Ports Policy
Dail Éireann — 2023-05-04
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Verona Murphy (IND), Wexford

I wish to ask the Minister of State what urgent actions the Department is taking to address the huge infrastructural deficits in our ports, particularly Rosslare Europort. What level of funding will the Department provide to ports to prepare for offshore renewable energy? Will he make a statement on the matter?

Unknown

At the same time, we have this situation where the Government is allowing these prices to increase. There is an enormous cruelty to the Government's actions here. It is a laissez-faire attitude, because at the same time, the Government is milking it with VAT. The VAT take has never been as high in this State's history. An answer to an Aontú parliamentary question showed there was an increase of 40% in the level of VAT earned by this State on electricity. The Government is turning the screw on families with VAT in their time of need. It is an incredible situation. The Government has this €20 billion surplus coming down the tracks within the next three years, yet it made a record €381 million in VAT on electricity last year.
One of the most frustrating elements of this is that every single fortnight, a member of the Government has come into the Dáil or some media studio and stated the Government is either going to deal with the high energy costs or going to put in place a windfall tax. Every fortnight, without fail, the Government has reneged on that commitment. Months have passed since the Government made those commitments. The Government committed six, eight, ten months ago to deal with these high prices, yet it sat on its hands. This winter the only thing that has been warm are the Government's hands, from being sat on in the wintertime. It is an incredible situation. I believe this is a case of the Government strategically being incompetent. If we take the big picture with respect to the Green Party's major objectives, the party seeks to reduce energy consumption. The biggest driver of reductions in energy consumption are high prices. It is the Green Party's stated objective to have high energy prices in this State. Thus, it is not at all by accident that families are suffering so much with these energy prices. It is not at all by accident that so many people are living in fuel poverty.
The solution is very simple. The Government has the levers in its hands to put these companies on notice. Other countries have done so. Italy did it, and has harvested about €4 billion in windfall taxes. Spain did it, as did Germany and Belgium. Even the British Tory party is more decent when it comes to these issues than the Green Party, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I implore the Minister of State not to give us another promise that in a short while there will be a windfall tax and in a short while there will be reductions in fuel and electricity prices. The Government should do it now and put the people out of their misery.

Mattie McGrath (IND), Tipperary

I am a bit bewildered because this is a good motion and I want to support it. However, on 22 October 2022, Sinn Féin refused to support our motion to cut out carbon tax and we cannot have it every way here. The people at home are bewildered, as Deputy Tóibín said, and they are blackguarded, perished, angry, demoralised and many other words I cannot use. We have the highest prices in Europe and we get promise after promise that the Government is going to introduce a windfall tax. The ESB is making record profits. There is talk of decoupling oil and gas from wind and clean energy and a lot of semantics has gone on. We were the last in Europe to allow that to happen.
It is obviously a plan by the Greens. I told Deputy Ó Cathasaigh last week that he is green on the outside and red on the inside. He said he was happy to be described as that. The Greens are nothing short of communists then, out-and-out communists. They want to destroy our people and destroy our country. I think of men like Liam Lynch and Pádraig Pearse and others who fought for this country to serve our people, but the members of this Government are serving themselves. They will not even tackle the big moguls and the oil companies. They will not tackle the ESB just as they will not tackle the banks, which are causing havoc and ruin for people every day of the week. I tell the Minister of State the sooner the Government packs its bags, evacuates this building and leaves it to someone who is able to run it the better, because it is driving a coach and four through ordinary families. They cannot heat, they cannot go to work and they cannot do anything else. They can barely eat. It is a stated policy of the Minister of State's Green Party - a communist policy again - to force people out of their vehicles by charging punitive taxes and rates. The Government came back here two weeks ago and put excise on diesel back up again by 23 cent a litre by October of this year. To hell or to Connacht with the Greens is what I say.

Michael Collins (IND), Cork South-West

Last November, the Dáil passed a Rural Independent Group motion clearing the way for cheaper electricity prices. That motion was tabled, debated and passed on 16 November, which is almost six months ago. The motion explicitly instructed the Government to immediately change policy and implement regulations to cap the prices paid to wind farm operators and energy companies and to place a windfall or excess profit tax on all energy companies to provide for cheaper household electricity bills. It also instructed the Government to end the unconstitutional practice of protecting the superprofits of energy companies, which are driving up electricity prices for everyone. However, almost six months on the public have not seen their energy bills drop because the Government has failed to get its act together and implement the required changes. It is unforgivable for any Government policy position to continue when it allows almost all our energy companies to make staggering profits of over 600% of their predicted earnings over the past two years, while people are struggling to keep the lights on. It is totally unacceptable.
The carbon tax has been mentioned often. By next September, the Government will have put on 23 cent per litre of petrol and 18 cent for diesel, which is going to drive up the price of food. People therefore cannot pay their electricity bills and cannot have their lights on and a bit of heat because the Government is melting their pockets every way it can. Now there is the little nod-and-wink fund with the carbon tax, which is supported by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Greens, the Social Democrats, Labour, all of which make up the usual cosy gang here in the Dáil. They are going to rip the money out of the ordinary people's pockets again. People cannot afford it. The Government cannot continue to add carbon tax and VAT and expect people to pay for it. The Government did not bring in any legislation to ensure people got their warmer homes in time, like they were supposed to. I support this motion, as it is trying to help people in these terribly difficult times.

Danny Healy-Rae (IND), Kerry

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about this serious matter. It is a fact that the exorbitant cost of electricity has driven many people demented. The Minister of State's buddy, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is specifically responsible for not ensuring the energy regulator does its job. The regulator has not done its job and there has been no account from the regulator through all this unmitigated mess. Other countries put a cap on the electricity. We asked the Government to do the same, day after day in this Chamber. The Government totally rubbished it and would not listen to us. People have gone through hell and back trying to survive. People depend on electricity. I had one elderly woman last year who was afraid to boil the kettle because of the bills she was getting.
Then the Government is telling people they should not cut turf. It is trying to bring in that measure by the back door now by having something in the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, saying farmers cannot cut turf and if they do, their payments will be cut. I appreciate people around the country, but especially in Kerry, who cut turf to keep themselves warm. We have done it ourselves on our farm since the 1800s. I can go back that far. We will continue to do it while we live, and my family are at it now as well. I wish the people of Kerry well and tell them all to get out now and cut turf and not have their finger inside the Government's mouth for electricity. The Government is telling people to put in heat pumps when they cannot pay the bills because of those heat pumps.

Michael Healy-Rae (IND), Kerry

Let me be clear: personally, the Minister of State is a very nice, affable man.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-05-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-05-04