This week, the world has been shaken by the escalating conflict in the Gulf involving Iran, a conflict that will drive prices sharply upwards. Once again, Ireland stands exposed. Why is this? It is because we are nowhere near prepared for this reality. This is not simply an external crisis but a mirror held up to our own failings at home. For years, warnings have been sounded about Ireland's vulnerability to global energy shocks but successive governments have chosen a path that leaves us more exposed and not less. We have enormous natural gas resources lying untapped off our own shores. We have not even had a conversation about whether technology such as nuclear power could play a role in securing our long-term energy independence. These are not fringe ideas. They are part of mainstream energy planning throughout Europe. Here in Ireland these discussions are shut down before they even begin.

Instead of strengthening our domestic capacity, the Government has actively dismantled what little resilience we had. Our peat harvesting industry, which once sustained communities and could have served as a carefully managed transitional resource, has been shuttered without a viable replacement. Families, workers and entire regions were left behind in this decision. To make matters worse, the taxes and charges placed on fuel and energy, from carbon levies to VAT to excise, remain untouched. They are not being reduced or reconsidered. In the real world they compound the pressures now facing households, hauliers, farmers and small businesses. They turn an international crisis into a domestic burden shouldered by the very people least able to absorb it. A resilient nation prepares for uncertainty. Ireland deserves a real energy strategy, not avoidance or delayed action.

I want to comment on the MEK, as someone referred to that organisation earlier. Last year, the Department of foreign affairs came out with a statement that the group was linked to terrorism. Here we have a Senator commenting on it taking over the government in Iran. The people in Iran would be horrified to think this could happen.