Tackling Soaring Energy Costs: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-15
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Gary Gannon (SD), Dublin Central

It is a shame the Government will not be supporting this Social Democrats' motion that provides solutions both immediately and for the future. I assure the Minister of State we will not be supporting the Government amendment. In three pages of testimony, basically, it is just telling us we will just continue as we are. Continuing on as we are is not acceptable any more. People are hurting too much. It is palpable. Government needs to listen, intervene and act.
As part of our motion we talked about an enhanced supplementary mileage scheme for healthcare and essential workers. The Government amendment does not even reference that fact. I sat in this Chamber yesterday while a continuum of Ministers talked about how people were not able to make their appointments during the protests last week. I also listened to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation three weeks ago when it told us there were healthcare practitioners - nurses and midwives - who simply could not get to their patients when using their own cars because of the cost of fuel. That is why we made that proposal and it is lamentable in the extreme that the Government has simply averted its gaze from it. It is an insult to the healthcare workers we rely on.
We proposed a €400 energy credit for households earning under €70,000. We did that because people are struggling. The Minister of State told us this Government has given the largest package in Europe but he stopped there. He did not say that Ireland has the highest energy prices in Europe or that we have 315,000 households in energy arrears as we speak. Most frighteningly of all, that figure has increased by 20% in the last 12 months. Can the Minister of State tell me that in six months’ time that number will not have increased again? There are families who are genuinely terrified about another bill coming through their letterbox, so we are asking for that €400 credit. Also, in Ireland we pay on average €360 more than the EU average for electricity so the €400 we propose just brings us to parity, yet the Government has averted its gaze from it. We understand we need solutions both immediately and in the long term so we also proposed a solar power for all initiative. We need leadership, vision and a commitment that never again will we be in the situation we are in now. It is because of global factors and we appreciate that but at this moment we need vision, leadership and intervention. Ministers disgraced themselves last week with their reactionary tone. They inflamed tensions.
What we need here is people who provide solutions. The solar power for all initiative that is being developed by my colleague, Deputy Whitmore, is one that is cost-effective, evidence-based and enables the Irish State to say “Never again” by investing in our communities. It is a capital investment. It could be paid for through the excesses of the carbon tax and it will also mean that when these shocks come again, which they will, Irish households will be inoculated against the worst extent of the crisis. We are asking for bold intervention, an acknowledgement - by listening to the people we meet on the doors - that they are hurting and intervening with a €400 energy credit accompanied by a belief that never again should we be in this position by removing ourselves from fossil fuel dependency. That starts by recognising we can intervene here and we have a role to play. During the oil shock of the 1970s Denmark invested in renewables and it has inoculated its citizens from the worst effects of this particular crisis. I am sick and tired of hearing about how we are a wealthy country and that we have surpluses. Every single day I knock on doors of citizens who are operating on a deficit. That is a crying shame. There is capacity here and the Government will have support across the Chamber if we invest in people’s immediate needs and also in the solutions of tomorrow. That should be a solar power for all initiative and that is achievable. It could make a huge difference. We will be opposing the Government’s amendment and it is a damn shame it is not bringing forward the necessary solutions.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-15