I welcome the students from Finglas. They are very welcome and I hope they enjoy their day in Dáil Éireann. I hope it may spark and inspire some of them to come in some day as elected public representatives as well. Admhaím go bhfuil teaghlaigh fud fad na tíre faoi bhrú de bharr an mhéid atá ag tarlú maidir le praghsanna, go háirithe praghsanna a bhaineann le fuinneamh. Mar a dúirt mé inné, táimid ag déanamh machnaimh ar an scéal agus beimid sásta cabhair agus tacaíocht a thabhairt do dhaoine mar a rinneamar cheana nuair a bhí géarchéim ann le linn ghéarchéim na hÚcráine. There is a lot of uncertainty out there at the moment and no one should take advantage of that uncertainty to increase prices of energy or oil, be it home heating oil or on the forecourts. We are keeping everything under review in terms of the price situation and the impact on households. In the budget, we took very targeted measures to support people. One of the manifestations of that will be this wee when 50,000 families currently in receipt of the working family payment will receive their first fuel allowance payment and back pay on Thursday, 12 March. Any family on the working family payment will receive back pay of €380. That will help that cohort. That is a measure we took in the budget to include them for the first time in the free fuel allowance. The additional needs payment is also available for anyone in particular difficulty. The Minister for Social Protection has made it clear to community welfare officers to respond in that regard. Prices on the forecourts should not have increased. They can be influenced but typically, it should be three to four weeks after a particular event for prices to be impacted at the forecourts. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has asked the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, to investigate the pass-through from wholesale prices to retail prices because we had elements of this in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and what happened there, although there was a longer lead-in during that crisis. Price increases came a bit later in the cycle. The Minister has asked the CRU to carry out an independent review of that and, in particular, the pass-through from wholesale to retail prices in particular. The Minister for enterprise has also written to the CCPC. We met with its officials on Monday and spoke about this particular issue. At the European Council in two weeks, there will be a specific focus on energy pricing. One of the more fundamental challenges is the coupling of gas with renewables in the price market and structure that governs the European energy market.
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That is an issue that was put on the agenda two weeks ago but will have an even sharper focus now because of the impact of this crisis on the energy market more generally. We will keep any further measures under review. It is important that the Government's focus has been on targeting and using our resources for those most in need and those who need our supports. We have extended the reduction of VAT. We reduced VAT from 13% to 9% on electricity and gas bills. We are now keeping the rate at 9% until 2030. We will look at this in the broader sense. I will not focus on any particular measure. The Deputy mentioned carbon tax but we will not pull the rug from under farmers, those who are retrofitting and those who depend on the free fuel allowance.
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The Deputy says it is a small gesture. That is the point. The carbon tax on its own would be a number of cent or whatever, but when we look at the carbon tax collectively, it has supported farmers, in particular, in terms of environmental agri-schemes with approximately €173 million allocated this year to that. We would not have the retrofitting scheme without it because we have ring-fenced it. We give all that back to the people through retrofitting. Then the third pillar is those in social protection. It is fuel poverty that the carbon tax addresses. The money goes back to the people who need it most. It goes back through retrofitting and it goes back to farmers.
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The Deputy asked about carbon tax.
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Sorry, the Deputy has asked about it. We have said we are going to take measures-----
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The Deputy has a habit of always looking for the knee-jerk reaction to everything-----
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-----and when she did it before-----
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Thankfully, we did not take the Deputy's advice before-----
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-----because it would have been fairly disastrous if we had.
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It is clearly a day of hyperbole.
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Of course, we have intervened in the cost of living over the past three to four years. More than any other government in Europe, we intervened with our allocations, both in the once-off cost-of-living interventions that we made for over two years at huge cost, but then with more permanent measures such as the free books scheme, which is a substantial reduction in costs for parents and families of school-going children and the hot school meals in every school across the country, likewise helping families. We acknowledge families are under pressure. Of course, they are. Ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the post-Covid period and the weakening of supply chains, there has been an inflationary spiral. It has eased considerably in Ireland in inflationary terms, but the impact on the cost of living and the elevated prices remains for many households. We significantly reduced all the medical expenditures that were there five or six years ago in terms of the drugs payment scheme threshold being reduced and getting rid of quite a lot of hospital charges that people had to fork out. In terms of social protection, we had a €10 increase in the maximum rate of all State pensions from January of this year and likewise, for the jobseeker's allowance. There was the biggest increase ever in child support payments,. For any child over 12, the family gets €16 additional to €78 a week, and for children under 12, plus €8 to €58 a week. Of course, the fuel allowance was increased by €5 per week, but also the numbers of people benefiting went up significantly because we extended it to the working family payment to such an extent that 26% of households are now entitled to the fuel allowance and it is backdated to January. It is not a true story to say that the Government has done nothing or the Government has not intervened. We have also extended the reduced VAT rate on energy bills, from 13% to 9%, and that will be extended to 2030. We have also taken very substantial measures in terms of retrofitting, which will ultimately reduce the costs for households who benefit from that over the long term, and immediately once it is done. Our interventions have been targeted in many areas and we will continue to support households and families. Real wages have increased by 3% over the past 12 months. That is the reality and that is a fact. Members can dismiss that easily through rhetoric or something, but that is the reality. That said, there are still pressures on families. We will keep all of this under review in terms of how this unfolds over the next while.
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We are investing in renewables to an unprecedented extent. Between 40% and 45% of all electricity generation is through renewables in Ireland today, and approximately 40% through gas. One of the structural problems with this, of course, is across Europe there is a coupling of gas and very often gas dictates the ultimate price. Price caps generally do not work and we would need to consider that very carefully before we would implement such a measure. We will keep everything under review in terms of how this situation unfolds and we appreciate the pressures that are on people. Again, the CCPC is there to investigate and engage with companies and the market to fundamentally ensure price-gouging does not happen and that unfair advantage is not taken of people. We will also continue to engage on that issue as a Government, and we will have further meetings today relating to that specific item.
