Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to let the House know there is a protest starting at 12 noon today at the front of Leinster House in Kildare Street. It is a group of hedge growers who are protesting about the amount of hedging that has been cut in recent years with the instruction or acceptance of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The group that is here today has written to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and is looking to meet him today to present him with a letter about its genuine concerns. Obviously, hedges play a key role in terms of biodiversity and environmental impact in rural Ireland, in particular in counties like my own, Tipperary. Their request is that there should be financial incentives for farmers and landowners to keep hedges as opposed to cutting them. I would appreciate it if Members could go out to meet them and, if the Minister has time available, he should meet them. It is a genuine cause. They are here from 12 noon until 1 p.m. and they will be presenting a letter to the Department, with the hope of meeting the Minister, Deputy McConalogue.

Second, I ask for a debate with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in regard to the report by RTÉ's Robert Shortt yesterday on energy prices and the response by Electric Ireland on the reduction in the wholesale cost of energy prices taking 18 to 24 months to come back into people's pockets. I understand that hopefully, the Government is bringing forward measures this week in regard to the cost of living for people who are struggling, and one of those is possibly an extra €200 credit on bills. I welcome that and fully support it. However, why is it falling back on the taxpayer to support them when energy companies are fleecing the payers of bills? We have seen the amount of money they made in 2022 in regard to energy.