order to deal with such costs. Some 8% said they were unable to cover household bills. We are hearing a lot of anecdotal evidence but I have always been somewhat wary of that. To put this in context, I remember many years ago there was a major debate going on about copyrights. The retail outlets were opposing the Irish Music Rights Organisation's attempts to protect the rights of songwriters from whom they took licences. The opponents of the proposal at the time cited the little old lady in a shop in the west who listened to the radio for comfort. The fact that she was pumping out music on the radio meant that she was legally obliged to pay the copyright on it. I am wary therefore when I hear similar stories about energy poverty. While I do not doubt that it happened, the most recent one I heard puts it in context. It is about the little old lady burning CDs in her fireplace in order to keep warm. I am not saying it did not happen, but we need to bring a certain balance into extremes of rhetoric. I like to think we are a country that looks after the most vulnerable in our society, in spite of the economic difficulties we are facing. There are - and should be if there are not - sufficient State supports to ensure that such an individual does not have to burn CDs in the grate to keep warm. The story, however, points up the reality of rising costs and especially energy costs.

My late mother - whose third anniversary falls this week - used to reduce the heat at home. She was in her eighties but she used to reduce the heat even though she did not need to do so for financial reasons. There was nonetheless a culture among the older generation that somehow they do not want to be seen to burn up too much electricity, yet it then has an adverse effect on their health. This arises in the context of information that is being provided concerning energy efficiency. I know the Minister is obliging the energy suppliers and distributors to provide more information. Even though we do have a competitive energy market with independent suppliers and distributors involved, I would hate to think that despite the costs involved, and bad and all as things are, that the Government would not reach out to those who are experiencing energy poverty. Perhaps this is more a matter for the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton. In any case, the State should help such people locally and nationally.

The Minister is extending the existing electricity and gas provisions concerning theft, to independent suppliers and their customers. I am assuming that existing legislation will apply to the traditional suppliers and that now because the market has been deregulated, it will go to the independent people. There is more than anecdotal evidence to suggest that people have been tampering with meters around the country. There is no question but that that is happening. I am glad to see that the Minister's inspectors will have some involvement in that process.

The other point concerns the legislation extending the offence provision to all electricity and gas consumers, irrespective of the supplier. Perhaps the Minister can outline what the experience has been to date. How significant is electricity theft? I know the Minister is touching on it in this legislation, but how widespread is it? If legislation is being introduced to extend it to all energy suppliers and distributors, it would suggest that it is pretty widespread. At the end of the Minister's presentation he referred to the powers the Minister will be given under this Act regarding the security of energy supply. Section 21(6) proposes to insert a new section to ensure the Minister has the legal right to develop a contingency plan to allow a national response to an oil supply disruption. Perhaps the Minister can take the opportunity in his reply to the debate on Second Stage to give the House an update on the consequence of his request to the EPA for an investigation into the environmental and other impacts of hydraulic fracking. This is an area of growing controversy and in the context of the security of energy supply, it affords him an opportunity to provide us with updated information on the investigation into the safety or otherwise of hydraulic fracking and whether the drilling licence will be given to licensed companies.