Pa Daly
Kerry · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I thank the Minister of State for coming in to deal with this issue when other colleagues were not available. She will be able to bring her experience of this area to this debate. I am slightly caught for time, so I will try to parse it a little bit. I wish to ask the Minister of State about the harmful content on social media platforms.”
“While we know violence against women is a crisis and femicide in Ireland is a crisis, it is overwhelmingly men who carry out these acts. These are men of all cultures, races and ethnicities. However, social media giants have a responsibility and are clearly not stepping up to the plate. They are not complying with their obligations.”
“The Digital Services Act was introduced. It was to ensure a safe, predictable and trusted online environment and to prioritise greater activity and online safety. There is the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 to protect children and the public from harmful and illegal content. There is a danger.”
“We are running over time but I will make one more point. If, as it provides in the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act, we are to protect children and adults from online conduct, how does it look as an example to younger people in particular when this content is still allowed to be there?”
“Somebody even said that they hope these comments are not going to be deleted to suit one's ideology, which they misspelt. That is the kind of narrative that is going on. They are mocking her beliefs and her. It is similar to what is being investigated by the police in Britain.”
“Bhíos ag caint le healaíontóir i gCiarraí níos luaithe um thráthnóna. Labhair sé liom mar gheall ar na mothúcháin a bhaineann le AI. Dúirt sé liom it could help to generate ideas, layouts and content more quickly, leaving more time to focus on strategy and working with clients.”
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“Recent reports have stated Government measures will not be sufficient to reduce emissions in order to meet our national and EU climate targets and obligations. What measures is the Minister taking to address this?”
“The energy credits were supposed to be just a temporary measure while the structural failures were being sorted out. It is not just Sinn Féin or other Opposition parties saying this. The International Energy Agency, IEA, has queried and called into question the huge gap between the retail price and the wholesale energy costs here. Even the Taoiseach himself has admitted that price gouging is going on. We have the biggest gap in the world and it costs three times more to buy energy here than it does to produce it. The ESRI agrees with us. It highlights that wholesale prices have fallen much more slowly here than in other European countries. I see what the Minister said about the VAT rate, the network charges and the other levies but it seems that nothing is being done to address this situation.”
“Some progress is being made in offshore renewables but there is no State investment in it and we are way behind with it. Even one of the Government’s own Ministers said it had been sitting on its hands and navel-gazing about offshore wind for many years.”
“He did not, however, refer to the possibility of allocating energy credits, which we said would have been a temporary measure. The energy regulator warned that the withdrawal of these credits would lead to a spike in arrears, and that is exactly what happened. Is the Minister going to consider reintroducing energy credits as a temporary measure as part of budget 2027, given our prices are so high?”
“The Minister said, and we all agree, that energy bills are too high, whether we have the highest, the second highest or the fourth highest costs. We all know that energy companies are, of course, going to raise their bills year-on-year. They have an obligation to shareholders, and they want to make a profit not only this year but an increased profit next year and the year afterwards. The question is: when the Minister is going to step in and tell them that enough is enough? I ask this because there is a lack of progress here. Energy suppliers had a recent spate of price hikes. One company raised its prices twice last summer. Once again, however, the Minister points to the insufficient measures, I think, contained in budget 2026.”
“The Minister knows we have the highest electricity bills in Europe. Families are struggling with increased costs year-on-year. The Government is continuing to preside over a system where costs are driven up by poor planning, over-reliance on imported gas and an energy model that prioritises the large corporate demand, particularly from data centres, over ordinary customers. Can the Minister explain why we are paying so much, what the Government has done that allows infrastructure and policy failures to push up the prices and what reliefs it is going to provide now? I ask the Minister not to say, "the task force".”
“Despite these warnings, not enough is being done to ensure security of supply so that no matter what the circumstances homes will be heated, hospitals will operate, businesses can function and energy bills are not driven sky-high, as they have been over the last number of years. We have seen that instead of securing supply first and managing demand, the Government is allowing demand, particularly from these centres, to dictate the system, and this is the imbalance that is happening.”
“I thank the Minister for the reply but one of the consequences is in relation to our energy security. This is not a theoretical difficulty any more. When the system is pushed to its limits the risk is not that abstract. What we have, and we have seen this already, are blackouts, supply disruption and emergency measures. This is what happens when a grid is under strain. EirGrid has been warning about it for years. The Secretary General warned of the dangers of the approach and said that we need to choose between housing and AI. Officials in the Department of public expenditure warned that data centres are pushing up household bills.”
