Déanaim comhghairdeas ó chroí lenár gcara, an iarTheachta Catherine Connolly. It is a truly historic achievement. Our warmest congratulations go to our Uachtarán-elect, Catherine Connolly.

I would like also to pay tribute to Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy, who passed away yesterday. Sr. Stan championed social justice, advocated for the homeless and spent her entire life standing on the side of those in need. She gave gentle yet powerful voice to the voiceless. She never stopped working for a fair and equal society. She leaves an incredible legacy of compassion, activism and hope. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.

The Government's energy task force published its interim report yesterday, confirming people's worst fears. Households will be hit with massive electricity bills this winter, with average yearly bills approaching €2,000. The barrage of electricity price hikes from big energy companies puts people under huge pressure in the run-up to Christmas.

Three hundred thousand households are unable to pay their electricity bills. Household energy arrears have almost doubled in the last four years. Many more will now be pushed into this awful situation. The Government's decision to strip away energy credits was a terrible call in a terrible budget - a budget of €9.4 billion that has left working people worse off. That is some going.

While people are so brazenly ripped off, what is the Government's big idea? It is a promise to make an announcement of a plan sometime next year, with action to follow God knows when, if at all. Households are being fleeced, right here and right now. These huge bills are already landing and yet the Government pretends like it is not happening.

Government failure to tackle energy rip-offs leaves people in desperate situations, with families using prepay meters going days without electricity and households relying on organisations such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to keep the lights on. The Government sits back and allows big energy companies to rip people off at every opportunity. Now, as the days get darker, families will be forced to cut back on necessary electricity use, counting the cost every time they use the washing machine and feeling pressure every time they flick on the light switch because they know it is costing them a fortune. Is that an acceptable way for people to live?

The big question for me is this: how many wake-up calls does the Government need before it acts? Four energy companies announce big electricity price hikes but the Government does nothing. The International Energy Agency reports that energy companies are fleecing Irish households but the Government does nothing. The CSO releases figures proving that people are being ripped off but the Government still does nothing. Now the Government's own task force confirms that households will be hit with massive electricity bills over the coming weeks but the Government still does nothing. Worse still, the Government actually has the neck to tell people to wait until next year for some pie-in-the-sky plan. Not alone is this Government inaction woefully out of touch, it is downright lazy.

This is a lazy do-nothing Government incapable of understanding how these huge bills impact on people's lives so it does not even muster up the effort to do anything about it. That is not good enough. The Government's job is to stand up to those companies, to end this energy rip-off and to support households mar tá geimhreadh lán de bhillí leictreachais ródhaor in ann do theaghlaigh. Caithfidh an Rialtas seasamh suas in aghaidh na comhlachtaí móra fuinnimh agus tacú le teaghlaigh. Given the scale of this crisis, will the Government now act to reinstate energy credits to help households and what action will the Government take to reign in energy companies and to put an end to the scandalous rip-off?

On behalf of the entire Government, I sincerely congratulate and offer my best wishes to President-elect Catherine Connolly following her election victory. It is an enormous victory for her, her family, all of her supporters and many people across County Galway and beyond. Catherine commanded a huge vote following a really successful campaign.

President-elect Connolly served with distinction in these Houses as Leas-Cheann Comhairle. In all her contributions, she demonstrated enormous integrity and professionalism. When I previously held the brief as Minister of State with responsibility for the Gaeltacht, she was someone who was always constructive in her contributions. She will be a President that we can all unite behind and I wish her well as she commences her new role in the coming days.

I will speak to the loss of Sr. Stan, who had such a positive impact on so many people for so long. Sr. Stan dedicated her life to working with care and compassion on behalf of the poor and the vulnerable across the country. She showed that innate desire and unflinching determination to support those who needed the most help. Hers was a voice of charity, of care, of compassion and of devoted service to people and our thoughts are with her family on her loss today.

On Deputy McDonald's question, this Government did take action in the budget when it came to the issue of energy. That is why the work the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, did in keeping the 9% VAT rate on gas and electricity is a significant part of our overall tax package.

The fuel allowance being increased by €5, and expanded for those in receipt of the working family payment, made it a targeted approach to those who are feeling the pressure of energy prices across our economy. As a result of another Government intervention, an additional 50,000 households will be eligible for fuel allowance, which will mean that 460,000 households, or 26% of all households, are now eligible for fuel allowance. We have made wider interventions in supporting children and families, including the increase in the child support payment, and there are other measures in the context of the Department of Social Protection. Next year, that Department will have an overall allocation of over €28 billion. On our overall broader spending across our economy, this Government made a €2 billion package in social protection in budget 2026 to respond to the pressure many households face and target it to those most in need. That is the context in which we set about trying to help to mitigate the impact of energy prices.

The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has done extensive work as part of the national energy affordability task force. That has set out a number of recommendations in the context of the programme for Government, where we have set out changes in assessment of the overall regulatory model for energy prices in our economy. That is work he will undertake. In the national development plan, there is our continued investment in the warmer homes scheme, with hundreds of millions of euro to support families, and many other interventions to support low-income households.

We made significant interventions in the budget as part of our social protection package, including the retention of the 9% VAT rate on gas and electricity. We made a decision not to continue one-off temporary payments because we have to be honest about managing the overall budgetary parameters and the need to manage expenditure policy out to the medium term. We want every decision we make to be sustainable, affordable and permanent. It is not sustainable to continue one-off payments over the existing allocations. That is why we made specific and targeted interventions in the context of our social protection package.