Energy and Fuel Costs: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Pauline Tully (SF), Cultural and Educational Panel

Thank you, a Chathaoirligh.
One hundred years ago, we had a Cumann na nGaedheal Government that had the foresight to invest in the hydroelectric station in Ardnacrusha and the roll-out of rural electrification. It cost a lot of money at the time. Why is there no foresight now by the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Government to do something similar and make our country's energy secure? We need proper plans around solar energy, wind energy and wave energy. The technology is there. We need to invest in the infrastructure needed to put that in place. That has not been done. We need to make this country not just energy secure but we should be exporting energy to other countries if it was done right. It needs to remain in the control of the State or at least work with communities and not be sold off like Fianna Fáil Governments did, selling off our natural resources to foreign investors time and again, at a loss to the people of this country.
Carbon tax was mentioned. A total of €65 million of carbon tax that was ring-fenced last year was not spent. It was not spent on creating carbon efficiency. That is crazy. We need more money in the warmer homes scheme. We are looking at increasing fares on public transport. That should not even be considered. We should be encouraging people to get out of their cars and use public transport where available, not increasing the fares and making it harder for them to do so. I have heard people saying that it will now be cheaper and easier to hop in the car and drive to their work where they had been using public transport. No thought is going into any of these things.

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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