The Taoiseach comes from a family with a tradition of boxing. I believe he has a couple of years on me but, like myself, he will remember the greats of the 1970s and how they would manoeuvre their opponents onto the ropes and punish them with a seemingly never-ending barrage of body blows. Ordinary people are being punished with a seemingly never-ending barrage of financial body blows in the form of these price hikes from the energy companies. They suffer blow after blow after blow. This morning, there were two more. SSE Airtricity hiked its gas and electricity prices by 9% while Pinergy hiked its by 19%. These are the 34th and 35th energy price hikes, the 34th and 35th financial body blows from energy companies, in this year alone. For the ordinary householder, this is a hit of approximately €700 to €800 for the year. For many, it is over €1,000. For some, these price hikes represent a grave danger. Every winter, large numbers of our people die from the cold. Some years, it is 1,000 people. Sometimes, it is 1,500. It is not unknown for 2,000 people to die in this way. The excess winter death rate for this country is consistently one of the highest in all of Europe, higher even than the rate in many colder countries such as Norway. Those who die are far more likely to be old and to be poor. They do not really die of the cold but of fuel poverty and an inability to afford to heat their homes in Ireland in the 21st century.

What is the Taoiseach going to do about this? Is he going to stand idly by and watch the likes of the ESB make profits of €363 million in the first six months of this year alone while households struggle to make ends meet and old people die? To date, the Taoiseach has done very little. He has increased the fuel allowance by a miserable €5 and promised to consider reducing the VAT rate on gas and electricity from 13.5% to 12%, which would be a miserable cut. How long are his deliberations going to take? Today is the first day of December. The coldest months are on us now. The Taoiseach needs to act quickly. What is he going to do and when will he get around to doing it?

I thank the Deputy for raising the serious issue of rising gas prices and energy prices more generally. This is a problem across Europe and the globe. In anticipation of that, we increased the fuel allowance and brought in a set of social protection measures in the budget that are designed to help people deal with this issue. I said "help" because it does not cover it in its entirety. We have also introduced a taxation package. The social protection package comes to approximately €550 million and the taxation package comes to in and around €520 million. This gives extra disposable income to people to deal with this issue. We are also looking at other measures and ascertaining whether we can do more to reduce household bills, particularly household energy and electricity bills. We recognise that this is very challenging for many families. The budget was designed around helping people with the cost of living. The European Central Bank is clear that it is still holding to the view that this is a temporary spike in energy prices and that prices will reduce in the first half of 2022.

With regard to VAT, as I have illustrated before, we are not in a position to reduce VAT to 0% or anything like that, as has been suggested. It just cannot be done because of the decisions we have already taken to opt for a lower rate of VAT on energy more generally. Under European Union rules, our reduced rate of VAT, 13.5%, on energy cannot be reduced below 12%. If we were to attempt to reduce the rate to, for example, 9% for a few months, the rate would revert to the standard rate of 23% afterwards because we got a derogation a long time ago in respect of the lower rate. I know other parties have suggested that we go back to 0% but I have been informed we simply cannot under the EU frameworks we operate under with regard to VAT. However, we are looking at other ways to see if we can reduce the impact of these current increases in energy prices on household bills.

When older people are freezing in their homes this winter, will the Taoiseach knock on the door and tell them that it is all right because the European Central Bank says the spike is only temporary? He should get real. There is a need for action. He has said that this is a Europe-wide crisis and it is. Is the Taoiseach aware of the fact that, under massive pressure from their populations, the Governments of Spain, Greece and, I think, Italy have implemented far-ranging measures to alleviate the pressures on households? The Taoiseach went through what he has done but only mentioned one real concrete measure, that is, the €5 on the fuel allowance. I will tell him a few things he could do. He could bring in a top maximum unit rate for gas and electricity. He could increase the fuel allowance by €15 a week. He could make that allowance more available. He could scrap the carbon tax or at least stop the hikes for this year. He could refund people the money raised by the State through taxes on electricity and gas bills. Last but not least, he could take the energy industry into public ownership. He could allow the ESB to operate on a not-for-profit basis and organise it on the basis of people's needs rather than profits. There is a number of things the Taoiseach could do. What is he going to do and when?

We have already taken measures, which the Deputy has dismissed. We have increased the eligibility threshold for the fuel allowance which will be retrospective to budget day. We have also brought in a tax package that will help those who earn more than those income thresholds and who are working. This will make a contribution towards dealing with the current wave of energy costs. We are looking at further measures to see if we can reduce the impact on household bills. I do not believe in the Deputy's idea regarding the ESB. The ESB has historically been one of our most effective and successful semi-State bodies in respect of developing infrastructure and so on. The Deputy's proposals could actually make things worse over time.

Crucially, as well, regarding investment in retrofitting, which is a major item on the agenda of this Government, that will ultimately provide for a far more sustainable and low-cost energy environment for many homeowners in future. We have already retrofitted a significant number of homes in the Deputy's constituency, as he will know, and we can see at first hand the impact that has on energy bills, for people on lower incomes in particular. That aspect should be acknowledged.