Yes. I will tell the Senator the reason. It goes back to efficiency. We will get the workforce because the system before this was always stop-start, with building contractors working for six months and then stopped for six months, having to wait to find out whether there was more money. It is no wonder the industry did not scale up. Now that they know that they have €9 billion in funding guaranteed for the next ten years, they will scale up. For young people coming out of college or school this summer or doing thei…

The Deputy is correct that this is a critical issue for our people. The most important factor affecting electricity prices in Ireland is the continuing upward trend in international gas prices, which is affecting electricity prices across Europe and the world. Nevertheless, it is true that Ireland has higher electricity prices than the EU average. In addition to Ireland's fossil fuel dependency, which is one of the reasons, it is due to a number of other factors, including geographical location, economies of scale …

The Deputy is right. The price of gas has gone beyond compare and up to higher levels. For more than 20 years, it was fairly steady and at a price range typically measured in pence sterling because that is where our gas market is priced from. As the Deputy said, it has gone from some 40 or 50 pence per unit up to about 180 pence in the UK pricing yesterday. I have just come out of a meeting with the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson. I understand the members of the committee will be meeting her later, …

I do not agree with the approach being advocated by Sinn Féin and I think the Government's approach is better. We are sitting down and talking to a whole variety of partners, such as the social partners, Social Justice Ireland and the other groups who are part of the social pillar in the National Economic and Social Council, as well as the environmental pillar and also unions and employers. We work best in this country when we work in collaboration. I think it is better for us to engage in that process, to look to …

As Deputy Nash knows the responsibility for regulation of the electricity market, including the compliance of electricity and gas suppliers with their licence conditions, is a matter for the independent regulator, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU. The CRU was assigned responsibility for that role in the Irish electricity sector following the enactment of the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 and subsequent legislation. It is solely accountable to the committee of the Oireachtas for the performance of i…

Deputy Nash is right, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and his Department have a key role. We are working closely together on a full range of different initiatives, the summer economic statement, the Tax Strategy Group this summer and the work to which I referred in engaging with the social partners. I think the right approach for us is to get a blend and mix of different initiatives that we will need. It is right to get those in place and to design them with real thought and precision, really targeting th…

We have been doing targeted measures as well as the likes of the energy credit or the reductions in VAT and excise which apply across the board. So many different Irish householders have been hit. There has also been a very significant increase in the fuel allowance and targeted measures such as the reduction in public transport fares, which helped those on lower incomes in particular who often use public transport more. The combination of the energy credit and the fuel allowance increases for more than 300,000 fam…

The survey and design work for the new high-speed fibre broadband network under the national broadband plan is complete or ongoing by National Broadband Ireland, NBI, in every county in Ireland. Survey work feeds into detailed designs for each of the 227 deployment areas. I am advised by NBI that as at 20 May 2022, last month, over 327,600 premises have now been surveyed, more than 298,600 premises are designed or in design process, and more than 175,300 premises are under construction or complete across 26 countie…

First, I will give Deputy Ó Murchú further details, maybe on his own county, County Louth, to give an example of more precise figures. As of 29 April last, more than 7,800 premises had been surveyed in the county with over 4,000 premises under construction or complete, almost 3,200 premises available to order or pre-order, and almost 2,500 premises passed and available for immediate connection. That is real and immediate. It is there today, here and now. I would agree with the Deputy's closing comment about the nee…

That is exactly right. ComReg is right to be looking at other innovative ways in which we can provide coverage. The more universal and the quicker we can get universal coverage the better. The Department, as I said, NBI and Eir are looking at a range of different ways in which we can accelerate and dovetail the work of the various organisations. One of the other issues, which, coming out of Covid, is deeply frustrating, is that across so many sectors in the economy, it is hard to get contractors. It is hard to get …

In 2020, the European Union imported almost 24% of its total energy needs from Russia, including 19% of its total coal needs. Ireland's largest power station, Moneypoint, in County Clare, which is owned and operated by the ESB, uses coal which has in recent times been sourced from Russia. In April, the European Union adopted a fifth package of restrictive measures against Russia in response to Russia's illegal and unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine. The fifth package includes an import ban on all forms …

I absolutely understand. In fact, I visited Colombia a number of years ago on a climate exchange and I was absolutely aware of the range of different issues around the extractive industries in Colombia and the human rights and other elements of it. As I said, the Department and I do not have a direct role but the Department of Foreign Affairs does. It has been following developments closely with regard to this mine and trying to support human rights defenders to support open civil society space and protection and p…

We can all absolutely support that call for the promotion, support and protection of human rights. In its work the ESB plays a key role and it is working with other purchasers through what is known as the Bettercoal initiative, which is a global not-for-profit industry initiative established to promote the continuous improvement of corporate responsibility in the coal supply chain. The ESB has highlighted that the mine in question is subject to independent assessments and these are conducted in line with the Better…

The renewable electricity support scheme, RESS, is one of the major Government policies to help deliver on the ambition in the Climate Action Plan 2021 of up to 80% renewable electricity by 2030. I recently announced the provisional results of the second RESS auction, which is expected to deliver an increase of nearly 20% in Ireland's renewable energy generation. Bid prices were higher than the first auction, owing mainly to international inflationary pressures in input costs. The International Energy Agency estima…

I am very supportive of that kind of approach. I agree we should work collectively and see how we can reduce costs. I agree that planning is one of the factors, involving long timelines and uncertainty in the Irish planning system. The Attorney General is working now to update and modernise the 2020 planning Act, and that will be completed by the end of this year. That is critical. I also agree that some of the real uncertainty that may cause some of the slightly higher prices, along with the high price of steel an…

"Yes" is the answer and we are providing additional resources to CRU, including staff, and EirGrid. They are less constrained. They have an income stream that enables them to hire the resources they need and to bring in outside expertise as well. Critically, An Bord Pleanála needs additional staff resources. It is hard to get people with the planning and other skills that are needed but it is absolutely central to all of this that we do so. The particular concern of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, in its …

My written response to this question is quite similar to one I gave to a previous question. If I may take that response as given, I will answer the Deputy's question more directly and provide some further information. First, electricity interconnection with other countries is a critical way of bringing down the price of electricity here and giving us security. As we move to very high renewable penetration on a European regional basis, I see the development of what has been called a European super grid, that is, a m…

It is not my view that we should just grin and bear it. Not at all. The key problem we have is that some 50% of our power generation, including the power needed to run the lights in this Chamber, is coming from gas generation, when averaged out over a year. There are short-term and immediate actions around social welfare, taxation and other measures, as we discussed, that are needed to help householders through this difficult period. However, there is a fundamental switch we need to make. The reason I do not suppor…

The Deputy referred to moving away completely from the market system and going with the Spanish approach. As I said, the European Council is not taking that approach. However, this does not mean we should not look at the market rules and mechanisms to see whether there are ways in which we can move away from gas being the defining price setter. We will work with the Commission and the Council to look at whatever the options are. At the moment, the fact gas is accounting for such a large percentage of our generation…

I understand the development in question is heated by way of a local heating system, which is fuelled by natural gas. Gas and electricity retail markets in Ireland operate within a European regulatory regime, as we have just discussed, wherein those markets are commercial, liberalised and competitive. I am acutely aware of the impact current, internationally influenced, energy price increases are having on people and families. For that reason, the Government has introduced a series of measures to try to alleviate t…