Energy Prices
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-11
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Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal East

I am going to mention the work being done by the national energy affordability task force. I will report on that in July. That will give options for further changes and will feed into budgetary deliberations. I am not writing anything off regarding the budget. I will wait to receive that report. In the meantime, however, we have to ensure we accelerate the retrofitting programme I spoke about. If we look at solar, for argument’s sake, over 112,000 homes in this country now have solar systems. This reduces their bills permanently. It is also good for our climate as well as being good for people’s pockets and household bills. We want to keep accelerating this development.
Our continued overdependence on imported fossil fuel means we are going to continue to be over-reliant on them until we reach the tipping point on renewables. This means we will be at risk of volatility in the international fossil fuel markets. We are making good progress in this regard. About 50% of our electricity, month on month, is generated by renewables. We need to get that figure up to 80%. This is why we need to continue to accelerate the progress.
I am not writing anything off for the budget. We will decide that as a Government. The national energy affordability task force will conclude its work in July in advance of the budget.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-11