Electricity Supply: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-30
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Colm Brophy (FG), Dublin South-West

I thank the Senators for raising these important matters. I welcome this opportunity to discuss how to protect households and businesses that suffer a loss of electricity supply due to storms or other adverse weather events.
This motion calls for electricity suppliers to credit households and businesses with a refund of part of the standing charge amount of their electricity bills during the periods of electricity disruption. The context for this is the widespread concern about the cost of electricity to households and businesses. Before considering the specific proposal in the motion, I will recall the comprehensive set of actions already taken to address affordability in energy, including electricity.
Before I do that, I am going to take a moment to address the ludicrous concept that data centres do not have a real economic benefit and impact on our country. Big tech - in case some people like to forget this - is actually a major employer. There are thousands of families the length and breadth of this country listening to this attack on their jobs-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-30