People Before Profit is asking the Government to declare an emergency in the cost of living. The Government declared an emergency in relation to Covid-19 and brought in emergency measures. It has effectively declared an emergency in relation to Ukraine and brought in emergency measures. It is long past time that it accepts there is an emergency in the cost of living and introduces immediately - not in October - a package of measures to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis that will potentially drive tens of thousands of people in this country into poverty.

There are so many aspects to the cost-of-living crisis that I do not have time to go through them all, but let us look at two that are most basic. To live, people need to be able to heat their homes and they need to be able to afford a roof over their heads. On the first count, yesterday, hundreds of thousands of people were dealt yet another hammer blow with the decision of the ESB, a State-owned company, to increase electricity and gas prices by 24% and 25%, respectively. This is a huge increase, averaging an additional €400 to €500 for its customers over the next year. This follows fast on the heels of Bord Gáis Energy price increases of approximately €690 to €700 per year, just this year. Prior to that, Energia announced a €426 increase this year, on top of average increases in energy costs last year of 27%.

We must remember these increases have not hit yet. People are already reeling from the increases last year but these additional increases have yet to hit. They are going to hit in April and May. How the hell are 470,000 people who are in danger of energy poverty, according to official Government figures, going to cope? The answer is they simply cannot. These increases are by energy companies who have all seen record increases in their profits. In the case of the ESB, profits were up to €679 million and this is the third year they have increased.

Let us look at the housing crisis, the other basic one. We are now back up to almost 10,000 families in homeless accommodation, including more than 2,000 children, because rents have gone through the roof. The Government refuses to control rents, so while the real estate investment trusts, REITs, vulture funds and landlords are seeing record increases in profits, thousands of people are being forced into homeless accommodation. The latest Parliamentary Budget Office, PBO, figures indicate that 138,000 people are in social housing need and it is getting worse.

Will the Government declare an emergency in the cost of living and introduce an emergency package of measures to deal with the cost of living? Crucially, will the Government finally use powers to control the cost of energy and bring in rent controls to make rents affordable?

The two issues are connected. The cost-of-living crisis is driven by the war.

Does Deputy Paul Murphy disagree?

Yes. The housing crisis already existed. The housing crisis was not caused by the war.

If I can just make the point I want to make-----

Ukraine is not an excuse for everything.

No, but it is.

What has happened with energy prices is fundamental to the cost-of-living increases. There is a real connection. It is not just about energy; there is also the potential increase in the cost of food. There are other reasons, including supply chain issues coming out of Covid, but the war in Ukraine and what Russia is doing is central to the cost-of-living issue.

I make that point because I believe that, in addressing the cost-of-living issue and the housing crisis, we need to use this moment of real emergency to effect change in both to help address both. When we are addressing the housing crisis, we now also have to house some 700 people coming into the country per day. We have to give sanctuary to them, quite correctly, like every other country in the EU. Can we do that in ways that really double down and accelerate what we need to do for our own people anyway? I refer to tackling vacant sites, opening up new rental streams and building really quickly. Can we use this emergency to provide solutions that are not just good for the Ukrainian families we have to help and protect but also for Irish families? I believe that we can do so. In a moment of emergency like this, we have to act fast and we have to be bold. The solutions for the Ukrainian refugee issue will help us domestically as well and that is what we should aim to do.

Similarly, when it comes to the cost of living, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and going all out in terms of what we already know we need to do for the climate transition, including retrofitting, reforming the market, incentivising people to make the switch, pushing sustainable mobility and pushing a different type of agriculture that means we are not spending so much on fertilisers, all make sense.

In that way, we can stop giving money to Mr. Putin's government and start keeping it here at home. We can also achieve two objectives, to address the cost of living and the war challenges, and that is what this Government is going to do.

First, energy costs went up 27% last year, before the Ukraine crisis. The Minister cannot hide behind the Ukraine crisis and use it as an excuse. He absolutely failed to address the fact that while ordinary householders, many of them pensioners and people on low incomes - ordinary working people - are crippled by these hikes in prices, all of the energy companies are seeing record profits. Similarly, rents are up by 10% in Dublin and by 20% in other parts of the country while all of the REITS, vulture funds and landlords are seeing increases in their profits but the Government will not control their profits. It is okay to land the costs on those who can least afford them, on working people, pensioners and those on low incomes, but the Government will not touch the profits of those who are making money out of this crisis. That is the elephant in the room.

The Minister cannot hide behind Ukraine. Of course we want solidarity with the Ukrainian people, but simultaneously we need to solve the housing crisis and control the cost of living. Why will the Government not take the empty houses from the vulture funds, REITs and speculators who are sitting on them?

Why did energy prices go up by 27% last year, before the war? Why?

Profiteering.

Profiteering by Mr. Putin. One of the main reasons-----

We do not get our energy from Russia.

One of the main reasons the prices went up is that he started reducing-----

What is the Minister talking about?

I am trying to answer the question. One of the main reasons is that Mr. Putin started reducing the flow of gas into Europe and started raising Gazprom stocks in Russia. At this moment in time, gas stocks in Europe are at about 25% capacity-----

Wind electricity prices are going up too.

-----while Russian gas stocks are at full capacity. That lack of gas supply pushed up the price of gas which also pushed up the price of electricity. That is a fact. That is the reality and is something we should be honest about and aware of.

It is because the market said so.

The market said so because we buy so much gas. We made a mistake in Europe by putting ourselves in a position that made us vulnerable to that threat. It has taken a war for us to wake up and be wise to that, and now we have to reduce our risk by reducing the use of those fuels. That is our key response and that is what we have to focus on.

So pensioners should turn off their heating.