We will be supporting the Bill. Notwithstanding that, however, there is the issue of funding with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU. There are some concerns on a broader level. This is more, as they say, upstream. Regulation is to be in place, I understand, for 1 September for non-domestic gas, and roll-out plans, preparation and training, making sure that people who are qualified will be in place. There is a suspicion that pre-Creeslough we knew that the installation practices for third-party meters, who meter the State's LPG, needed to be revised. These new proposals are, of course, necessary. I have spoken to some of the Creeslough families. The DPP will take a decision. There is a suspicion, subject to any further investigation, that it may have been the result of a gas explosion. I renew the calls on that issue. The Minister of State might have a word with his colleague, the Minister for justice, about a public inquiry into what happened, pending, of course, what is coming from the DPP. For a decade we have had promises from the CRU for non-domestic gas regulation. Deadlines were missed and now this Bill is going through. As I said, it is not perfect. The installer representative panels have advocated for gas installers. They have to engage with the CRU and the gas safety supervisory body, GSSB, to resolve any challenges around the State. The panel opposed proposals on non-domestic gas installation in 2023 and 2024 and, as I said, deadlines were missed. The CRU then revised the criteria document. Some installers have a question about the consultation process and the level of public consultation with catering companies, the restaurant sector and hotels. I understand the public consultation has not been published. They feel the criteria document should have included changes to the registration process procedures and new entrant categories and established a dedicated body to manage updates. There is also a question about electronic gas certification. Again, that is not necessarily relevant to the Bill. We would welcome any progress on electronic gas certification when the system is up and running. Many thousands of households depend on gas. Of course, a lot of them are in arrears due to the cost of living crisis and supports have been ripped away. We need legislation that is complete, but there must be enough resourcing and sufficient numbers of people employed to ensure that the proposals in the Bill take effect and the system can run as well as it ought. The bottom line is public safety. People need to have confidence. The 12,000 households dependent on LNG and the 600,000 households using natural gas are finding it difficult to transition to any other sources of heat. We need to make sure their lives are not put at risk because if these systems fail or are unsafe, unfortunately, as we have seen, lives can be put at risk. We need strong legislation and robust regulation. We have to get it right. We support the Bill because, while it is not the perfect solution, it is a step in the right direction. We can deal with the amendments later. We were not expecting the Bord na Móna regulations until they came in. We can talk about that on that Stage.

Sentiment score: 0.08