Some 14% of Irish people are unable afford to heat their homes or pay their energy bills and 317,000 people are in arrears on their electricity bills. This is only going to get worse. The Social Democrats have called for a targeted energy credit scheme for households earning less than €70,000. That is a short-term measure. Obviously, we need longer term and more sustainable measures to deal with the energy crisis. The Tánaiste has spoken about heat pumps and electric cars, but these are out of the reach of many people. The biggest bang for the State's buck would be the use of solar. One million homes in Ireland are suitable for solar. Using solar would reduce people's electricity costs by 40%. The Social Democrats has a Solar for All plan. We call for a doubling of the grants for all households, a €1,000 grant for batteries, free panels for those eligible for the warmer homes scheme and the rolling out of plug-in solar across the country. I ask the Tánaiste to consider that as part of the upcoming package.

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