I add my voice to those wishing Teresa, Noel and Liam well. I have the privilege of representing two of them, so I pass on particularly good wishes to them.

I welcome the offsetting measures the Tánaiste has indicated in the context of the May increase in carbon tax. I ask him to look at other measures that could be implemented far more effectively than the bogus and unsustainable zero VAT rate that has been called for. The measures are sustainable and entirely consistent with our climate obligations. One example I ask him to consider is obliging all utilities to give consumers timely notice of upcoming opportunities to switch, as well as including a QR code on all bills to make it easy to make comparisons and see exactly how one's personal situation could be delivered more cheaply. In addition, there should be a curb on so-called dropped calls. More than 50% of calls from people trying to make changes to their arrangements fall away because there is simply no one to answer the calls.

We are examining some of those options at the moment, both in terms of putting people on preferential tariffs, doing what the Deputy suggested in respect of switching, and the move to time-of-day pricing. The truth is energy prices will go up and down in the course of the coming couple of years. The thing that can be most helpful to people are the kind of sustainable solutions he mentioned - making sure people get proper notice of increases, making sure they know how to switch and making it easy to do so. Many people do not switch and, therefore, do not get the best value. We are also considering moving to things like an auto-enrol opt-out system for time-of-day pricing, which can help to bring down bills by a lot.