“We have been warning about this for years. Housing developments are being delayed, energy bills are being driven up and blackouts are on the cards. Does the Minister have any plan to insist on a prioritisation framework?”
“I agree that data centres are necessary in this country but it is a question of planning appropriately for what is there. The European Commission has already set out a clear pathway for a grid prioritisation framework, putting the public need, system readiness and climate obligations at the centre of decision-making. Here in Ireland we have an open season policy of first come, first served regardless of who benefits. Who is inevitably benefiting? It is the larger corporate and AI users of data centres. This is why the UN calls it a cautionary example. What does it mean for ordinary people, families and small businesses? They are forced to compete for electricity capacity in their own country and county, when a small number of large-scale operators are effectively being waved through without the prioritisation strategy that is necessary.”
“The United Nations is citing Ireland as a cautionary example of what happens when Government policy fails to keep pace with the explosive energy demand from data centres and AI. We are not leaders or an example for the rest of the world but a warning. This did not happen overnight. It is a result of political choices, the lack of a framework and the lack of a plan. What is the Minister's grip on this? Does he have any plans to deal with the mounting criticisms of our approach to data centres?”
“Will the Minister review where people appear more than five or six times, because there could be a scenario where someone represents someone eight, nine or even ten times, then the client changes solicitor, and the new solicitor could get paid for one appearance and the person who has been there eight or nine times is not paid at all? There will be learnings from it. From the family law courts, just learn that the number of people representing has gone down. Just like in family law, where it is important that people receive representation and there is access to justice, it is the same with criminal law cases.”
“On the family law section, I want to raise one issue with the Minister. I was the beneficiary of the criminal legal aid scheme for many years. Concerns have been expressed by people who are on the scheme. As the Minister knows, a flat fee payment is coming in from 1 July and people will only be paid at the very end, when a case finishes in court. If people appear once or if they appear 20 times, they will only be paid at the very end. There are scenarios, particularly for vulnerable people, children, and people who do not have English as a first language, where the cases go on and on, sometimes appearing 12, 15 or 20 times, and those representing them are only paid once. We saw with the family law courts, in Kerry, for example, that there are only three or four solicitors left on the scheme after the introduction of a flat fee.”
“It was backed by the Irish people because it was central to convincing the electorate in the Nice II and Lisbon II referendums in that it was mentioned that it was a guarantee of neutrality. Therefore, claims of frequently vetoing or that there will be no more peacekeeping do not stand up. How many times this century has there been a block put on as a result of the veto being there? Contrary to the Minister's partners in government's plans to reform, they clearly want to abolish the triple lock.”
“Whatever about what was said when the triple lock was introduced, it is clear that there is great concern about it and 40% of the questions tonight, including the next question, are in relation to the triple lock. I want the Minister to outline the proposals she has to remove it. When will we see the Bill? I know the Minister has abandoned the plans for a citizens' assembly but is there a timeline? I presume there is not going to be a referendum. The Minister has no plans, certainly, for a referendum. I look around my own town and see the statues and various monuments to Crimea, the Boer War, the western front and Gallipoli. The Minister would surely agree that the triple lock has served us well.”
“People are killed queuing for food. Journalists are attacked and killed. Negotiators and peacemakers are killed. There is a hideous thing to be righted. We must show our detestation of the crime that is being committed. While a strike or a boycott might cost us much, what we might lose in points, penalties or fines, we will gain in self-respect and human dignity. The Minister of State must listen to the voices of supporters, read between the lines, listen to the players, listen to the voice of Hind Rajab and stop this game.”
“In January 2024, five-year-old Hind Rajab was trapped in a car alongside her aunt, uncle and four cousins who had all been shot and killed by the Israel Defense Forces, IDF. She spent five terrifying hours on the phone with rescue dispatchers pleading and begging for her life. Paramedics were killed when they tried to help. Eventually, of course, we know that she too was murdered by the IDF who later said that their troops were not within shooting range. No outcome of any investigation was ever published. Her body was recovered two weeks later. There is no accountability in Israel and there are no consequences for its enablers. We cannot continue business as usual with Israel. Suffering and trauma continues in Gaza and the West Bank. My town of Tralee is twinned with a town in the West Bank, Beit Sahour.”
