I thank the Deputy. The Government has been working round the clock on the very serious situation in the Gulf and the Middle East. We have been working on it from a whole range of aspects, including the economic aspect, which I will get to now in relation to the question. The first and most important thing we have been doing in the here and now is working to protect Irish citizens abroad and to get them home. I welcome the fact, as we meet today, that we are now seeing hundreds of Irish citizens arrive safely back in Dublin. We have seen some commercial flights resume activity. We have plans in relation to chartered flights. Across the House, I know everybody welcomes that work. I thank the Minister, Deputy McEntee, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and officials on the ground who have been working really hard in what has been a very stressful and anxious time. There is absolutely no doubt that the conflict in the Middle East and the Gulf is going to have an economic impact. It is going to have a potential inflationary impact. It is going to have an impact in on commodity prices, including oil and gas. It is also important to say that the scale of that impact will depend on the length and the depth of the conflict that is under way. My Department, at my request, is currently carrying out a macroeconomic analysis in terms of what we believe the impact to be on a whole variety of indicators. We will publish that in our spring forecast at the end of this month. The Minister, Deputy Burke, has been extraordinarily proactive this week. He has done exactly what a responsible Minister would do in formally communicating with the body that has responsibility for consumer protection and competition. The Government's view that we have been receiving, as it sounds like the Deputy has as well, many reports across the country as what many people are referring to as price-gouging. People are putting up the price and causing panic and fear for people, quite frankly. I have seen the text messages telling someone to get the fill of oil now or it is going to go up. That sort of behaviour is causing real concern as well. The Minister has worked with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, which has said it will open an urgent investigation into the concerns. I note the Deputy has been asking people to contact him with any concerns that they have. I encourage him and every other Deputy to please pass on all of that information to the CCPC. I also encourage all our citizens to use the helpline to pass on any information as well. There are laws in this country, which must be upheld. The CCPC has a range of powers to investigate and prosecute where there are breaches of law. It can impose fines of up to €10 million in certain circumstances, or 10% of a company's turnover. There is a confidential whistleblowing service as well in relation to any suspected cartel behaviour too. The Minister is meeting the industry representatives tomorrow, which I had presumed the Deputy will welcome. Meeting the industry representatives and suppliers is an important thing to do. The Minister will discuss with them the sharp increases that we have seen in recent days. They will be asked to explain how their pricing structure has changed so drastically so quickly. That is an important thing to do. We keep everything under review in terms of assisting. As the Taoiseach and I have both consistently said, we are monitoring this situation extremely closely. On Monday, I will meet with European counterparts at the Eurogroup. The issue of energy affordability is specifically on the agenda. It is important that we continue to monitor everything and keep everything under review. It is also important to say that real action is being taken in the here and now to help people with energy costs. Next week, 50,000 more households will qualify for the fuel allowance. That will be backdated to 1 January. That means up to 50,000 households will receive the fuel allowance for the first time. They will receive up to €380 in a lump sum payment, as well as them being entitled to it going forward. That is progress and real action. We continue to monitor the situation to keep everything actively under review. I have to be honest too. I do not doubt the Deputy's bona fides or anyone's bona fides on this. We are a couple of days into a conflict here. We cannot do anything that is knee-jerk. Something that might seem like the right idea today could indeed be the wrong recipe next week or the week after. We are monitoring this, we are working on this and we will act where required.
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As do I.
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The Deputy may not have been listening to my reply. Let me say it again. Practical action that will help 50,000 more Irish households will take place next week. The Deputy likes to say that this will not matter to anybody, but 50,000 households will qualify next week for assistance with their fuel who do not qualify for it today.
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Deputy Cullinane does not need help. Give him a chance. He was picked to do it today. In addition to the 50,000 households, we also took a decision in the budget to reduce the rate of VAT on people's energy bills and keep it there for years ahead. We also took a decision to reduce the public service obligation, PSO, on people's energy, as well as increase the fuel allowance. The Taoiseach, the Government and I have been consistent on this. We will continue to keep under review-----
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-----any measures that are needed to assist households and deal with price impact.
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We will do things in a way. We are five days into a major global conflict.
