The biggest issue here is that while we have not had the Government attack this legislation, we have had it talk about the fact that it is premature and not the time. When we make proposals in respect of many issues, we hear that it is not the right time. The fact is that people are dealing with a cost-of-living crisis that was in existence long before the Iran and Lebanese war, and we could go back a long time before that. Once upon a time, we had the cheapest electricity prices in Europe. We now have the most expensive by 40%, and we did not really need Eurostat to tell us that. The fact is we have spoken for a huge period of time about the need to tackle energy costs properly. This regulation deals with the monitoring and regulating of hedging practices that are always used as the excuse why energy companies cannot do this, that and the other. It provides for enhanced powers to monitor and sanction anticompetitive behaviour because it is not okay for energy companies to screw over the Irish people. We need to see transparency. This is very straightforward. It is about having the ability to provide data on pricing strategies to the energy regulator so we can see what exactly the situation is. It is about taking energy affordability seriously. Again, Sinn Féin proposed legislation which will give the regulator the power to regulate standing charges. How long have we been talking about that? It is an absolute joke, and everyone believes it when we hear about data centres getting far cheaper, and from their point of view far fairer, costs than the regular Joe and Josephine out there. None of this is good enough. We need to see restructuring of the network charges and the PSO levy. We have talked about this for a long time and, yes, we think that there is a need to do it, while accepting that the Government made some moves under pressure from people who went out and protested initially. That is the only reason that any action was taken in the first place, and nobody will tell me different. There is huge anger out there. We know what we need to see and that is cheaper petrol and diesel at the pumps. The issues of those who need home heating oil to heat their homes - about 750,000 people - need to be dealt with. However, we do not see movement from the Government in relation to any of this. I am also told that the SEAI has a particular solar panel grant scheme for those who are vulnerable medical users that is not sufficiently funded at this point in time. Will the Minister of State come back to me on that? First, we need to deal with the profiteering of the energy companies. We need to see these sort of moves made and then we need to see energy and electricity made cheaper for the Irish people because this is a disgrace at this point in time.

Sentiment score: 0.02