Energy Prices
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-24
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Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal East

At every meeting of the Energy Council I have attended, I have raised the issue of affordability. This is an issue that is prevalent in most EU states to varying degrees. I would like to see changes to the regulatory framework happen. Most of that needs to be driven at EU level. Issues relating to, for example, the Spark app need to be dealt with as well. Those issues are being looked at European level in relation to affordability when it comes to energy, particularly for households and small businesses.
What the national energy affordability task force and I will be looking at this year is what we can control ourselves. We are still heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels. We need to reduce that dependency. We hedge and we buy forward. That is why when people see wholesale gas prices fall, there is a lag time before we see retail prices fall. We are focused on delivering price reductions over the course of this year on energy. It remains an absolute priority for me.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-24