Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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High energy costs across the country remain a priority for Government and a range of measures have been implemented to assist households and businesses in meeting these costs.

Most recently, this included a €470 million package announced in February which introduced measures assisting social protection recipients from April to July, and extended the reduced VAT rate on electricity and gas bills until October 2023. This followed the €2.5 billion of once-off supports announced in Budget 2023, including various targeted social protection payments and an Electricity Cost Emergency Benefit Scheme which credited €600 (inclusive of VAT) to each domestic electricity account in three payments of €200. The total cost of that scheme was €1.2 billion, which combined with its predecessor scheme means Government have spent over €1.5 billion to directly assist 2.1 million households nationwide with electricity bills since the start of 2022.

In addition, my Department commissioned a nationally representative fortnightly research tracker, which indicates that Irish families are making every effort to reduce their energy use and that there has been some reduction in the difficulty being experienced in meeting energy costs. Nevertheless, there are still groups who are facing real financial pressure on account of energy costs; public information on available supports and advice is being tailored to these segments. Government is closely monitoring the impact of these supports through the implementation of the Energy Poverty Action Plan, and additional future measures are under consideration in the context of Budget 2024.

In the long-term, the best means to ease the burden of high energy costs will be through investing further in home energy efficiency, promoting renewable energy adoption, and deepening interconnection with Europe. Making critical investments which reduce our dependence on fossil fuels will ensure a cleaner, cheaper energy future.