Energy and Fuel Costs: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-29 ============================================================ Mark Duffy (FG), Labour Panel I am sharing time with Senator Cathal Byrne. I thank the Minister of State for being here this afternoon for this very important Private Members' motion that we are bringing forward on behalf of Fine Gael Senators. From the outset, we must all appreciate and acknowledge that this is an external crisis in terms of the incredible pressures that increases in fuel and energy costs have caused to every household right across the country and across the Continent, because of factors outside of our control. People are feeling the pinch and in some cases households are acutely exposed in an unprecedented fashion, whether that be those working in the haulage sector, in agricultural settings or in intensive industrial sectors. This is the worst the world has ever seen in terms of an energy crisis centred on the Strait of Hormuz. It means that families in counties right across the country are feeling a pronounced pressure and pinch. That is why we are calling for additional supports to ease the burden on the families and sectors most affected to make sure that there are supports and ways that ensure those who are most vulnerable in our society - the elderly and those who are in fuel poverty - are given confidence and support to make sure they are warm and looked after in their homes this coming winter. It is a very timely opportunity for us to bring forward this matter in a constructive way ahead of the budget next week. We also recognise the supports that have been put in place today, with the package of over €1.3 million targeted at the households I mentioned - farmers, agricultural contractors, hauliers and businesses. Per capita , it is one of the largest interventions in the EU. We should put that on the record and acknowledge it here today as well. We appreciate that the Government cannot do everything because it is a global energy shock, but it has acted decisively and crucially at every moment and in an agile way. That has been done and more can be done. I look forward to hearing more about that today and in the coming days. Being from County Mayo, I know at first hand the contribution of renewable energies in terms of decarbonising our energy. The 20% supply of gas that comes from the Corrib field on the coast of County Mayo is also contributing to our supply. We need to make sure that we shield consumers from all of the aforementioned shocks. Something that I have raised on the climate, energy and environment committee is the 13.2% of wasted energy that comes from dispatch down. That is where turbines are turned off because the grid cannot handle the capacity that is required to realise that energy potential. When we think of the opportunity that exists, it is worth over €600 million per annum in terms of wasted energy. I have brought forward proposals on residential battery storage for households that can help to capture excess energy, improve the energy independence of households, reduce bills, address wasted energy and decarbonise our energy use. That is something that needs to be seriously looked at so that we capture wasted energy and allow households to capture electricity at a nighttime rate when it can be one third of the cost of electricity. That would be a strong way to rebalance demand, which is generally higher in the day. Battery storage would allow households to realise and capture energy at night when it is a third of the cost and release it by day. That is something that needs more attention. It is more of a longer term play, but it could be a fairly quick win for the State if it is rolled out. I would welcome the Minister of State's consideration and thoughts on the short-term challenges. The fuel allowance benefits 470,000 households, which is very significant figure. Increases to that cannot be understated. The warmer homes scheme, which is retrofitting houses across the country, is an incredibly good news story in terms of mitigating the exposure we have to the fuel crisis at the moment. While there are extreme challenges at the moment, we need to bring it to a head, understand how reliant we are on external factors and try to repatriate that reliance and have more independence in terms of our energy. We are doing that strategically, but where the grid cannot catch up we need to have novel and creative ways to make sure we can help those who are most exposed to the volatility. Ultimately, peace in the Middle East is the best outcome in terms of realising all of these challenges, but as Members of the Oireachtas we should do as much as we can and advocate to encourage the Minister of State and the Government more broadly to make sure that we can support the vulnerable and the businesses that are most exposed to it, ensure that we can keep costs down and that we can keep competitive as a country, and reaffirm our efforts towards better energy independence for the country so that when the next crisis hits we are much more resilient and can respond in a much more effective way. We would not need to respond as much if we had the proper infrastructure in place and the proper schemes and programmes in place for households and businesses alike. I thank the Minister of State for being here. I thank him for his work on this. I will hand over to Senator Byrne. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-29/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-29