“If the Minister of State was the manager of an under-16 team and the manager of the other team called or made a racist comment about one of his players, what would he do? He would take his team off the pitch and he would tell the other team to get their act together before he would recommence. If someone stole the land of another and dispossessed them in their thousands, deliberately starved another nation, rained artillery upon them, shot footballers in the foot, used pitches as detention centres, shot 114 children in the head with single bullets, and justified this with a concept of self-defence that is unknown to jurisprudence and that would be ridiculous if it was not so unjust and enraging, would the Minister of State compromise his players and himself by continuing to play against this team? I do not think so.”
“It has the facilities but parents are very anxious that it has not been approved for a second class. I ask the Tánaiste to look at this and see what he can do to facilitate it.”
“Ballyduff National School has been serving the community since 1839 and has been in the current building for the past 60 years. There are currently 96 pupils attending. It has had an autism class for the past few years with six pupils, and that is full, but there are five other children who are currently struggling to access the curriculum because they do not have the supports that would be there from an autism class. There are five qualified children and two awaiting assessment. There will be an ongoing need into the future. They have a room and the changing facilities. All the resources are in place to do this and all the children, I am sure the Tánaiste will agree, should have the right to be educated locally in their own community. There is a want and a need. The school is ready, willing and able to provide it.”
“We need legislation that is complete, but there must be enough resourcing and sufficient numbers of people employed to ensure that the proposals in the Bill take effect and the system can run as well as it ought. The bottom line is public safety. People need to have confidence. The 12,000 households dependent on LNG and the 600,000 households using natural gas are finding it difficult to transition to any other sources of heat. We need to make sure their lives are not put at risk because if these systems fail or are unsafe, unfortunately, as we have seen, lives can be put at risk. We need strong legislation and robust regulation. We have to get it right. We support the Bill because, while it is not the perfect solution, it is a step in the right direction. We can deal with the amendments later.”
“Some installers have a question about the consultation process and the level of public consultation with catering companies, the restaurant sector and hotels. I understand the public consultation has not been published. They feel the criteria document should have included changes to the registration process procedures and new entrant categories and established a dedicated body to manage updates. There is also a question about electronic gas certification. Again, that is not necessarily relevant to the Bill. We would welcome any progress on electronic gas certification when the system is up and running. Many thousands of households depend on gas. Of course, a lot of them are in arrears due to the cost of living crisis and supports have been ripped away.”
“The Minister of State might have a word with his colleague, the Minister for justice, about a public inquiry into what happened, pending, of course, what is coming from the DPP. For a decade we have had promises from the CRU for non-domestic gas regulation. Deadlines were missed and now this Bill is going through. As I said, it is not perfect. The installer representative panels have advocated for gas installers. They have to engage with the CRU and the gas safety supervisory body, GSSB, to resolve any challenges around the State. The panel opposed proposals on non-domestic gas installation in 2023 and 2024 and, as I said, deadlines were missed. The CRU then revised the criteria document.”
“We will be supporting the Bill. Notwithstanding that, however, there is the issue of funding with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU. There are some concerns on a broader level. This is more, as they say, upstream. Regulation is to be in place, I understand, for 1 September for non-domestic gas, and roll-out plans, preparation and training, making sure that people who are qualified will be in place. There is a suspicion that pre-Creeslough we knew that the installation practices for third-party meters, who meter the State's LPG, needed to be revised. These new proposals are, of course, necessary. I have spoken to some of the Creeslough families. The DPP will take a decision. There is a suspicion, subject to any further investigation, that it may have been the result of a gas explosion. I renew the calls on that issue.”
“While the Government talks about balanced regional development, the reality is that the situation regarding infrastructure has left places in certain areas of the country, including Kerry, at serious disadvantage when it comes to jobs, infrastructure and quality of life. This Bill matters, but it also involves risk. We need more public transport infrastructure, but expanding into Cork, Limerick and Galway must not mean repeating the same errors on a wider scale.”
“I listened earlier to the debate about the temporary rail platform being constructed in Adare. Nothing permanent is being put in place in Adare in order to expand the rail system on the newly completed track to Foynes. There have been decades of underinvestment and neglect. Rail accounts for less than 3% of Ireland’s transport infrastructure, far below the European average of 8%. Only 3% of the rail lines are electrified compared with the majority in EU systems, and no high-speed rail infrastructure exists. A total of 77% of lines are single track, limiting frequency and capacity. Despite all of the money spent – including sums of €269 million, €40 million and €50 million - people still cannot get a cup of coffee on the Tralee to Dublin train on the direct line.”
