Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Many people will be very alarmed by the news this week regarding substantial energy price increases of between €500 and €800. Coupled with that is the news about data centres using enormous amounts of electricity. The Minister of State can, therefore, understand that there is a sense of trepidation. Energy prices worldwide are rising for a variety of reasons. One reason is geopolitical. Other reasons include deregulation and competition. Competition was meant to bring lower prices to the market, but it has done the opposite. Part of the motion refers to the fact that fuel poverty kills between 1,500 and 2,000 people per year, which is an incredible statistic. People want to heat their homes.

One aspect of the debate I want to zoom in on is the retrofitting of social homes in Ireland. There are 160,000 social homes in Ireland. Through the Government's programme, just 2,500 will be retrofitted. That is welcome, but the programme needs to go much further.

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