Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his time. I welcome the Bill and that is being expedited. I thank the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth and the staff of the Department who have made this happen in jig time as it is badly needed. With the cost-of-living crisis many people are facing, it is great to be able tell people that €150 will be taken off their bills on 1 December, 1 January and 1 March. That is welcome news for 2.2 million householders. It is excellent. It is great that we have learned from last year's €200 grants and that we will not be giving the credit to vacant homes, for example, and that we will ensure that people using submeters through landlords in multi-complexes will also be able to avail of the grant. It is great for people who fell through the cracks the last time that there is a hardship fund for people who cannot afford to pay their bills and people who are not on the list can go to their suppliers directly and make their case, which a simple format. It is great because we often find formats drawn up by Departments quite complicated. This is a nice simple format for people who did not fall into the hardship bracket the last time and are struggling. They can now approach their suppliers. That is important with all the scams going on through text messages these days. Members of my family told me they had to give their bank details to someone somewhere to get something. It is important that people are clear that they do not have to do anything. The credit will be applied to their bills. They should not believe any texts or emails. That is important as we do not want people to get robbed.

It is great that the windfall tax has been secured by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to get some money back from those who made all the money from customers. We are now putting the money into customers' pockets, using €167 million of a tax secured by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth to be able to put the money back into everyone's pockets. It is good that we can do things quickly when we have to. People asked for this to be in the budget. We got it in the budget. It is a positive day, if we are allowed to say that in politics.