Irish households are being ripped off by electricity companies. That is not just how they feel about it; that is a fact. We have it black and white from the International Energy Agency and I quote its report, which states the disparity in Ireland, talking about the gap between wholesale electricity prices and retail prices, was the largest in all of Europe, with the energy component of retail prices three times higher than wholesale prices. In plain language, the reason we have the highest electricity prices in Europe is electricity companies are engaged in blatant profiteering off of the backs of ordinary people. SSE Airtricity declared profits of €113 million to the end of March 2025; Energia, €33 million for the first quarter alone; and Bord Gáis, €39 million in the first half of this year. I could go on.

The cost of their profits is a crisis for households, one in three of which is now in energy poverty. Those families are facing a cold, long, dark winter. They are facing electricity companies that, one after the other, have hiked their prices in recent weeks. Their worry is compounded by the failure of the Government to do anything in last week's budget to protect them. The economists are very clear.

The Government's budget will lead to an increase in poverty, particularly for older people and renters, who are more likely to suffer from energy poverty in poorly insulated homes. There are to be no energy credits despite the fact that people's bills are higher now than they were last year. There are to be no price controls to stop what I think the Taoiseach described earlier as price gouging. There is to be no significant investment in the retrofitting we need to give people warmer homes and much reduced bills. There is also to be no change from the policy of households subsidising the data centres of the big tech companies. Households are paying for their hundreds of millions of euro worth of so-called capacity payments.

The fundamental root of all of this is the so-called liberalisation of the energy market, the artificial creation of a market in which we must pay for the profit of all of these different corporations. We have moved from the ESB being the sole publicly owned not-for-profit generator and supplier of electricity, the global success of the ground-breaking rural electrification scheme, which became a model around the world, and the lowest electricity prices in Europe to having the highest prices in Europe because of the neoliberal orthodoxy of the 1990s and 2000s, which meant that anything State-owned had to be broken up and privatised. This process should be reversed. We should renationalise the electricity market on a not-for-profit basis.

Earlier, the Taoiseach asked what we are going to do to put pressure on the energy companies to lower prices. That is my question to him. Will he introduce price controls as proposed in our Emergency Price Controls Bill, something he has the power to do under the Consumer Protection Act? At the very least, will he reverse course on the energy credits and give people something to protect them?

It is quite interesting that a representative of a far-left party like Deputy Murphy is an advocate for universal credits, which benefit the wealthiest in society as well as everybody else. That is quite an extraordinary contradiction of the viewpoints he often articulates. The Minister has established a national energy affordability task force because there is an issue with energy affordability. That is acknowledged.

The Deputy has made the point that he would get rid of the regulatory framework and renationalise our energy system. There is no guarantee that such a renationalisation would deliver cheaper prices. We should not pretend that it would because we have to invest an enormous amount into expanding our grid and making sure it is fit for purpose for a growing economy and a growing population. The population is growing exponentially. We have had extraordinary economic growth over a long period of time. Contrary to most established economic norms, we have managed to maintain or marginally reduce levels of income inequality in this country thanks to our progressive taxation system. Having said that, this has had impacts on other areas. The Minister has met with the companies. We have focused our work on trying to protect those most affected by energy price increases. Addressing energy affordability is key for us.

The Deputy said there was nothing in the budget. Historically, a VAT rate of 13.5% has been applied to gas and electricity. Since 2022, we have reduced that to 9%. Budget 2026 extended this reduction to the end of 2030. If we had not done that, it would have meant significant increases in the price of electricity and gas. The fuel allowance has gone up to €38 per week, an increase of more than 15%. This will provide an additional €140 to more than 460,000 recipients during the annual fuel allowance season. That payment has been extended and expanded to include those in receipt of the working family payment. Targeting our resources at those most in need makes sense. In addition, our retrofitting programme has been quite impactful, reducing many households' energy bills. More than €500 million has been allocated for residential and community energy schemes. Some €280 million has been allocated to the warmer homes scheme in particular. This provides free retrofits to households in energy poverty. In 2024, this facilitated nearly 8,000 energy upgrades in low-income households.

During the height of the energy crisis, we did, as the Deputy mentioned, provide energy credits but, to maintain sustainable public finances, it makes sense to target resources at those who would be most impacted through retrofitting and warmer homes programmes. The Minister is working with the companies to make sure that no one is cut off and that hardship funds are in place to help people who could get into difficulty as a result of increased energy prices.

Earlier the Taoiseach posed the question as to what we were proposing to do to pressurise the energy companies to lower their costs. We have a Bill already to have price controls to stop the blatant profiteering. I put it back to the Taoiseach: what is he going to do? The answer, it appears, is "Nothing".

That is not true.

He mentioned a bunch of things that have already been done. He is standing over the withdrawal of the cost-of-living supports, the impact of which will be deeper poverty. The budget was spoken about as a budget for child poverty. It absolutely was a budget for child poverty - increased child poverty. The Taoiseach should look at the report of the Parliamentary Budget Office, an impartial office, which states that income poverty rates nationally will have risen from 11.7% in 2024 to a forecast level of 13.2% in 2026 due to the withdrawal of the cost-of-living package. Income poverty rates will have risen most for the elderly, from 13.3% in 2024 to a forecast level of 19%. Child poverty will also increase. The Taoiseach's budget increased poverty in this State. We have evidence now that people are being ripped off by the energy companies, which are charging three times what they are paying for the electricity-----

I thank the Deputy. The Taoiseach to respond.

-----and the Taoiseach is saying we will do nothing about it and we will not have price controls.

The Deputy is out of order and way over time.

He has power, under the Consumer Protection Act, to introduce price controls to stop this profiteering and people want him to act.

The Taoiseach to respond. Deputy Murphy is out of order.

We will not be introducing price controls. They failed in the past and would fail again.

In terms of child poverty, consistent poverty is the key metric, not relative poverty. The Deputy did not qualify which he was talking about.

So poverty is okay.

Consistent poverty is what we have to deal with. Our child poverty programme in the budget was very significant, the highest in a very long time. The once-off payments were just that, for two years in a row and before that. During the Covid pandemic and the energy crisis, we had to intervene. They are not sustainable over the decade and they cannot just keep going on. We would not have sustainable public finances if we went down that route. Equally, it is arguable that very wealthy people do not need an energy credit. The Deputy is arguing that they do. I find that incredible.

Tax them.

We do tax them. We have a very progressive tax system-----

Tax them more.

-----which basically means income inequality has reduced despite very significant, strong economic growth. We believe in enterprise; the Deputy does not. He has a broader view of how markets and economies should run-----

I thank the Taoiseach.

-----and that is fundamental to every specific proposal he introduces on a given issue in here.

I thank the Taoiseach. His time is up.

It has to be seen in the round in terms of what kind of society we want.

I thank the Taoiseach. His time is up.

I respectfully suggest that the people do not quite want the society the Deputy advocates.