Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This windfall gains Bill is brilliant. It is easy for people to ask for what should be done but to actually put it into action is far more effective. We have all heard about the windfalls made by the big electricity suppliers or creators. This Bill is brilliant for two very simple reasons, the first of which is that it now puts a cap on what they can charge. We did not have that before and we saw that the charges were exorbitant. That will not happen again thanks to this Bill. Second, it creates a fund from the profits they made, which will go back to the people on the ground who were paying those bills. That is it in simple terms. It is a huge win for the people that we will no longer be able to get completely ripped off by big suppliers because we now have caps. The profit the companies made in the past year and a half courtesy of all their customers will now be able to go back into people's pockets. I thank the Minister, Deputy Ryan, the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, and all the staff in his Department. This does not happen overnight. It is easy to ask for these things, but it takes time, effort and work and we must recognise that. This is a big win for the Government and for the Minister and Minister of State.