This is the most serious fuel crisis since the 1970s. I contacted the Minister's office last week and spoke to his good secretary about this, and she passed my concerns on to the Minister. The level of preparedness has been shown to be awfully poor. The response and reaction has not been what was required. There is no mechanism to deal with price gouging. The CCPC needs to be abolished or given some powers because its report this week stated that controlling prices in a competitive market is outside the scope of competition and consumer protection law. The steps that can be taken have been outlined during this debate. Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Austria have made a call for a joint EU windfall tax, the funds from which could be used to ease pressure on consumers in the face of high energy prices. They also say it would send a clear message to those companies making a profit from the consequences of war. Ireland is not one of the names on that list. I urge the Minister to put Ireland's name to that call and push for this. Greece went one step further and has put a limit on the amount of profit that can be made at retail and wholesale level. At retail level, the limit is 12 cent per litre. Greece has done that legally; it is a member of the European Union. It has put a five cent per litre limit on wholesale profits. I understand the argument about price gaps and the taxpayer ending up with a big bill. This is a way around this. This can be done. It is a practical measure at no cost to the Exchequer. The Government needs to sort that out. The move to renewable energy is painfully slow. We have zero offshore wind. Anaerobic digestion is minuscule. Hydro is non-existent. Solar is only starting up. I support the call to improve the grants for solar panels on homes. Progress needs to be made in all of these areas. Last week, one Minister after another made things worse. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, said he would bring in the Army. People envisaged troops on the streets with guns but what he actually needed was a tow truck. He did not need a big tow truck to move a few pallets on the bridge in Galway. As I said yesterday, a Massey Ferguson 35 with a front loader would have moved the bundle of pallets on the bridge. The comments of the Minister put fuel on the fire. The Government needs to be more careful in future and listen to people.

Sentiment score: 0.01