I am delighted to speak on this Bill. It is timely, and I support it. The Electricity Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2026 cannot be viewed in isolation. If we are serious about reducing electricity costs, we must address the core structural issues that continue to drive prices upwards. Only by tackling these areas together can we deliver lasting reductions in electricity costs for households and businesses across the country and reduce Ireland's dependency on imported energy. Almost 50% of the average electricity bill is driven by energy costs. Natural gas generates roughly half of Ireland's electricity and approximately 70% of the gas is imported, meaning Irish consumers are tied to the global price swings. We must have different options. This dependence on gas has had a direct and severe impact on our electricity prices. Gas prices today remain more than three times higher than before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These elevated prices have fed straight into higher electricity costs for households. In 2022 the then rural Independents, including Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, Deputy Nolan, other colleagues and I, introduced a Private Members' motion calling on the Government to allow oil and gas exploration off the Irish coast at Barryroe with the aim of strengthening Ireland's energy security and reducing reliance on volatile international oil. The Government of the day, at Eamon Ryan's behest, with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, voted against the motion. The then Minister, Eamon Ryan, wanted to fill the pipe with Readymix concrete to block the pipe to make sure it could never be used. Concrete is scarce enough and dear enough. I do not know if it ever happened. I hope it did not. I called it national sabotage. If it did happen, it would be an act of vandalism and national sabotage. Now here we are. We had people here at that time and you were afraid to be seen talking to them. It was an international company that was going to bring in the oil at its own risk, produce it here and have it for us. It was taboo. We could not be seen talking to them. We had to have records of our meetings and everything else because we had to be too PC. That is what is wrong here. We have allowed big business to dictate. It is a holy terror that data centres are paying less for electricity than householders in Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir, Cahir, Cashel, Tipperary town and the other rural areas. It is a holy terror we have a Government that would allow that and continues to allow that and to allow them to continue expanding data centres when our grid is at crashing point with amber lights, warnings and outages recently in Nenagh with no explanation. We are on a tenterhook, and we stopped our turf and briquettes, and we are importing them. That is what we have.

Sentiment score: -0.00