“For some reason, it appears that some areas are able to erect bus stops without an awful lot of bureaucracy, but that is not the case in every area. The OECD agrees that some systems were structurally designed primarily to accommodate cars. A total of 76% of people rely primarily on cars, which is one of the highest rates in the EU. Some 58% of short journeys of less than 2 km are still made by car because there is no viable alternative. The OECD said that Ireland’s transport system is structurally designed to primarily accommodate cars. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have treated public transport as an afterthought. Throughout the country, there are patchy and infrequent services, limited rail connectivity and entire communities effectively cut off from reliable public transport. None of this is a coincidence.”
“There are 130 electric buses worth over €40 million that have been sitting idle for years because they were purchased before the necessary charging infrastructure was put in place. That is bad planning. The Government has consistently been unable to deliver. These failures are not just in Dublin; they are felt all over the country. I asked some of our local councillors in rural Ireland about the deficits in public transport infrastructure. I discovered that there are still no bus shelters in Lixnaw or near the old Tralee town council building on Princes Quay. There is still no bus stop on the Bracker O’Regan Road either. There seems to be an inconsistency of delivery across various local authorities.”
“The transformation of Ireland’s public transport infrastructure is badly needed. There is no doubt about that, but what occurred during parts of the roll-out of BusConnects does not reflect how to build public confidence in public transport. What happened is part of a wider pattern of announcements without delivery, ambition without execution and spending without control. We have seen massive overruns across project after project. Nearly €500 million has been spent on MetroLink before a shovel has gone into the ground and €50 million was written off in the context of a failed rail IT system. The cost for contactless payments has already spiralled to €269 million.”
“The ambassador is very welcome. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation but I do so with a clear warning. Expanding the remit of the NTA cannot mean exporting the same mistakes we have seen in Dublin to the rest of the country. BusConnects promised badly needed transformation, better routes, more frequent services and a modern system but in many cases, this is a far cry from what was actually delivered. Like most projects delivered by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, it was marked by delays, spiralling costs and community frustration. Originally envisaged at about €1 billion, costs ballooned to as much as €4.2 billion. Time deadlines slipped, often local communities felt ignored and in some cases people were left facing longer journey times with fewer services and some uncertainty.”
“I am talking about local and regional roads, such as Knocknacaska outside Kilflynn, where there has been a solar farm proposed. Despite all the great work it is doing, the council is playing catch-up. It is galling for people in Kerry to look at the nearly €500 million spent on MetroLink without a sod being turned and they cannot get to school, work or their businesses without going over potholed roads.”
“I thank the Minister for the reply. I will give some background and context on this. I am glad he mentioned local and regional roads because there were many announcements from certain Deputies in County Kerry that there was increased roads funding for the county but the local and regional roads funding was actually slashed by €2 million. Villages like Ballyduff, Fenit, Abbeydorney and Glenbeigh have no wastewater infrastructure. There is basically an Imhoff tank, or a hole in the ground, where the sewage is going into and they cannot develop in those areas. Inflation has surged costs for the materials, labour and fuel, in addition to all of the heavy rainfall from climate change, which is digging into roads and making the roads that have been repaired in need of patching.”
“I thank the Minister. The difficulty and the reason Kerry should be treated as more of an exception than other counties, such as the midland counties, is that there are 580 roads in the scheme for the county. I appreciate 37 were done last year but if we do the maths on that, we are talking the best part of 20 years. A lot of the people who are contacting me from places like Ballinglanna near Causeway, Tiershanaghan, Ballyheigue, Kilgulbin, Ardfert, Ballyconry near Ballyduff and Dromid in south Kerry will be drawing their pension, if they are lucky, by the time these roads are addressed. I appreciate there has been funding since 2017 but the problem with that is the list was closed in 2018 because there were so many roads in Kerry on it and it has not been opened for the past eight years.”
“I want to ask the Minister about the LIS funding scheme, in particular relating to County Kerry. A significant number of roads are on the list. While I appreciate Kerry County Council is doing the best it can, it is only able to address a limited number per year.”
