Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-09-22 ============================================================ Cian O'Callaghan (SD), Dublin Bay North Seventy-seven percent is how much wholesale electricity prices have surged in the past year. That will not come as a surprise to the over 300,000 households currently in arrears, and it is not news to the people lying awake at night worrying about how they will keep the lights on. We have to get off this endless merry-go-round of price shocks and soaring bills. The Minister knows, I know, we all know that we are particularly vulnerable to these price shocks because we are so dependent on fossil fuels. Trump is to blame for a lot of things, but he is not to blame for that. We are hooked on fossil fuels, and that is a direct result of this Government's incompetence and negligence, which has left hundreds of thousands of households hopelessly exposed. Where are people supposed to find the money for all these price increases? They are already trying to cobble together the cash to meet rising rents, mortgage payments, groceries and childcare costs. If they are relying on home heating oil, they will have seen the cost to fill soar by €700. The pressure on individuals and families is now immense and never-ending, and the cracks are beginning to show. More than half a million households are behind on their electricity and gas bills. Unless the Government acts, it will get worse. That is why we must see a targeted energy credit of €400 in the budget. This would help those low- and middle-income families who desperately need it. It is a vital measure to provide them with some breathing room. However, the budget needs to go much further than that. The harsh reality is that the Government has utterly failed to invest in solar and renewable energy, and it is families the length and breadth of this country who are now reaping the consequences of its failure. A no-brainer for the budget would be a massive investment in solar to bring people's energy bills down by at least €450 a year - this year, next year and every year. The Social Democrats have a solar-for-all plan that the Minister could implement. It would double the grants for solar panels, introduce a grant for battery storage and make solar panels free for households at risk of fuel poverty. Crucially, it would roll out plug-in solar. That is what we need to see - some real ambition from the Government. These are measures that the Government could introduce in two weeks' time. They are sustainable and we have the money to pay for them. Will the Government introduce them or will it just keep making excuses? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-22/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-22