I welcome this debate on workers' rights. I said in the House 12 months ago that if we are serious about workers' rights, we also need to be serious about protecting industries, infrastructure and investment to create and secure skilled and well-paid jobs for Irish workers. In recent weeks I have heard constant attacks on the private wires Bill, which will boost renewable infrastructure in this country. Too often the debate is driven by fear instead of facts. The reality is that the Irish energy transition is not an energy transition but an energy demolition and rebuild. For this we need to support workers and enable the grid to be developed faster and give jobs to electricians, crane operators and welders. This is why the private wires Bill, which has recommendations from the climate and energy committee, will boost Irish jobs, including machine operators, construction workers and apprentices throughout the country and in my constituency. Over the weekend I spoke to a group of young electricians who were doing their PV course and looking forward to the boost in income from solar farms and, working with the Government, from the upkeep of plug-in solar. I would love to see this rolled out across social and affordable housing, which does not have access to rooftops and could benefit from a Government-led plug-in solar scheme. If we bought plug-in solar at a large scale and employed Irish workers to install it at a regulated setting and at a reduced rate for social and affordable houses, the people in my constituency who are struggling with their bills would benefit from it, as would the people who have trained to be electricians. It would create jobs and support workers. Many projects and connections that simply would not happen in a reasonable timeline would be helped by private wires. Many companies would prefer to get standard grid connections quickly but this is not the case. Multiple parliamentary questions I have submitted on the timeline delays for renewable projects show the need for private wires legislation. With private wires legislation, we will increase the number of people who can work on renewable projects and increase the workforce, protecting workers. When people in the House criticise the private wires Bill, they need to answer to the electricians, the workers and everyone in Ireland who would benefit from the increase of taxation of companies that will be using renewable projects to expand their business. When businesses invest here, the Irish people benefit. I hear claims about how private wires somehow shifts costs onto ordinary households. If the company remains connected to the public grid, it still pays the same connection standing charge as many other users. We have seen recommendations on this to protect and support people and the workers of the State. If we buy less electricity from the grid, and it generates a source of renewable electricity, we will benefit Irish workers. I have heard other scaremongering. If we believe that the charge instructions need to be changed, the CRU has regulatory power to adjust the tariffs and standing charges in order to ensure fairness to consumers. We need to be honest about data centres in this Chamber. I did my thesis on data centres 18 months ago. I worked in the industry. All my friends who are now working in the industry are shocked by what they hear in this Chamber in relation to data centres. Yes, we need to change the current system of how they are used. We could use waste heat utilisation for district heating systems, but all the optimisations in the context of how data centres are using energy will help Irish workers. People need to take the actual facts on board. I would welcome a debate. With regard to the-----

Sentiment score: 0.28

All right. I will go again on that. Go raibh maith agat.

Sentiment score: 0.00