“We need to know that when cyclists, drivers or pedestrians take to our roads or footpaths, they will get home safely. We need a plan that is detailed, legally robust, properly resourced and ready to deliver, but we also need more gardaí and more visibility. Everybody knows that when there is more visibility on the streets, the number of public order offences decrease. There needs to be more visibility at the times of day that road traffic fatalities and serious injuries actually occur, which is late at night and on country roads.”
“Better road design is particularly important at a time when we are dealing with an increased number of cyclists being killed or seriously injured on our roads. Without these measures, the impact of the strategy will be limited. We must recognise that fatalities are only part of the story. The number of serious injuries may be significantly under-reported. Between 2020 and 2024, over 11,000 people were hospitalised compared to only 7,400 recorded by gardaí. This is the true cost. There is a question over the data that are there. The context is a rising death toll, a worsening European situation and a system under strain, and what we have is a document that gives rise to more questions than it answers. We do not want more frameworks.”
“That is not good enough. Against that backdrop, what confidence can the public have that this expanded system will actually be enforced? There is also a real risk that increased automation will overwhelm the under-resourced, underfunded system by overloading the fixed charge notice process and creating backlogs of appeals. This is not just about cameras; it is also about capacity, and capacity is already overstretched. Even if all of that were resolved, we must ask another question. Is enforcement alone enough? The answer is "No". The transport committee has repeatedly heard that cameras are effective, but only as part of a broader approach that includes better road design and stronger policing.”
“That report not only made it clear that roads policing was under-resourced and ineffective but also that there are other issues. It is important to note that the collapse in roads policing has occurred as the scope and scale of the responsibilities have increased. We have more cars, heavier traffic and more complex road risks than ever before, yet the number of gardaí expected to do the work to address this has decreased. We are not going to deliver safer roads with fewer gardaí, fewer Garda vehicles and limited technology. For example, gardaí had to wait seven years to access the roads policing mobility app, which includes vital information such as motorist penalty points and court disqualifications. They are still awaiting access to further information, including driving licence photographs and people's signatures.”
“There are 40 fewer vehicles tied to traffic units compared with that time. Most crucially, in 2007 - and this is a very interesting statistic - there were over 20,000 checks at the side of the road in respect of people driving under the influence. Last year, there were fewer than 5,000 such checks, which represents a 75% reduction. We also heard from Dr. Sheila Gilheany from Alcohol Action Ireland at the Joint Committee on Transport's meeting this morning. She stated that alcohol is factor in 35% of deaths on Irish roads. In places like Australia, the number stands at 14%. The answers are obvious, because we are not tackling this matter in the way we did back in 2007. The number of stops and checks is in free fall. In the context of the gardaí we do have, there are serious issues as well, which we saw outlined in the Crowe report.”
“Under the strategy, responsibilities are divided between TII, An Garda Síochána and the NTA. That may look like collaboration, but where is the accountability and is there a possibility of duplication or bureaucratic inefficiency? We cannot ignore the reality of our current enforcement system. Under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, roads policing has collapsed. This matter was dealt with by the Joint Committee on Transport this morning. There are 400 fewer gardaí working in road traffic than there were 15 years ago, according to PARC Road Safety Group. The latter stated that in 2009, there were 1,046 members of what was then known as the Garda traffic corps. By December 2025, the number of personnel had fallen to 647. In some regions, the number of gardaí involved in road policing has halved since 2009.”
“When we examine the details, the shortcomings are obvious. There are no clear timelines for roll-out, no measurable targets, no KPIs and no cost-benefit analysis. In other words, there is no way for this House or the public to hold the Government to account for its delivery. Of more concern is the failure to address fundamental legal questions. The strategy acknowledges and effectively sets aside critical issues around data protection, enforcement powers and evidential standards. These go to the very heart of whether the system can function and ignoring them will not make them go away. It will simply create the conditions for delay, legal challenge and possible failure down the line. We also have a model here that could lead to unnecessary complexity and confusion.”
“International evidence shows they reduce collisions and serious injuries but the reality is that this is not a fully-fledged strategy. At the moment, it is a framework and is not ready for delivery. That matters because we are in the middle of a road safety emergency. I have said how many people lost their lives on Irish roads last year. It was the highest figure in a decade and nine of those were in my county. Deaths across the European Union fell by 3% but fatalities here rose by 7%. Since 2019, the divergence is even more stark. Since then, road deaths in Ireland have increased by 31% but across the EU they are down by 15%. Europe is saving lives but Ireland is going backwards. When the Government asks us to support the strategy, we must ask whether this a serious effort or whether a serious effort been made to date.”
