Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome to the Seanad. I always appreciate how he attends for our debates. This is a difficult time for him, given the major price increases in oil and gas. They do not just affect Ireland, but the world. People are afraid about receiving large electricity and fuel bills. I accept that a number of measures in the budget will be of assistance, for example, an increase in the qualified child payment of €2 per week for children under 12 years of age and €3 per week for children over that age, an increase in the living alone allowance of €3 per week, an increase in the fuel allowance of €5 per week, which most people know about, and an increase in the income threshold of the working family payment of €10 per week. However, we must acknowledge that petrol and diesel prices are at their highest in ten years. The cost of a barrel of crude oil was as low as $16 in April 2020 but is now $85. That is the highest it has been in almost four years. Much of this has been caused by the pandemic and is an issue of supply and demand. I hope that, over time, the situation will stabilise and prices will decrease in international markets, which should lead to an easing of fuel prices in Ireland.

I accept the Government is trying to support households with their energy costs through the fuel allowance, the household benefits package and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, energy poverty retrofit scheme. However, that scheme has not got up and running as such. People are enthused by it and would love to participate, but the cost means that many families will not do so unless we do something in terms of providing low-cost finance and better grant aid. Many middle-income people believe the scheme is a great idea and would love to participate in it but doing so costs €40,000 or €50,000 in many cases. Some people have told me that they would get a grant of €20,000 or €25,000, but will the Minister examine this matter? Retrofitting has to be part of what we do and I am enthused by the idea but I am concerned that we could fall between two stools. Unless we support people in retrofitting, we will not achieve the success we would all like.

I wish to mention the issue of data centres. I am a little concerned that there seems to be a school of thought that data centres are causing all of the problems but that is not true. I appreciate that, the more of them there are, the more electricity they use. That is a challenge for us, but we must consider our planning laws and regulations and new ideas about how data centre companies can create energy of their own on site. I presume that the Minister has a significant interest in this matter.

Data centres play a significant role in Ireland's technology sector and contribute in a major way to Ireland's international reputation as a digital hub. We have extremely valuable information with a gross value of €52 billion to the Irish economy and the sector employs 140,000 people. As such, we must be careful in this debate. Energy efficiencies must form part of the debate, but let us not get into the arena of demonising data centres and blaming them for all of our energy problems. That is not the case.

What is most important is that the Government support families that are in a tight corner financially because of increased fuel and electricity bills and ensure that, if we see the situation deteriorating, we come to their aid without delay.