I will not stand here and shout and have a back and forth because there has been far too much shouting this week already. There has been far too much chest beating and too many instances of people not listening, not engaging and of parties becoming so entrenched that we were at real risk last week of the country collapsing. I was so worried about where those protests were going to end up. I want to commend the work of An Garda Síochána. The work gardaí did across the country was incredible. They went in and spoke to the protesters. They had those discussions and the hard conversations and they managed to de-escalate a situation that unfortunately the Government had escalated to a huge degree during the previous days. What we needed was dialogue at that point and not dismissing people. We needed to show them a level of respect and to be prepared to listen. You do not necessarily have to agree with people. You do not have to like them. A lot of the values that were expressed by people on those protests were not values I would hold. However, as there are so many people who feel left behind in this country, there is a real risk that there is very much a fertile ground there for bad actors to come in and manipulate that and use it for their own political means and agenda. There is a real onus on and need for the Government to provide a leadership. I know things have changed. The structures of how we engage and how we dialogue have changed. There might be a need to look beyond the more traditional structures we have relied on to date. With the advent of social media, there is the ability to quickly put information out there and get people really wired up. It happens so quickly. One thing really struck me last week when I was driving and came across a blockade in County Wicklow. Two artic lorries blockaded the N11 and I would say there were maybe three of four tractors. There were probably only ten people at the blockade and it was a very stark image of how quickly and easily the country can be shut down. It did not necessarily need a lot of people. We have all had these discussions today and I ask that the Government takes them on board and listens because there is a much bigger issue at stake here than just dealing with the fuel protests. It was so interesting that people who would normally not align with or support protests of this kind were so supportive of them. I was really surprised when I was talking to people. The reason they supported these protests is that they could understand. They have felt it in their own lives. It was like these protests became an extension of what their lived experiences were and how they were struggling. The reason they were struggling may have been different and may not necessarily have been due to fuel costs but families are struggling and we have been trying to get that message across to the Government for years now. I do not think this issue has just popped up this week or last week. There has been this undercurrent of families who are finding it really difficult. We all know these families. They are in our constituencies. They are the ones who do not protest. They are the ones who do not shout. They are the ones who just take it all on board themselves but they are under huge pressure. It is those people I am worried about and who I feel are really being left behind. When we look at the facts when it comes to the different pressures, electricity costs are just skyrocketing. Unfortunately, we will see a lot more of that happening. The initial impact of this energy shock is on fuel, on the petrol and diesel pumps and on green diesel but in a number of months, it will move into gas prices and electricity prices. There are 315,000 people who are in arrears at the moment and who are struggling and trying to catch up with the problems we experienced after Ukraine. They are chasing their tails, and 8% of them have been in arrears for longer than 90 days. They are going to be unable to pull themselves out of that hole. That is why the Social Democrats have for a number of months been calling for a targeted energy credit of €400 for families and households that earn less than €70,000 in order to try to give those people a bit of breathing space. We are very clear in all our policies - they need to be targeted because we do not have an endless bucket of money and we do not know how long this crisis will go on for. It could go on for years. We need to protect our resources while protecting those struggling the most. We have a motion we will be bringing forward tomorrow which contains a proposal for an energy credit. I hope the Government will give it serious consideration. The other part of the proposal we will discuss tomorrow relates to solar. The Government tends to lurch from crisis to crisis. A crisis happens, people struggle, there is huge outcry, the Government has found money and given money out in untargeted measures such as the previous energy credits. That cost billions of euro. I think €100 million was given in credit to the electricity meters of holiday homes during the previous Dáil term. At that time, it was very much stated that this was an emergency measure and that we needed to get it out quickly, but there was no acknowledgment that we needed to change how we do things and ensure the systems, structures and infrastructure were in place to make us more resilient to these energy shocks, to make households, businesses and the country in general more resilient. That has not been done. A huge amount of money has been set aside for retrofitting. I understand why that is necessary, but it is costly. Many people are not able to afford it, and it is also very disruptive. We have seen studies that show that when people retrofit they do not necessarily cut their emissions or energy usage. It makes their homes more comfortable but does not really impact on spending on energy. I have asked the Minister previously to look at solar. You can get solar panels up on your home in a few hours. I left for work one morning at 8.30 a.m. and I got a message from my husband at 12 noon to say that we were completely off the grid; we were pulling in enough solar to run the house. It is so quick to do, relatively cheap compared with retrofitting and can be rolled out across every house. One million homes in this country are suitable for solar panels. Part of our solar for all plan is to expand the warmer homes scheme to include free solar panels for those at risk of energy poverty and double the grants for all other households. I ask the Minister to do that. The battery grant needs to be brought back in and plug-in solar needs to be looked at as well as more supports for businesses. They are simple measures but they are sustainable. They will help homes to be more resilient against future energy shocks.

Sentiment score: 0.02