“Every day we step out into a world of movement with cars rushing to work, cyclists weaving through traffic and pedestrians crossing streets in hope and in trust. The road connects us but too often it has become a place of tragedy, a tragedy that is preventable. In the Twenty-six Counties there were 190 deaths last year. With the proper infrastructure, enforcement and resources, we can save lives but the Government has failed on three fronts. The National Safety Camera Strategy represents an opportunity to rectify the mistakes of the past but I fear that it may fall far short. Everybody wants to improve road safety and prevent tragedy on our roads but what is being presented here simply does not meet the urgency of the crisis we face. Let me be clear: the automated enforcement cameras can play a role in saving lives.”
“The new alliance between Deputy O'Connor and the Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, whereby they are tapping each other on the back, is unfortunately distracting from the main issues. We need a windfall tax. We need transparency and we need the CRU to be revamped.”
“We are way behind on the onshore guidelines, and it is no wonder that one of its own Ministers said in an interview that the Government has been sitting on its hands and navel gazing about offshore wind. It has been way behind, and nothing has been done even in relation to the energy cloud. In the course of the debate, the Minister for State mentioned the disconnection moratorium but there are many people who are on prepay or pay-as-you-go plans. In effect, there is a disconnection policy in place for all of those people. The problem is that we do not have statistics or the data. We need the CRU to be revamped. The Minister of State referred to the energy credits which were in place in the months running up the last election and then stripped away.”
“That has been the problem to date because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are continuing to act like workers and families are in a position to wait until next year's budget, but they are not able to wait that long. The Government may say that there is a review in place or that a review has been completed, and we have to wait for the energy affordability task force, which was established about a year ago but still has not recommended any reforms. Unfortunately, people do not have the luxury of waiting around for that. I have listened to what has been said. Unfortunately, the Government is way behind with the retrofitting grants. EV-charging infrastructure and EV cars are weighted too much in favour of the wealthy. It is not fair. We are way behind on offshore wind.”
“This all goes back to the fact that Ireland once had the lowest electricity prices in the EU. We now have the highest. Successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments have presided over this change, did nothing to stop it and in fact reinforced the system that caused it. I thank all of the other speakers of the Opposition, maybe bar one, who agreed with many of the merits in this Bill and who are calling for more transparency. We agree with their calls for more transparency, more public trust and more power for the CRU. We agree on many of the issues. Indeed, we agree with some of what the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, said earlier on. He acknowledges the problems and accepts that extra powers are needed for the CRU to be revamped. Where we disagree, however, is where the Minister said that this is premature.”
“They consume massive amounts of electricity, drive demand and place massive strain on our grid, but who foots the bill? Ordinary workers and families. Households are paying a whopping six to eight times more in network charges than data centres and double the unit price. What did Eurostat identify as the leading factor in Ireland's extortionate energy costs? The same network charges. I will come back to the rest of it later on.”
“We are calling for the reintroduction of energy credits to give families breathing space now, while we fix the deeper structural problems that have left Ireland with some of the highest energy costs in Europe. We want to reduce prices for the long term but, to do that, we need to address the fundamental flaws at the heart of our energy markets. Our proposals here would strengthen the oversight of energy companies' pricing and hedging practices, allow the regulator to investigate and sanction anti-competitive behaviour and increase transparency by requiring companies to provide detailed pricing data and make energy affordability a central priority, not an afterthought. For too long, energy companies have operated without meaningful scrutiny. Take the Government's approach to data centres.”
“Meanwhile, energy giants are posting enormous profits, driven by crisis, war and instability. It is not just wrong; it is indefensible. This is not inevitable. There are solutions. This can be fixed by political decisions, but just requires the will so to do. In Sinn Féin we believe in transparency, fairness and an energy system that delivers for the public good rather than corporate profit. If companies are not profiteering or price-gouging, they should put their money where their mouth is and prove it. They should be held to account. That is why we are bringing forward legislation which is practical and contains common-sense measures to give the energy regulator more teeth to hold the companies to account. Energy credits are essential as an interim measure because we need immediate action.”