Results 361-380 of 1,060,116 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Imelda Munster OR speaker:Cathal Berry OR speaker:Mick Barry OR speaker:Joe Flaherty OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Gino Kenny OR speaker:Michael Ring OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke) in 'Committee meetings'

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor: There have been challenges. I was listening to previous speakers. Emergency measures are important to help people pay their bills. We have to realise that there are people who are struggling. We are aware of that. Look at all the good work that has been done in the schools and so on. A lot of work has been done but I know we have a lot more to do. Both these credits worth...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Joan Collins: I echo the 75% of people in a poll published at the weekend who said this budget was an attempt to buy the next election. This budget was a give-away budget to hide from the electorate that the Government has given up on making any real or structural change in the country. It ignored calls made across civil society, by the Dáil and by people living in poverty, in deprivation, on low...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: The €250 energy credit does not go far enough, as my colleagues have said. It is quite simply a gesture and does nothing to address runaway energy costs in this State under this Government. The Government has put together a once-off stunt while it has studiously avoided addressing the outrageous burden that these energy costs place on workers and their families. Householders are...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Collins: I am not going to stand here and say people will not welcome the rebate for energy costs. Of course, they will welcome it in very difficult times with the rising costs of energy, which are sky-rocketing to an extraordinary level. Without the Government tackling the energy companies as to where they can make savings, I know people can make savings by ringing around. I contacted a telephone...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Mattie McGrath: The Government is failing to deal with the real issues. I am not going to say that I do not welcome the once-off payments and double payments but it is nothing short of an election gimmick. The real problem is the cost of energy and the gouging by the energy companies. We have the highest gas, oil and electricity prices in Europe. Why is that? This is what needs to be tackled instead of...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Richard O'Donoghue: Is the election coming? All you have to do is look at the Government's social media to find people saying the handouts have started to try to fool the people of Ireland. After the mistruth when the Government said it was going to go the full term, it will be interesting how the Taoiseach handles this when he comes back after he told everyone in the country the Government was going to go the...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Michael Healy-Rae: This is not robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is robbing Paul to pay back Paul and robbing Paulette to pay back Paulette. It is crazy beyond belief. It is obviously a gimmick. If the Government was serious about doing anything about energy costs, it would have gone back to 2016 when it supported Shannon LNG and when Shannon LNG was in the programme for Government and would have left it there....

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: I do not think there is anybody out there who will not welcome some element of help regarding payments. I accept there is a significant number of people who will not need this, but any of us who knock on doors have come across people in last while who are under severe pressure. The Government is talking about €250 as a one-off payment, whereas we should be talking about €450...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Cormac Devlin: I welcome the opportunity to examine the Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024. The climate action committee waived pre-legislative scrutiny of it, as it has done for other Bills, to ensure the credits land on time for householders and that the work behind the scenes can be done for householders to benefit. The €250 energy credit will be spread over...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Martin Browne: What is clear after the budget is that there is no Government plan to alleviate the pressures placed on households by the energy companies. While short-term measures are needed, Sinn Féin knows that to address the dysfunction in the Irish energy market, longer term measures also need to be taken. Wholesale energy prices have fallen by 75% since their peak, yet households are still...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Of course, nobody who receives this credit before or after Christmas will be sorry to do so. As the ESRI has pointed out, however, the net effect of the Government’s budget is that some of the least well-off and most vulnerable households will be marginally less well off. That is pretty shameful. Given the astonishing, unprecedented budget surpluses and, of course, the Apple...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Martin Kenny: Energy prices and the cost of fuel are some of the biggest issues facing people. I am always intrigued when I hear many of the various organisations that comment on the economy warning against investment in infrastructure and how it could create inflation. The truth is that the two biggest drivers of inflation in this country are the costs of housing and energy. Investing in those two...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: This is the third year in a row debating emergency-----

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Gerald Nash: It is the fourth year in a row.

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: This is the fourth year in a row in which we are debating emergency measures and talking about one-off payments. At what stage is it no longer an emergency and a one-off payment? The fact it is being referred to in this way is indicative of a Government that has far too much money with no vision, ideas or real solutions to these problems which face so many people. If the Government had...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Thomas Gould: We in Sinn Féin recognise that ordinary people are really struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and the failure of this Government to properly tackle it. We have the highest energy bills in Europe, including high gas bills. People are really struggling. That is why we believe the €250 the Government is offering does not go far enough. We believe that at least €450...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Gerald Nash: I am pleased to speak on this Bill for the Labour Party. The State will have spent, I think, close to or in excess of €2 billion in energy credit payments since the onset of the energy crisis. We know only too well that this is by definition an untargeted measure. It is universal in nature and has been explained away as a once-off emergency measure to help people through a temporary...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Darren O'Rourke: I am sharing time with Deputy Gould. I thank the Minister of State for his statement. We have been over this ground a number of times in discussing similar legislation. I broadly welcome this initiative as we go into the winter. I do not agree, however, with a number of provisions in the legislation. The assistance given should have gone further this winter. We will deal with that...

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The impact of the sharp rise in energy costs experienced in 2022 is still being felt. Households are paying on average 59% more for their electricity, and 90% more for their gas, than they were pre-crisis. This is despite the multiple rounds of price reductions announced by suppliers since 2023. Households are still in need of support...