I thank Sinn Féin for introducing this motion. It is, unfortunately, very timely. We are witnessing the worst oil crisis the world has ever seen. It is worse than the oil shocks of the last century and worse than the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, which we can all remember very clearly. However, for Irish people, this comes during an existing cost-of-living crisis. People are already struggling and this is compounding that struggle for them. While people are watching their rent climb, their mortgage interest eating deeper into their monthly income and their grocery bills rising week after week and with 320,000 people in arrears on their electricity bills already, it is clear that something needs to be done. The Government keeps on saying it will do something, that it is under review and that some measures will be put in place. What I suspect is happening is that it is trying to hold out as long as possible just to squeeze a bit more out of that time and money but families really cannot wait any longer before support is given to them. Not just in this term but in the previous term when the energy credits were being given out, the Social Democrats has consistently said that any energy credits should be targeted at those who need the money most. We remain steadfast in that call for a €400 targeted credit for people who really struggle. I ask the Government to please not turn around and give another €100 million, or whatever it was the last term, to the electricity meters of holiday homes. Will it please target the money and not waste it? I also ask that we would reduce excise. We propose that would happen because we cannot have a Government that is profiting on the backs of people really struggling at the moment. This is a critical and a very time-sensitive issue and the Government should be supporting people now. I want to talk in broader terms as well. What has happened in Iran and the resulting disruption to our global oil supplies has to be a wake-up call - without a doubt. I think we said it the last time when the war on Ukraine began. Unfortunately, we did not put in the measures and the framework we needed then but this has to be a wake-up call. Everyone in this Chamber knows that Ireland is energy insecure. However, instead of addressing that vulnerability, the Government's current strategy risks deepening it. The decision to fast-track legislation to allow the State to build a near-€1 billion LNG import terminal is the perfect example of backwards thinking. The Government says it wants energy security yet it is proposing a system that exports our security to international LNG markets. It is clear that there is no stable LNG market. Whether we are talking about what is coming from Russia, from the Middle East, or what could possibly come from the US, there is no security and no certainty with any of those markets. These markets are unstable, volatile and now heavily disrupted by war. Reliance on LNG will not bring us energy security. It will not bring us national security. The new LNG facility has an estimated cost of €900 million over ten years yet there is no clarity at all on how this could impact energy bills. At a time when families are already struggling with arrears, that is unacceptable. How can the Government continue to justify exposing households to even more volatility and more costs if this LNG facility comes into play? The climate committee’s report on the Government’s LNG Bill was clear. We warned of the gaps and called for a new assessment of geopolitical risks, renewable deployment, battery storage and demand reduction before the Bill proceeds, and that was before this crisis escalated. The need for that assessment is now an absolute necessity. I ask that the energy security review be updated to reflect what is happening in the Middle East and what could potentially happen if relations with the US continue to become as volatile as they have been. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the energy security analysis was updated to reflect that and it needs to happen again. It also needs to be honest about what is possible and what we are able to achieve in Ireland without an LNG facility. It needs to look at alternative fuels and at battery storage and at what we could do in that instance. Instead of pouring €1 billion into an LNG terminal, why is the Government not putting that money into accelerating renewables? What we have seen when it comes to this LNG facility is a real sense of urgency. We have seen emergency legislation coming in, we have seen significant changes in Government policy to facilitate it, and we have seen a commitment for a €1 billion piece of infrastructure. Why have we not seen that same level of urgency when it comes to developing renewables in this country? We really have not seen it. The Tánaiste will be well aware of the Arklow Bank wind farm. That is no longer generating any offshore wind. Ireland has zero offshore wind being generated at the moment whereas 20 years ago at least we had some from the Arklow Bank. We have less now than we did 20 years ago and that is a crazy situation for us to be in. We could nationalise and build a 1 GW offshore wind farm costing just over €2 billion that would power 1 million homes. With €1 billion per year coming in from carbon tax revenue, is that not exactly what the funds should be used for? We are not as a party saying we should stop the carbon tax because it is an important revenue that needs to go back into ensuring people at risk of energy poverty can be supported to deal with that. We are calling for the entirety of the carbon tax to be ringfenced and used for energy security measures, and not just the increases. We urgently need a Government that understands what real energy security looks like. What it does not look like is shipping in LNG from across the world at enormous cost. It looks like building up infrastructure that we control here at home. It looks like investing in wind, storage and grid resilience. It looks like ensuring that Irish households are protected from the next geopolitical shock, not left exposed to it. Right now, instead of giving people certainty, the Government is giving them higher prices, higher risks and a long wait for supports that may or may not arrive. That is just not good enough. The public can see the connection between global conflict and the price they pay at the pump, at the supermarket checkout and on their energy bills. They know Ireland is more exposed than it should be, and they know the Government's decisions have contributed to that vulnerability. Today I ask the Tánaiste to take action to address that. l am asking him to support struggling households immediately with timely and targeted supports, not with reviews and not with promises. l am asking the Government to roll back on its eager LNG plans and follow the recommendations of its own committee before making a €1 billion mistake. I am asking the Tánaiste to take the carbon tax revenue and put it into building a secure, renewable and publicly-owned energy future that will insulate us from the volatility we are living through right now. Families cannot absorb one more avoidable shock and the time for delay is over.

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