I appreciate the opportunity to raise this extremely important issue. It has been pointed out that last week alone, over €15 million of renewable wind energy was wasted. According to EirGrid, 18% of wind energy was wasted in 2026. For people who do not know, EnergyCloud is delivering free heated water to thousands of people over 120 nights a year and will be helping thousands of homes by the end of 2026. It is demonstrating the link between surplus renewable energy and energy poverty in a very practical way. It is making impacts on a day-to-day basis for people who are in energy poverty. The residents in question have spoken not only of the money, but also of the fact that they now have hot water to wash themselves, their children, their dishes, and their homes. It has a real impact. It removes having to make the choice between heating or eating, and shows what is possible. Some of the statistics are quite shocking. The programme for Government has a commitment to use surplus renewable energy to help those in fuel energy poverty. Renewable energy wastage came to 2,137 GWh. Approximate retail value of the wasted energy was €756 million. That is an astonishing amount of wasted energy. It is equivalent to 692 million tanks of hot water heated. The average waste per day is €1.633 million. That is energy that is being created every single day that is going to waste. EnergyCloud is trying to make the connection between the renewable energy that is being created, that cannot be used at a particular time that day, and people who are in energy poverty. When we talk about the cost-of-living crisis that we have at the moment, there are something like 320,000 people currently in energy poverty or energy debt. They are a number of months behind on their payments. The scale of this is absolutely huge. The scale of energy that is being created and wasted is astonishing. A commitment is required from the Government to support EnergyCloud. That is what it is asking for. It has sent this email to every single TD. The Minister of State may have received it himself. It is really important that we have that discussion on linking the energy we have here and people in energy poverty. This about enabling them to wash themselves, washing their dishes and heating their homes. It is quite incredible.

Sentiment score: 0.04

I welcome the report from the Minister. One of the key things is the national energy affordability task force report which is due to be published late this year. My concern and that of EnergyCloud is that it will come too late for the next budget because it will need investment. Although there is investment in the smart grid and all the things the Minister of State just outlined, I am unsure where it makes the connection between the 550,000 homes where people are living in energy poverty and how that connects with the seven items the Minister of State talked about in his reply. I welcome the advancements but when one looks at the wasted renewable energy report from EnergyCloud for 16 months until 30 April, as I said, that is €756 million in retail wasted energy. This cannot come too soon for people in energy poverty who, as we speak, are probably not heating their homes. I know we are in June but we are not talking about warm weather today. I welcome the report but there needs to be more urgency about it. People are choosing between heating and eating need it now and they need that support now.

Sentiment score: 0.02