First, on behalf of the Labour Party I extend a welcome to the British ambassador, who is here, and I extend our condolences to the British people and to all those on this island who have been impacted by the sad loss of their Head of State. I also note the very positive contribution their queen made to relations between Britain and Ireland on her visit here, not just to Cork but also to Dublin and other parts of the country in 2011. We all remember that visit with great affection. I pay tribute again to the contribution that state visit alone made to improving relations between our islands.

As the Dáil and Seanad resume today, we face into a bleak winter with dark clouds gathering on the horizon, and I think all of us are very conscious of that, as we see energy bills increasing dramatically for so many struggling households and families. Households are facing the dreadful prospect of energy bills that could reach €6,000 per annum next year.

Small businesses are telling us that their energy bills are now as much as their rent and it is like paying a second rent for many SMEs. People and small business owners are really scared. They are facing into this very frightening period ahead, and they want to see some certainty, security and reassurance and also a sense of urgency from this Government. There is one way in which we believe the Government can and should act with greater urgency. We want to see a really clear signal that the exorbitant profits being made by energy companies will be targeted, and that we are not going to see those take precedence over the real prospect of energy poverty for so many households, families and businesses. We know that many of our EU partners have already taken action on energy bills. We know that in the budget to be published in the coming weeks, it will mean the difference for so many families between being able to get by or having to choose between heating and eating as they see bills for food as well as fuel skyrocketing. We know also there are jobs at risk here.

Can the Taoiseach's Government act swiftly on this issue to introduce a range of measures, but in particular, a windfall tax to target profits and to fund the other measures that will be needed to alleviate hardship for families? In January of this year, we in the Labour Party first called for a tax on the profits of energy companies. The best time for Government to have introduced that measure would have been then, but clearly now it is still extremely important that it be done. Indeed, the British Government did it in July, the Italian Government did something similar, and we are seeing moves at EU level. We need that immediate introduction of a windfall tax alongside an immediate maximum price cap on energy bills and the third prong for which we have called, namely, the extension of eligibility for the fuel allowance to more households, including low- and middle-income households. We have the costings. We know it would cost €15 million to raise the threshold to €250 per week. That would bring quite a number of households back into the eligibility criteria and alleviate significant hardship. We need to bring in these measures to ensure that the excessive profits of energy companies are harnessed by this State.

First of all, I agree with the Deputy in her analysis. It is going to be a difficult winter, but it is our responsibility to do everything we possibly can to reduce the pressures on households in respect of energy costs, and also to protect jobs in society. I appreciate the fact that the Deputy is clear about the need to work through the European framework in terms of carbon tax or a mechanism to take the windfall gains made by energy companies, and particularly non-gas generation, which is getting a revenue that it would never have dreamt of because of this crisis. As the President of the Commission said this morning, it is not fair that companies would make exorbitant profits on the back of a war and a people, in the exploitation of a crisis. That is why we are supportive of EU measures to intervene so that those windfall revenues would accrue to the State and to member states. The precise mechanism is still being worked out at EU level. There was a meeting last week of the EU energy ministers, and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications was there. The Commission is due to publish a proposal this week to include measures aimed at addressing windfall gains by non-gas generation and the electricity sector, and in fossil fuel extraction and production. These proposals will raise additional revenues which will be used to reduce the cost of energy for society. They may not come immediately, but they will be an important stream of revenue in terms of the duration of this crisis. We have a surplus to the end of the year. We will use that as effectively and efficiently as we can to alleviate pressures on people, but we also need a more ongoing revenue stream to deal with perhaps a prolongation of this crisis, which we do not want to see. The EU is keen to do everything it can to try to stabilise and reform the market, but that will take a bit longer.

I do not disagree with the Deputy at all on the need to make sure that those exorbitant revenues and the type of extraordinary increases that companies have benefited from are dealt with. The Sinn Féin leader criticised the Government for wanting to go through the EU framework on this matter. We are members of the EU. We believe we should work through the EU on matters of this kind. Sinn Féin may have a different view on being a member of the EU. That is its prerogative. I take the Deputy's point. This is complex stuff. The Deputy mentioned the UK. The UK had a 95% offset for investment, so how real was that tax?

The European Union is focusing on the excessive revenue being generated, which cannot be justified or maintained, and we are supportive of that. More broadly, and as I said earlier, we need to help people as best we can across the different areas, from education to childcare and the cost of energy, including electricity.

I thank the Taoiseach. That is important and we welcome the moves made at EU level on a windfall tax but there are things the Government could do here too that should be done. Let us look at it in the following way. We have significant levels of gas consumption coming from our own Corrib gas field on this island and we know that Vermilion's revenues last year increased by 267%. The cost of production for that gas has not increased but the price of gas supplies is now costing multiples of what it did one year ago.

Will the Taoiseach examine the idea of nationalising the Corrib gas field and bringing it under State ownership, even on a temporary basis, to ensure that we can bring greater certainty to families, households and businesses struggling with fuel bills? The State has the power to do so under legislation introduced by Fianna Fáil, namely, the Fuels (Control of Supplies) Acts 1971 and 1982. These were powers invoked during the oil shortages which followed the Middle East conflict of the 1970s. We know these powers exist and we have used them before. In parallel with the welcome measures at EU level, we need to see this Government doing more in Ireland to ensure that excessive profits are harnessed from the energy companies to alleviate the real hardship faced by so many struggling individuals, families and businesses as they see their energy bills skyrocketing.

We do not envisage or advocate the nationalisation of the Corrib gas field. The European Union measure deals with the Corrib gas field and other gas fields in terms of fossil fuel extraction or production. Before any domestic measures are taken, it makes sense for us to have clarity and a decision from the European Union on the operation of the gas market and the mechanisms it would deploy. That is also important for fossil fuel extraction. We are focusing as much as we can on the immediate, including this year, the early part of next year and the entirety of 2023. There are wider issues around the Corrib gas field in the future, by the way. That company has plans for what will happen after fossil fuel extraction, including what will happen to the plant that is there, which could be used for renewable energy or variations of that into the future. We want to make sure that any measures we take now are sustainable in the medium and longer term as well.