Results 501-520 of 1,032,031 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Seán Ó Fearghaíl) in 'Committee meetings'

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Mattie McGrath: I normally thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward a motion, but I cannot do so on this occasion because this is a trick-of-the-loop job. As Deputy Michael Healy-Rae stated, I did call for that vote during the debate on the Finance Bill. I called earlier, in the convention centre, for a vote against that proposal. You were all mad to jump on the wagon of the climate action legislation....

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Danny Healy-Rae: I am glad to get the opportunity to say a few words about the cost of electricity. Of course, I have often said before that the closure of Shannonbridge and Lanesborough power stations has resulted in the cost of electricity going up day after day. We have no control anymore because we have lost our main source of energy. When the wind does not blow, we need to have something. This means...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Seán Ó Fearghaíl: I thank the Deputy.

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Danny Healy-Rae: God almighty, do the Government members have any hearts at all? Will the Government give back some of this money and, in the first place, stop charging the amounts being charged, because people just cannot bear it?

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Seán Ó Fearghaíl: I thank the Deputy. Go raibh maith agat. I call Deputy Joan Collins.

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Joan Collins: In the context of the motion, we need to go further. However, I will support it. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing it forward for debate. It gives us an opportunity to discuss our whole energy system. That system is broken. The cost of heating homes and keeping the lights on has surpassed what many people can afford. We have giant fossil fuel and other energy companies making billions...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Michael Healy-Rae: I really believe that if you live long enough you will get to see an awful lot. I welcome the Sinn Féin Private Members' motion here tonight. At the same time, this is the same Sinn Féin voted for the climate Bill, which paved the way for carbon tax increases. This is the same Sinn Féin that then proposed a motion in the Dáil against that carbon tax. When Deputy Mattie...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Richard O'Donoghue: I echo the sentiments of Deputy Michael Healy-Rae. Sinn Féin is back here again with an election looming. After the last election, it realised the people of Ireland do not want it because again it is changing its stories over and over again after it voted for carbon tax. A person will get a grant for up to €2,100 for solar panels but in the last three years, the cost of the...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Seán Canney: I too welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue. Where energy prices are concerned, the biggest problem is that we do not know who owns what. I will first address the issue of wind farms. Down my side of the country, there are six proposals to build wind farms near where I live. That is all great for green energy, providing Government policy and meeting our climate action...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is currently departing the Chamber-----

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Martin Heydon: I am here.

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----and I am sorry that I did not get a chance to challenge his countermotion directly with him. I must first thank Sinn Féin for tabling this important motion on energy costs. We are happy to support the measures in it, such as beefing up the CRU to try to address the high cost of energy in this country. However, we would go further, and we think we need caps. We tabled a Bill at...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Róisín Shortall: I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on affordable electricity. Since the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis, spiralling energy costs have had a devastating impact on many families and workers. Many have been forced to make the stark choice between the various essentials in any family budget and trying to decide which of those essentials they will drop in order to be...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Pat Buckley: I thank the Minister for his response in which he stated that, "Ireland is a world leader in the integration of variable renewable electricity onto the grid." Yet Ireland has the most expensive energy costs. A number of the speakers referenced energy poverty. We still have food banks today. I told a story a while back in this House. It was a true story that broke my heart about a...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Dessie Ellis: In my constituency of Dublin North-West, there are a significant number of areas that have a high percentage of elderly people. There are also areas of the constituency with a much younger population and who have young families. There are also some areas of economic disadvantage. Unfortunately, unemployment rates are also high in areas of Dublin North-West and it is a constant struggle...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Gerald Nash: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. We in the Labour Party support it wholeheartedly. After a sustained period of record rises, electricity prices are starting to fall but remain at around double what we might term "normal levels". Citizens are really suffering. They are struggling. I have lost count of the number of occasions during the last two years where people have...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Johnny Mythen: I thank my colleagues, especially Deputy O'Rourke, for bringing this motion to the floor. Affordable electricity is the main theme of this motion. Ireland has one of the highest prices of electricity per unit in Europe. Sinn Féin and other Opposition parties have raised this issue countless times on the floor of the Dáil and presented countless ideas and solutions, including a...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: What else can be said? We have the most expensive electricity prices across the European Union. They are two thirds higher than the average, with the typical Irish household paying nearly €700 more per year. That is really what it is all about. There is a certain acceptance of our being an island and at the end of a line, but there are some very specific solutions that my...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Mairead Farrell: We know that people are struggling with the cost of energy. It is really important that my colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, has brought this motion forward now, in the summer months, because this is something we need to deal with now. People will really struggle, particularly in winter, as a result of inaction by this Government. Just today, I was contacted by a man in Clifden. As the...

Affordable Electricity: Motion [Private Members] (25 Jun 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: For too many families, everyday necessities such as putting fuel in the car, putting food on the table or paying bills for monthly expenses such as gas and electricity are becoming more and more unaffordable. Costs are growing all the time. People need relief. They need to see a government that is committed to addressing these cost-of-living challenges and they do not have that in this...