Tá an Taoiseach as láthair, it seems. It is a nice surprise to see the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, today.

Temperatures are dropping rapidly as winter approaches. Household heating bills are rising just as fast. One million households across Ireland use oil for home heating, representing 38.9% of all households. The price of their bills has rocketed up by 9% in just one month. On its own, that would squeeze any household but that spike comes on top of a barrage of other price hikes. Energia, SSE Airtricity, Bord Gáis Éireann and Flogas have all put up their prices again. These are highly profitable energy companies doing very well, some would say obscenely well, while bill payers face an impossible choice to freeze or to feel the squeeze, trying to make ends meet this winter. People simply have no more to give, as I know the Minister will be aware. Before this cold snap hit, 300,000 people were already in arrears on their electricity bills. The Government has offered nothing to help reduce household costs or to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

I know the Minister has just said of course we need to reduce reliance fossil fuels but the Government is way behind on retrofitting targets and so carbon emissions continue to rise. People living in draughty homes have no option but to rely on fuels that are unsustainable both for our planet and for household finances.

It is three and a half years since Russia's horrific onslaught on Ukraine but now in 2025 energy providers are hiding behind what is a geopolitical tragedy to justify price hikes that cannot be explained by supply costs. The Minister just spoke about Ireland's energy bills compared with our European counterparts. Our energy bills are still markedly higher. The driver of those prices is not war; it is corporate greed. We see that elsewhere too with supermarkets hiking their prices at the tills, rents and mortgages climbing, and people's personal finances under attack from all angles, having less and less left over at the end of each month - less for Christmas, car repairs, a burst pipe or any unforeseen eventualities.

What is most galling is the sense that things are much worse than they could be because the Government could be doing more.

The Government has given a message to hang in there but is offering no evidence that its policies are anything worth waiting for. In the Minister's previous response, he talked about a report due in 2026, but in a cost-of-living crisis, people need protection now against corporate greed. Labour has called on the Government to force supermarket giants to publish profits, yet the Government has refused to do so. It has refused to use its legal powers to control energy prices. The Government has spoken about meeting with energy companies in September, but what has come of that? Where are the promised hardship funds? Where are the promised supports for households? All we saw was one-off measures stripped away in the last budget in the service of VAT cuts for fast food giants. People are at the pin of their collars and the Government needs to take on these corporates. Will the Government finally tackle profiteering in energy prices, in groceries and in housing?

First, may I deal with this charge that the Leader of the Opposition and the leader of the Labour Party have made that the Taoiseach is in some way absent. He is on Government business.

We were not notified.

He is at the G20 Summit. Should he not go to that as Head of the Irish Government? Should he not go EU-African Union Summit?

Deputy Bacik asked a question. One voice.

Is he in Dublin?

Where is he now?

I know Deputy McDonald is just back from New York as well, but he was actually on Government business. Deputy McDonald was probably fundraising over there, filling the Sinn Féin bag full of cash.

On a point of order, a Cheann Comhairle, all we look for is notification.

Deputies, resume your seats. Minister, please continue.

It is Leaders' Questions, not aspiring leaders' questions.

Deputy, please.

I will answer the Deputy's questions. Energy affordability is critical and I am glad Deputy Bacik raised the point. I have already answered Deputy Mary Lou McDonald. If we look at the measures that have been taken in the budget, they are targeted measures. They are very targeted across all areas, not just energy. If we look at social welfare rate increases, the renter's tax credit and the mortgage interest relief payments as well, all of those are targeted at people and are significant. It is unquestionably a very significant budget for people. We have got to keep the economy going as well and support the jobs that are there also. Jobs underpin this and it is the hard work of the State and the people that ensures we can have the resources to support our people through difficult times, as we did through Covid and as we did through the cost-of-living crisis, which was acute post the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. We now have to look at measures we are taking, particularly on energy, that are permanent. Deputy Bacik skipped over retrofitting. On retrofitting alone, we are looking at-----

I mentioned it. The Minister skipped it.

-----64,500 households that will be retrofitted this year. Next year, we are providing €558 million through the carbon tax receipts to put that directly into homes and small businesses to reduce their energy costs. The IEA has said it, not me, that those cost savings are between €900 and €1,200 on average per annum. Permanent changes for households, that is what we need. We need to expand renewables as well. The Deputy is correct in saying that. I have said that, too. Last year, over 40% of our electricity was generated through renewables. We have had a further successful auction in relation to solar and wind energy and we are within grasp of becoming energy sovereign in the next ten years. That will be critical to reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, particularly imported fossil fuels, where we are at the mercy of the vagaries of the market. The Deputy knows how the energy markets work. We are purchasing forward and a lot of our companies are. I insisted - I asked the energy companies - to make sure those hardship funds were brought back in place, and they are in place. No one can or will be disconnected through the course of this winter either. I say to people who are in arrears that there is assistance from the State, they should contact their energy providers and we can work through measures with them. Our work on that is not concluded.

I would certainly like to hear more on that from the Minister, but on the Taoiseach's lack of presence here, of course he must represent the country abroad, but we had understood he would be here today and it is a common courtesy that we would be notified in advance of Leaders' Questions when he is not taking them.

On the Minister's response, we absolutely support retrofitting. In fact, what we in the Labour Party have been critical of is the delay in the roll-out of affordable retrofitting. Around the country, people are frustrated at the delay on retrofitting, missed targets on retrofitting and a lack of affordability, just as people are frustrated about the delay in the roll-out of renewables. We want to see renewable capacity ramped up at great scale. All of us are frustrated at the delays. The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, was established some time ago. We supported that in opposition, but we are still seeing such delay in offshore development.

In the meantime, this is about fairness. It is about reshaping priorities so that those who have profited most from the crisis will pay their share rather than seeing the burden of energy costs pushed back on working people and on families and households.

The Labour Party has put forward a series of supports and is simply asking the Government to adopt them.

We will obviously ensure the measures we have brought forward are implemented. On retrofitting alone, we have retrofitted nearly 230,000 homes across the country. That is scaling up every single year. As I said, we will do about 64,500 this year. They are permanent changes for households to ensure they can bring down their energy costs.

There is the issue of the energy markets and the cost on the wholesale markets and the fact that our retail prices struck at the wholesale gas price even though we are accelerating renewables. That is a matter I have raised at every European Council meeting I have attended. At COP just last week, we introduced into the discussion the affordability piece for households because it is a real issue for households. We will continue to target measures at those who need them most as we are expanding our renewables.

On the work in relation to the affordability task force, we published our interim report and implemented measures like the 9% VAT rate and the expansion of the fuel allowance straight away. There will be further measures coming through in 2026.