Results 161-180 of 1,044,794 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Máiría Cahill OR speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Pearse Doherty OR speaker:Peter Burke) in 'Committee meetings'

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

Seán Ó Fearghaíl: In an attempt to be helpful, if a constituent was coming to me about an electricity bill of €2,000 or €3,000 I would tell them to go to their supplier first to question whether there is something seriously wrong on that front.

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

Patricia Ryan: Fair point, thank you.

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

Thomas Gould: A gentleman came to my clinic last week. He is a lovely man in his early 70s. He is a fine fresh guy. He said he pays €20 a week out of his pension to put towards his electricity bill. At one stage last year he was more than €700 in credit but because the price rises kept coming, the €20 a week is not enough to meet the bills coming in. He has slowly run into arrears...

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

Darren O'Rourke: I thank Deputies for their contributions over the course of the debate. I am disappointed the Government has tabled a countermotion. I do not accept its rationale or argument. We have to look at the evidence, which is that large numbers of people are in arrears with their electricity bills, with 10% of domestic and commercial electricity customers and 25% of domestic and commercial gas...

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

Violet-Anne Wynne: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important motion, especially given that electricity prices in Ireland are two thirds above the EU average. The rising cost of living has had a detrimental effect on households, families and workers, leaving so many having to choose between heating and food. The households most at risk are those that are most in need. The ESRI compared recent data...

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

Martin Heydon: I welcome the opportunity to discuss our energy system and the pressures Irish households have faced because of high energy costs. I thank colleagues from across the House for their contributions. The pressures placed on households and businesses by high energy costs remain of deep concern to the Government. Providing supports to alleviate this pressure has been a priority for the...

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

Carol Nolan: As I listen to the same issue being brought up again and again in this House, I am obliged to ask for how much longer the Irish people are meant to put up with being ripped off and exploited by electricity companies. Have much longer will businesses have to try to put up with this situation as well? I know for a fact that many small businesses have closed because the electricity prices were...

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...