Over the past number of years, different electricity suppliers entered the Irish market. One of them was Iberdrola, which acquired approximately 30,000 customers, mostly businesses, in Ireland. The company has since left the country voluntarily. It posted a profit of €1 billion in the first quarter of this year. I can provide an example of a business whose owners I have spoken with about Iberdrola. It is Black Donkey Brewery in Ballinlough. The company finished its previous electricity contract . To enter a new one…

When Iberdrola left Ireland, it did so voluntarily. It did not go bankrupt. It made a €1 billion profit in the first three months. Some companies have to take the hit in one place while they make money somewhere else. The Tánaiste said the CRU contacted Bord Gáis Energy and Electric Ireland. This company had a contract signed with Bord Gáis Energy and was told it could not use it. It had to go to Electric Ireland. Where is the process when there is supposed to be one month's written notice? Customers heard it in th…

It is my understanding that Roscommon County Council has issued a letter to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, asking him to take charge of all this, including appropriate assessments, environmental impact assessments, EIAs, and the screening out of works the courts sometimes did not recognise. It is also my understanding that the Minister of State is in the process of putting different agencies together. I want that confirmed. We need to know this. While we have to do EIAs, screenings out, appropriate assess…

We welcome the Minister of State's statement that he fully supports us and that he will try to resolve this situation. That said, while someone can support a team, winning the All-Ireland is a different matter. These people need a solution. They need dates and times as well as a clear pathway forward. First, they need a pathway for next winter because the pumps and so on will have to go, given that there will not be the various regulatory elements. Second, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport …

I support the motion. In the electricity sector, new companies came in such as Iberdrola. Up to last February, companies signed up with Iberdrola. All of a sudden, it decided it was leaving the market. Those who enter into a contract are supposed to honour it. Any person who enters into a building contract or whatever can be sued if they do not honour it. These seem to be able to walk about. In the first quarter of this year, that company made €1 billion profit. Where is the Government holding companies to account …

I concur with what Deputy Ó Cuív has said. We brought this issue up in the Dáil previously. We had a meeting with Department officials on it and I thank the Minister of State for that. On that day, we were told the Bill was basically going to be brought back or rewritten. There were obstacles but the officials said they had found ways around them and we were going to have it. That was my understanding. It was going to be gone through before the summer recess. I have looked at schedules and maybe I have missed somet…

What is happening? Will we have the Bill back before the summer recess in order that these people can be taken out of their misery?

There is a simple question the people who have been frustrated over the past three or four years and who want to do some good things for our country want to be answered. When I was going to school, "shortly" never meant a defined period of time. The simple question is whether the Minister will go with a memorandum to the Cabinet and whether we will have the Bill, whether that is the old one, a new Bill or some other Bill, before the summer recess in order that we can kick it into gear and get it sorted. That is all…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — as per the Dáil record, the Government is in the process of drafting regulations with respect to the sale and supply of solid fuels, which are due to be signed in September of this year; — the Government has confirmed that the proposed regulations will not be implemented this year; — as per the Dáil record, under the Government's proposed regulations people will not be permitted to place turf on the market for sale or distribution to others; — the Government has confirmed th…

There are a few things that were said by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and, indeed, by the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, that need to be corrected. They spoke about sod peat not being valuable for heat. In case the Minister of State does not know - he might not come from a turf or bog area - the fact is that approximately €600 heats one's house for the year. There is no way one can do that with oil or anything else. Turf is what people are able to use to heat their homes. That needs clarification. All …

I welcome the reduction in mineral oil tax by 3 cent per litre on marked gas oil. As the Association of Farm & Forestry Contractors in Ireland, FCI, has highlighted, we must ensure that enough green diesel is ring-fenced for the contractors, especially with silage season coming up. There is a concern about basically getting in crops or getting enough fodder for the winter. Even if it is through reserves, we must ensure that if things start getting tight, there is enough green diesel around to be able to look after …

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. I thank Deputy Kerrane and Sinn Féin for bringing it forward. One issue that must be recognised, as mentioned by Deputy Canney, is that in the case of many social housing developments, including, for example, in Tuam and in different parts of counties Galway and Roscommon, ranges and stoves are installed and people are getting €1,300 per year to heat those homes. The councils are not going to have the heating systems in all those properties changed by next September…

He needs to study up on this and work with people. He can get to where he wants to go but he must bring the people with him, not have them kicking against him.

I agree with the previous speaker that if the individual targets are not laid before the House one by one, it is totally undemocratic. If I go on a journey from my place to Dublin and check it on Google, it tells me where I will start and finish. We have not done the measurements in the line of anything in agriculture. We are at a default position. I met members of Teagasc and we looked at different figures. We do not know where we are going. We do not know what we are putting up at present so how do we know what w…

It is a wonder that the EPA does not know that with new vehicles it bought.

What is a committee? It is carrying out the orders of the Government, for God's sake.

The Minister will see with planning. He knows this country. We cannot take a drop of water in Roscommon two miles not to mind putting a wind turbine out on the sea. We are letting people drown in Roscommon and we are talking about building 200 m masts abroad in the sea. For God's sake.

First, to give the Minister of State a bit of background, this is an area of what one would call marginal land. Obviously, if there is a slide from bog, as the Minister of State knows because I know where he comes from and met him up in his own country, where there is bog, the land around it is marginal. These people are rearing families on small portions of land and in my opinion, they matter. In fairness, the Government and the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, set up an interagency group at the time. Man…

The Minister of State talked about 18 basic payment scheme applications. When one divides the number of hectares multiplied by 2.5 into the 18 applications, it shows how small the farms are and one sees how many people were affected by it. These people are trying to eke out a living, rear a family and do what people do in every other part of the country. I know the Minister is going to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform but as was highlighted earlier, when it was at his back door it was sorted in five …