This set of amendments features minor changes of a technical nature that my Department, with the assistance of the CRU, has assessed as being necessary to prevent the over-recovery of funds due to the unintended double-counting of moneys owed to the market cap fund. The issue of over-recovery only recently came to light during the consultation process the CRU carried out with industry. These amendments solve the problem in the methodology which resulted in double-counting. They are also drafted to ensure compliance…

Given the short period between the planned completion of the Bill through the Oireachtas and the requirement for there to be sufficient time for relevant parties to make returns and payments, it is prudent to amend the dates in these amendments by one calendar month, respectively. These amendments should therefore also reduce the risk of a future legal challenge.

The Deputy mentioned that he believed this might be the electricity credits Bill. He will be happy to hear that the President signed that legislation into law four days ago, so it is in operation. That involves the distribution of up to €1 billion of money to help people with their electricity bills through the winter. This Bill relates to putting a cap on the price electricity generation companies can charge for their electricity over a period in the past. This is to recapture excess profits that were made by the …

The electricity credits are not separate from this. They are funded by this legislation. In fact, the first payment, which will cost up to €300 million, will be made on 1 December. Anybody who is on a pay-as-you-go meter will see that on their bill immediately.

I have answered the question several times. On 1 December, a large payment will be made. Approximately €300 million will be put into people's electricity accounts. Everybody who has an electricity account and has a property that was not vacant for a year will receive money into their account. We have already passed one windfall Act which takes money from those involved in oil refinery or gas extraction. That Act has collected €167 million in revenue already. That money is being used to defray the costs of electrici…

The amendments in this group are minor technical amendments which have been identified to provide greater clarity and reduce uncertainty for stakeholders and for affected parties. Amendments Nos. 1, 3 and 15 result in moving the definition of "affiliated person" from section 14 of the Bill to section 1. There is also additional text provided, which results in a more comprehensive definition and provides greater clarity. Amendment No. 2 is a clarification that export-only suppliers are a particular case of generator…

I thank the Senators for tabling the amendment. The proceeds from the cap on market revenues will be retained by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, or they will be retained by EirGrid on its behalf and they will be used to support final electricity customers. This is in line with article 10 of the relevant regulation. Since the regulation is in force, the proceeds must be distributed in accordance with the regulation. Regarding reporting on the cap and market revenues and the proceeds gained, reportin…

Yes, it would be good to have a report on this. In fact, the European Commission has already commissioned a review of the market cap measures in other European jurisdictions. The view of the Government is that a duplication of that effort in this regard would be unnecessary. However, I am happy to share the contents of that report with Senators if they wish to read it. I do not propose to accept the amendment.

This Bill sets a cap on the market revenues of people generating electricity. It states that we are setting that at €120 per megawatt hour or 12 cent per kilowatt hour as a unit. What Senator Boylan is proposing is that we reduce the amount involved from €120 to €100. The path we are trying to tread here and the balance we are trying to strike is between making sure that we take a fair amount of money away from the electricity generators, in other words, removing money that they earned unfairly from the market duri…

The cap on market revenues will operate from 1 December 2022 until 30 June 2023. That is set out in the EU regulation, which states that a set of measures will be "urgent, temporary and exceptional". The regulation does not provide for the cap to extend to periods after this period. The Department received legal advice with regard to applying the cap beyond December 2022. This advised that where the State departs from the regulation, those aspects will be more vulnerable to legal challenge on the grounds of retrosp…

This set of amendments features minor changes of a technical nature which my Department, with the assistance of the CRU, has assessed are necessary to prevent the over-recovery of funds due to the unintended double-counting of moneys owed to the market cap fund. The issue of over-recovery only recently came to light during the consultation process the CRU carried out with industry. The amendments solve the problem in the methodology which resulted in double-counting. They are also drafted to ensure compliance with …

Given the short time period between the planned completion of the Bill through the Oireachtas and the requirement for there to be sufficient time for relevant parties to make returns and payments, it is prudent to amend the dates in these amendments by one calendar month respectively. These amendments should therefore also reduce the risk of future challenge.

I thank all Deputies and Senators for their work in passing this Bill. I particularly want to thank the officials in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications for the work they put in to carry this out. This Bill takes excessive money that was earned by electricity generators during a time of war and transfers it to electricity consumers who are finding it hard to pay their bills. It will be done in a targeted manner.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to address the House on the Energy Charter Treaty. I want to briefly address a comment from Deputy Whitmore who asked why our emissions are still going up. She will be glad to hear that they are falling. The authority on our level of greenhouse gas emissions is the EPA. It reported that our emissions fell 1.9% last year and that they have fallen 4.6% since pre-Covid times. Our emissions are falling and they are going to continue to fall this year as well. Deputy Whitmore also …

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for asking this question. I will answer it on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. The question relates to ambulance services in west Cork. As the Deputy will be aware, the NAS serves the west Cork region 24-7 through a highly skilled workforce of intermediate care operatives, paramedics and advanced paramedics. There is a fleet of modern emergency ambulances, intermediate care vehicles and rapid response vehicles. There are 12 ambulance bases covering the entire cou…

I thank the Deputy. I do not have the specific answer for him but I will ask the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to get him an answer on the question of an additional ambulance with eight staff located in Bantry. I thank him for acknowledging the success of the helicopter emergency service. He does recognise that this is not just about the number of ambulances providing a good emergency call-out service as the approach also involves considering how we can treat people before an ambulance arrives, particularly when such …

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of the recent flooding in north Louth and Dundalk. It is of both local and national importance. I appreciate and fully share the Deputy’s concern for the communities and businesses affected by last week’s flooding event. I am answering this question on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, but his Department has no function in regard to flood relief infrastructure. I have been informed by my colleagues in the OPW…

As the Deputy rightly identifies, the OPW is not the only agency or organ of State responsible for dealing with flooding. It does flood prevention works but Uisce Éireann is involved in making sure there is sufficient drainage, in particular for new housing, as the Deputy pointed out. We have a massive housing programme, so we needed a lot of investment in Uisce Éireann. That is why it was given €1.6 billion this year for investment purposes. When all else fails, there are compensation payments for businesses and i…

I thank the Senator for raising this question. I am here on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, who regrets that she cannot be present due to another commitment. I know she wants to provide some clarity on these issues. Construction of a purpose-built family law court complex at Hammond Lane is a key project in the national development plan, NDP. The Hammond Lane complex will be built with the specific needs of family law users in mind and will provide a modern facility where family law cases can be…

The Senator's first question was why the projects were decoupled earlier this year. I do not know the answer to that. I will ask the Minister to get the Senator an answer. I do not have specific information on that. The Senator generally felt that there was no information provided. Maybe she was already aware that the OPW is about to make its planning application in the coming weeks under Part 9, which is significant, and that it has already started the procurement process for its legal and technical services. That…