I welcome the opportunity to speak on this. People across Ireland are exhausted. They are exhausted by constant worry about bills. I welcome engagement with the Department, but it is not happening fast enough. I submitted a parliamentary question on the October 2024 consultation on EU Directive (EU) 2024/1711. There were five submissions from the ESB, Electric Ireland, Bord Gáis Éireann, Energia and the Electricity Association of Ireland regarding plug-in solar. Can what they said about plug-in solar be made available to the House so we, as legislators, can have a debate on plug-in solar? It is important that the people of Ireland understand what was said to the Department and why we have not acted on this. The UK and German governments are doing it. We have seen there is war and instability in global energy markets. I am blue in the face. We cannot just keep relying on temporary financial supports. We need to continue examining more reductions for home heating oil. However, subsidies alone are not good enough for a long-term energy strategy. The only long-term solution is reducing the cost of energy and moving from being a petrostate to an electrostate. That means accelerating renewable roll-out. Members have already spoken about battery storage and long-duration energy storage and whatever means, grid upgrades and local energy infrastructure. We already know the current system is under pressure. That is why the investment the Government gave for ESB, and the grid infrastructure announced under the programme for Government, were welcome, but we need delivery and we need it quickly. That is one more reason for plug-in solar - it would be done quickly. It makes no sense to ordinary people struggling with bills why we have not acted on this. We should be examining practical ideas that could directly help households. Renters and social tenants I represent constantly contact my office. I recognise we have different wiring standards and safety requirements than other countries. That should not stop us from examining a safe framework that could be developed. We should not be afraid of innovation in this sense, and I welcome the engagement I have had on this with the Department. I understand it is examining multiple things but the goal with regard to private wires should not be to replace the national grid or create an uncontrolled private system. The goal should be reducing pressure on constrained parts of the grid. So many studies out there show that accelerating these renewable connections, reducing curtailment and decentralising our grid will allow energy to be used more efficiently where the bottlenecks already exist. I have heard multiple people mention it in the Chamber today. When we bring in the private wires Bill I would love to see them support it and engage with it to make sure it is done for the betterment of the Irish people. If we are to bring in a private wires Bill that will be used by large-scale energy, there should be a proportionate community benefit fund that is directly linked to the savings associated with that private wires Bill. Anything we do in this House should benefit the Irish people. That is what the public needs and that is one of the solutions. We need delivery and we need to lower bills. I believe the Critical Infrastructure Bill in conjunction with the private wires Bill will help. This means acting faster on these so Ireland becomes more resilient and secure.

Sentiment score: 0.14