Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome and I am delighted to get the opportunity to speak to the Bill at a time when people are facing real hardship in their lives with inflation and rising energy costs. These costs have led to many families spending a higher proportion of their income on food and fuel. Electricity prices have increased by 22%, gas prices have increased by 28% and the price of home heating oil has gone up by a massive amount in excess of 50%. I have a small business that includes a fuel court and we can see when every delivery comes in there is a 5 cent or 10 cent increase. That has happened over the past ten months or so, leaving many families with the painful decision between heating their house or feeding themselves. The rising cost of electricity is a global trend and it is causing cost-of-living issues all around the world. Here in Ireland it is affecting pensioners and families whose income is not rising enough to keep up with increasing energy costs.

I welcome this measure and the Bill that has been brought forward by the Minister as part of the Government, and it will put €200 towards every household electricity bill. It may not be enough for some families and we must put in place an extra fund for those who may continue to find themselves in hardship. I am in favour of perhaps having a smaller grant for all account holders while giving additional funding to others, as has been done through the fuel allowance, or increasing the credit in the household scheme, particularly for the likes of older people and carers, to give a larger number of free electricity units. It would be a more targeted approach.

I have a few queries. We have heard mentioned the question of holiday homes and where landlords have kept the electricity accounts in their own names but customers are using prepaid credit purchased in various shops. We must also consider the development of long-term and sustainable options to make electricity more affordable. There is much potential in this country to deliver wind energy offshore on a massive scale. This would create jobs in our towns and villages along our coastline and it would be capable of being our biggest contributor to the effort to reduce carbon emissions. We must tap into that resource.

I welcome the recent enactment of the Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021, which will help us achieve our renewable energy targets and regulate planning for offshore wind. There is a major opportunity to develop solar panels on various schools and community centres, as well as on agricultural sheds throughout the country, and this would cut costs while also providing income. I know there is a Private Members' Bill from the Minister's colleagues in the Green Party being discussed here tomorrow related to that and I will support it fully. I am involved with my local community centre and we recently installed solar panels. We had to go through the expense of having to get full planning permission to do that. I welcome any change in that regard.

I also welcome the national home energy upgrade scheme, which will provide up to €8 billion to 2030 for the retrofitting of houses. We can think back to when the Green Party was previously part of a Fianna Fáil Government at the time of the crash, and although these types of schemes were suggested, the funding was a problem. If we had funding at the time to retrofit more houses, we would not have as many issues as we do today. This scheme will address a major challenge for households, as the question was being asked as to whether it made financial sense to spend money on such work. A constituent of mine who had a detached house built in the 1940s with solid stone walls got a quote of €26,500 to do an external retrofit, with a grant set at €6,500. That person decided it did not make financial sense to invest the difference in the work as it would take perhaps 40 years to claw back that investment. I welcome this scheme, which makes it more realistic for people to spend money on such work and get benefits from it.

I support the comments of Senator O'Loughlin about a loan scheme. The Minister may know I also work for An Post and there would be a great opportunity to work with that company, which has previously set up the Green Hub scheme. I would like to see the Department working with An Post to roll out that loan scheme. It is important for us as public representatives to promote this scheme in all our local areas and ensure people avail of it.

I will digress slightly to the matter of roads. I spoke to the Minister when he came before the transport committee a number of weeks ago about the N4 in particular and how a preferred route has not been identified. Funding has not been put in place for the consultation process to continue and we were only a number of weeks away from identifying an initial preferred route before we could have further consultation. I ask the Minister to comment or is Transport Infrastructure Ireland in a position to provide that funding to ensure the scheme could continue? This would enable us to have a nailed-down preferred route rather than having hundreds of families left affected by the ten identified routes. They cannot get planning permission as a result. Will the Minister comment on that?