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The Deputy nor Mystic Meg, Lord rest her, could predict where this conflict is going to go. We are working to protect and get our citizens home and seek de-escalation. We are working at a European level to see what further actions are appropriate in terms of energy affordability. That is what a responsible Government does. I wish to let the people watching in at home know that we are acting and we will take further action-----
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Please do not scaremonger them.
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It is unfair to the work of the CCPC to call it toothless. Last year, it got six convictions and its first ever criminal conviction. It is a body that can levy fines of up to €10 million. I hope, before the Deputy gets into the litany of his view about what the Government should do, that he will join with us in welcoming the fact that the CCPC, which has significant powers, has opened an urgent investigation into allegations of price-gouging in relation to the energy situation. I encourage everyone in this House to pass on any information they have in this regard. There is an independent agency. The Deputy and I cannot stand up and decide to convict people for price-gouging. What we can do is seek an urgent investigation into it, which we have secured. That is an action that a responsible and effective Minister has taken. If he were not meeting the companies tomorrow, the Deputy would be questioning why he were not. Sometimes, he cannot win. Earlier in the week, the Opposition asked why the Minister just sent a letter. The Minister is doing what a Minister should do, that is, sitting down with the companies and industry representative bodies tomorrow, in addition to the urgent investigation under way by the CCPC. I thank the Minister for the work he is doing in this regard. To say there is no support from this Government for families is just not true. This Government has taken many actions to assist people right across the country, such as free school books, hot school meals and increases to pensions and the carer’s allowance. There are more people in work than ever before. We saw less than one hour ago figures come out on our economic growth that show that real incomes are now rising. Real incomes in Ireland are rising. You would not think that in here with the conversations we have.
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Real incomes are rising. The Social Democrats often call for targeted supports. I listened to their proposals. They are not in favour of energy credits for all different people. The Opposition has many different views. The Social Democrats call for targeted supports. Next week, we will bring in a targeted support in which 50,000 households will benefit from a fuel allowance payment for the first time. It will be backdated to 1 January. These are working families in receipt of the working family payment. They will receive up to €380 in one lump sum. We are continuing to work on this intensively. The priority this week has been trying to get people safely home from a dangerous region. We are also working to try to map out the potential economic impact of this. While I do not want to make a direct comparison with Ukraine because prices and inflation rates are not in that space, let us just take it as a comparison of when we last saw a major conflict break out. What did we do? We worked together at European level. We worked with other European countries. It was not about one Department doing something here or one country doing something there. The Deputy will remember that, by Europe working together, it brought us to the point of the windfall tax legislation. On Monday, I will meet with fellow European finance ministers to analyse the impact in terms of energy affordability and supply. The Taoiseach will attend a European Council meeting where this will be an agenda item as well. As he said yesterday, and as I say today, we will keep this under review and we do not rule out actions that may be needed to assist people or the economy. What we cannot do, five or six days into a conflict, is try to predict where this will bring us economically in the time ahead because it depends on the length and depth of the conflict. We have got to make sure that any response is the correct one in helping to secure our economy.
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We are acting. We did not need a conflict in the Gulf or the Middle East to take action on energy costs in Ireland, which are too high. That is why more people than ever before in the history of the State are eligible for fuel allowance. It is why we have increased the amount of fuel allowance and are bringing the working family payment recipients into it-----
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-----for the first time next week and backdating it to 1 January. That is practical action. It is not abstract. There are people tuning in today, whether watching this on their television screens or listening on the radio, who will benefit. A total of 50,000 households in Ireland will benefit next week from a fuel allowance payment-----
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-----that they have never benefited from before. Many people in arrears will benefit from the fuel allowance as well. The Government has to look at all of these issues.
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It does not.
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Deputy Hearne, over-----
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Over 400,000 homes qualify for fuel allowance support, which makes up more than a quarter of the homes in the country. That maths just does not add up. More people are qualifying for fuel allowance than are in energy arrears in Ireland, according to the Deputy's own figures he just shared with us. We will continue to work on this situation intensively. I do not doubt anyone's bona fides; we all want to assist people. The first thing, though, is to call out price-gouging and to not add to it by buying into the narrative that fuel prices should be going up right now. There is a lag in any impact on changes in wholesale prices and what people should be seeing at the pump and that should be called out. The CCPC has an important job to do in relation to this. The Minister is working on this too and we will continue to work to monitor the economic impact of this conflict as it unfolds.