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I wish to extend my deepest sympathies to Denise Whitmore, Mark and the entire family on the tragic loss of baby Éadha, and the very difficult and traumatic circumstances of both Denise's pregnancy and what subsequently happened with the travel to the United Kingdom, particularly the journey back. As the Deputy knows, the legislation came as a result of the constitutional referendum we had in respect of this issue a number of years ago. The legislation was consistent with commitments given in the debate to the Irish people prior to the repeal of the eighth amendment. It was a contested referendum and various arguments were put forward on both sides. Various commitments were given in respect of how subsequent legislation would be formulated and what it would contain. In many respects, one of the key motivations for a lot of people who voted "Yes" to repealing the eighth amendment was the experience of women who had been through fatal foetal abnormality. I met quite a number of women who told me the harrowing journeys they made to the United Kingdom and back. Certainly, I found it a very powerful, motivating factor for a proper humane response to a situation such as this. Again, there was a lot of contested debate around this; hence what has transpired in the termination of pregnancy Act 2018 and in particular, the section referring to the provision before or within those 28 days of birth. There have been issues out of that as a result of the referendum and Act itself. I do not understand why bereavement counselling was not made available; it should be made available. There should be no excuse for the absence of bereavement counselling in situations such as this. I will pursue that with the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, and the Department, as to what transpired. As regards the wider issue, the Act itself is consistent with the debate and commitments that were given. Section 11, in particular, puts in that provision.
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This will be reviewed by the Government. I thank Denise Whitmore for speaking out because we need to hear her voice and the voice of women in situations like this.
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In our party we have a free vote, and I initiated that well over a decade ago on matters pertaining to life and death. Let us acknowledge that this has been a hugely contested area in our country. It was a major decision by the Irish people, and one I supported, as the Deputy knows, both inside and outside the House, in respect of the change that occurred. The Government will examine the review, and we will revert to the House once that examination takes place. I will consult with the Minister for Health in that regard. It is important to point out about 575 terminations occurred under section 11 of the Act between 2019 and 2024 but the Deputy instance about 240 women who have had to travel to the United Kingdom. We need to hear from the experiences of those women to inform the governmental and political review.
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I disagree with the very false narrative the Deputy has put before the House in respect of the Government's position on renewables. It is a deliberately created false narrative by the Green Party in order to present the idea that it is indispensable to climate change. I have to say that strongly because I really reject what the Deputy has said. I think it is wrong and it is deliberately wrong. We are one year in government. Any delays in offshore wind, for example, cannot be laid at the hands of this Government because the Green Party had that portfolio for the last five years, subsequent to 2020. The Deputy must be well aware of the challenges. We are totally focused on offshore wind and getting that out there. One of the changes I have made is to establish a clearing house for offshore wind. I brought industry in. You guys refused to do that for five years-----
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You did.
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I had them around the table. The Secretary General of my Department chairs it. I attend it and I chair for the hour and go through it. We have brought in industry and every single Government Department. We have talked to all the various agencies involved as well to look at any generic obstacles that we can remove, or any barriers to accelerate offshore wind. We have carried out an onshore wind revolution in this country over many decades now. Every party that was in government over the last 30 years, and the county councils, have facilitated that. The Deputy should acknowledge that. We have not shifted our focus. I want to get it done as quickly as we possibly can. It is absolutely essential. It is wrong of the Deputy to say that somehow we have moved to LNG as opposed to offshore wind. The evidence does not suggest that. Why did we move to create an LNG strategic reserve? The Deputy should know this too. It is for security. The papers and the files in the Department are very clear. The advices are very clear. Deputy O'Gorman talked about security of supply. Because of security vulnerabilities, if anything happened to our gas interconnectors our economy would be stalled after ten days. That is the advice. We need a security backup. A State-owned strategic reserve facility is being established to give us that backup in the event of malicious or malign forces undermining the gas interconnectors. That is not fanciful. We just have to look at what happened in the Baltic Sea with interference and interventions with various pieces of infrastructure. We know our subsea cables have been monitored. We know the gas connectors were monitored. The Irish Naval Service and UK divers had to inspect them, after a particular ship of the shadow fleet lingered over those gas pipelines, to make sure nothing untoward had happened. That is the reality. The Deputy should not paint that as some sort of shift away from our climate and our commitment to offshore wind. I think that is very unfair.
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The Deputy keeps articulating his false narrative, but that does not make the narrative true. It is a dishonest portrayal of the Government's commitment in this area. We are a bit more pragmatic than the Green Party was, I would respectfully suggest. I have great respect for the Deputy and his party in many areas-----
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-----but we are far more pragmatic in how we are going to deliver this and get it done faster than would have been the case.
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Last year the RESS 5 and the ORESS Tonn Nua auctions were delivered and at a very competitive price for consumers with both auctions clearing. I will not go through the specific prices. RESS 5 involves 1 GW of new renewable electricity capacity. The Deputy knows this. A lot of good groundwork was done by the last Government but the Deputy's predecessor knew exactly the timelines as well as everybody else. I would argue that what we are doing now in offshore wind is accelerating it to a greater extent than would have been the case if we had not taken over the portfolio, to be blunt about it. On the gas, it is about security of supply. That is the core issue there. If anything was to happen to current supplies in terms of the interconnector, we would be in deep trouble. The Deputy should at least acknowledge that.
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