Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-06
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Ivana Bacik (LAB), Dublin Bay South

Things are serious. They are serious for the many thousands of families and households in arrears on their energy bills. They are far too serious to be toying around with distractions about nuclear power when we know the solution lies in the scalable projects of renewables. The Taoiseach speaks about a Government focus on renewables, but it is clearly evident, particularly since the Green Party left government, how there has been a slowdown in Government commitments on climate and on renewables. Last week almost 60 countries met in Colombia for intensive talks to forge a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels. Ireland's decision to send a senior civil servant rather than the climate Minister speaks volumes. The Government is not taking this seriously. I used Spain as the example. Let us look at the Eurostat figures. Last year, Irish electricity cost 40.42 cent per kWh. That is 40% over the European average and well above the Spanish cost of 24 cent. The figures speak for themselves. The figures for the households in arrears speak for themselves and we know the answer. In opposition, we supported the MARA legislation, but there is still no urgency on rolling out renewables to help struggling households.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-06/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:54+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-06