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We have intentions to further strengthen the powers of the CCPC and we look forward to working with people across this House in relation to that. I agree with the Deputy on that point. I also agree with him on there not being a need for a universal energy credit anymore. I agree that TDs do not need energy credits. There are people who need assistance. We can debate this and different parties will have different ideas but the targeted way the Government is going about it is through the expansion of the fuel allowance. The Deputy makes the case that he would like to see it further expanded to cover more people. We are adding 50,000 more households next week. I hear the point about the data centres and I want to respond to that. I do not mean this in relation to the Deputy but people can see a headline and think that that does not sound fair. It does not when you see the headline but when you look at the detail, it is not comparing like with like. The data centres have to pay significant fixed costs for the infrastructure, as is right and appropriate. The tariff might be lower but the actual amount they are spending on the energy infrastructure is a hell of a lot higher, as it should be, than a household. That is an important point. Regarding people with disabilities, the Government has been very clear on this. We have increased the level of investment in disability services this year by around 20%, with €618 million extra. That was the priority - investing further in disability services with much-needed investment. We have said very clearly that we will devise a cost-of-disability payment. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, has opened the consultation process on that. We are eager to get everybody's idea and views as to how best construct that. We have increased the weekly disability payments, the weekly carer's payments, the weekly pension payments and we kept the likes of the Christmas bonus. I have to reject the Deputy saying nothing was done. We have seen inflation fall from a very high level, and we have to be honest about this. For the first time in a long time, we have seen real incomes in Ireland rising again. We need to make that point. These figures are there for all to see. They are not my figures; they are published by the CSO. Incomes are now increasing in this country again. If we get into a position of a prolonged conflict in the Middle East and in the Gulf region, what we have to watch and be honest about is the adverse affect that could have on inflation, on commodity prices and the shocks that could cause to the global economy. That is where our priority and our focus has to be now. I am conscious people are anxious and worried. I can fully understand that with what they are seeing on their television screens, the text messages they are getting about heating and the things they are seeing at the pumps. However, this country is approaching this moment of potential economic shock from a position of strength where we have more people in work than ever before, where the economy is performing well-----
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-----where we have built up financial buffers. That allows the Government to make an informed evidence-based responses in the time ahead. That is exactly what we intend to do. Governments right across Europe are grappling with this. That is why will also have that engagement at a European level, starting with European finance ministers on Monday.
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I am extraordinarily conscious of the fact that people at home following this debate and people in workplaces are feeling an extraordinary sense of economic anxiety. However, I also have to make sure we have the best data and best analysis available in terms of the economic impact this conflict may have in our country, on the eurozone and on the global economy. That enables the Government to then decide how best to intervene should that be required. I made the point earlier today, and I make it again, that working at a European level is important. That is what we did as a country at the start of the brutal Russian illegal invasion of Ukraine. It brought about policy changes, regulations and decisions at a European level that allowed, for example, for a windfall tax, and the benefits of that being utilised for our citizens. As the Taoiseach said yesterday and I say today - we are completely ad idem on this - we keep all of these matters under review. We have taken a number of practical measures already to assist people, including the expansion of the fuel allowance to 50,000 more households next week, the reduction of the VAT rate on people's energy bills, the reduction of the PSO and increasing the rate of fuel allowance. We will continue to work on this intensively in the time ahead.
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This is where I perhaps need the guidance of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle or the Oireachtas. In my time in this House, I have never known that we would discuss the employment circumstances of any individual civil servant on the floor of Dáil Éireann. Frankly, without getting into the individual, I do not have any such information available to me today. It is a starting point anyway, but on whether it would be appropriate to discuss any individual person, I always thought that the rules of the House are that you should not be naming people. I am quite confused as to where to go in relation to this. To be helpful to the Deputy, I suggest that we get the transcript of what the Deputy has asked. Truthfully, I do not have information available to me in my files today or in my recall. I am happy to suggest that we get a transcript of what the Deputy has asked and perhaps the Ceann Comhairle's office could adjudicate on any appropriate areas where the Government could assist the Deputy in providing information. If that is appropriate, I am happy to do that.
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This comes under Standing Orders.
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The Deputy has made a number of comments on the record of the House. Let us have the transcript of that and I will certainly seek guidance from the Oireachtas as to what parts of the question, if any, the Government should provide any information on to be helpful to the House.
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