Results 941-960 of 1,100,397 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Martin Heydon OR speaker:Cathal Crowe OR speaker:Ciarán Cannon OR speaker:Heather Humphreys OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Seán Fleming OR speaker:Matt Shanahan OR speaker:Seán Haughey OR speaker:Gino Kenny OR speaker:Verona Murphy OR speaker:Noel Grealish OR speaker:Steven Matthews OR speaker:Jennifer Whitmore OR speaker:Seán Ó Fearghaíl OR speaker:Holly Cairns OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:David Stanton OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Brendan Smith) in 'Committee meetings'

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...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Timetables: Iarnród Éireann (9 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: I join Deputy Smith in welcoming Deputy Farrell on his appointment to the role of Cathaoirleach. He has made many contributions to the committee over the years so he is very well suited to take up the chair. I acknowledge the work Senator Horkan and Deputy Carey did beforehand. I welcome Mr. Meade and Mr. Kenny to the committee again. They are always very willing to come in and engage...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Timetables: Iarnród Éireann (9 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: The answer to when do we do it is that we start doing it now. There is no better time than now to do it. The situation is not going to get any better. The all-Ireland strategy is good because it does not just talk about running more trains or increasing frequency. It also refers to providing the matching infrastructure that is needed to do that. We cannot just keep cramming trains on the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Timetables: Iarnród Éireann (9 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: That is good to know. We talked about electrification. DART+ will nearly treble the capacity of the current electrified system. Where we bring the battery trains in the electric fleet onto the high-frequency lines, they have much better acceleration capacity and braking capacity. We can get more fleet in and more services operating. Even setting aside the efficiency of electric units in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Timetables: Iarnród Éireann (9 Oct 2024)

Frank Feighan: I welcome the witnesses. It is a very interesting engagement. Mr. Meade said Irish Rail made a mistake with the timetable changes after 26 August and he hopes there will not be the same disruption again for passengers. Unfortunately, these things happen. He has held up his hands and said Irish Rail will try to do a bit better. I live in Sligo, in the north west. I will be a bit...