Mattie McGrath warns of rip-off in wind energy pricing

Goeir maitha o Gaeilach, yes we put down this motion in good faith, I'm delighted to see the support this has got, and it's quite a simple, basic, simple, honest to God motion, that ordinary people will resume it, Minister, and not to select your own script that you read out or Minister Smith's script, and of course as usual Minister Ryan is not here, where is he, he's at Cobb in Egypt, 400 jets flew in there, and private jets, and you have the audacity to tell people to pull up their belts, I remember the late Charles Hockey telling people with the shabby shorts to tighten their belts, it's just since a deja vu we're here again, but this time people are crippled, and they're on their knees, and they're begging, they're on life support, life support, and everybody Smith is gone, but I was delighted to see you're so welcoming of our motion, and we're common sense people, and we're not climate denials, but we're here, well the issues that Debbie Smith and others seem to have with us is that we want to keep the lights on here in the interim, but we have all the wind that's blowing, but at the risk of repeating ourselves, and what Debbie Gunnarum said at the outset, like TK Whittaker, and the forefathers of this country, and the visionaries, they have such a passion and a view, and I'm not an idealist in regards to having the system nationalised, but we may have to nationalise the power companies, because they're not playing ball, and I'm glad to see whether this is a result of our pressure or emotion that SAC Electricity have announced today that they would forego our profits for the rest of the year, so that's what we need, we need more stick and less of the cartology, and we need more crop on instead of crop summits, the children who were up here earlier, there are some still here, laughing at us, that we can't get this, we're talking about wind, and we're talking about the big transformation, and in 10 years time, we're going to be on wind, offshore, and everything else, where is it? And the wind blows, as Richard Gunnarum said to someone earlier, it doesn't cost anything for the wind to blow, but what's really confusing people, and where is the regulator? And we met Senor, the most Senor executive of the ESP last week, and we learned a lot from him, and it's a bad day you don't learn something, and they told us that they were waiting for the regulator, because this article, this statutory incident had been passed in Europe, and why would the lag has always to, when it's something to help the people, when it's last to do it, but it's something to penalise the people, when it's jumping up and down to do it, and add three or four more statutory incidents to it. So, Minister, 96% of all the wind energy produced in Ireland is priced at the same price as gas, even though it is made a fraction of the cost to produce. Do you get that? And you have it all bundled in when the people, when the ESP, or whoever, goes out to buy, it's all in there, and you're paying that grubby tax on it, even though it's cleanly produced. So there's rip-off Ireland is alive and well, in the government, regulator asleep, and in the gouging industry companies, and no-one says a word. Why would they? Because you allowed the banks to walk away with billings, bailed them out, you allowed all the big companies, and wouldn't even go to the data centres. You allowed, what's the biggest wonder in the fall of the year concerned, you'd be great men building snowmen, because of the big one you'd go raven metal altogether. At the biggest wonder, you'd be like children with sweets inside in a confectionery shop, just as you like, while the people perish. What was it? It was a man in a direction, let them eat cake. Well, I'll tell you one thing. We have a message this morning for all public buildings not to have a kittle in their office. Why the kittle? And we're going to go back to the back of the Lestinock that the women had on their back cladding with the shawl. And they lit them in a little tripod, and they bought a billy can of water and boiled it. And we're going to have it out in the yard here, on public offices. Would you cop yourself on, instead of going to COP 26 or 27 or whatever it is, for show and glory, and to be seen to be better than anybody else? We're small fish in a big pond, and we should behave with respect for our nation, and not to be trying to keep up with all the big bodies. We'll drive our people into penury to be as good as what you are out here, when we see what's happening in China, when we see what's happening in Germany. We've been quoted here this morning several times about Spain and Italy, who have implemented this regulation. But if we want to implement this oil, we'll just dance around it and let the taxpayers suffer. As I said, in layman's terms, the cost of €1000 per kilowatt hour, and the cost of making electricity is €10 an hour. But the kilowatt hour and all the rest are put in together, and the highest price is paid for. I mean, anyone who's doing a business deal wouldn't do that, and the four or five of us or six of us are small business people. And we understand, and we feel the pain, and I'm sure you should too, in Limerick, of all the businesses, shops, butchers, you name it, confectionaries, hairdressers, anything used in the heat. And I want to clarify that Minister Smith has gone, I asked for it yesterday, that the TBES scheme that's introduced now to help people up to 10,000, that is not applicable if you use oil as your main source of heating. Where are we going to get pipe gas, or natural gas, in the hills of Hollyford, or indeed in the hills of Killingnoll, or up in the Knockway Downs of the Galtys, or much lower down in towns that don't have natural gas, very few towns have it, a handful in Tipperary. So Minister, the genie's out of the bottle here, and you're caught napping. I could use another analogy, but I won't, but I might have to. So what you're doing is both wrong, hurtful to the people, I believe it flies in the face of God number one, but it flies in the face of European and national law. And what about our constitution, that we're supposed to look after our people and cherish them equally, where we want to honour the big prices. So the great wind farm rip-off, who has greedy energy plants, sell us electricity at sky-high prices, and it's made from wind, hot air. Goodness, if we had a channel in here, we'd make it a fair kilowatts of it too, with the amount of hot air spoken in here at times. And I can speak a bit myself as well. I won't exonerate myself from that. The European motion calls for implementation of EU Council Regulation 2022, 1854, which came into effect on October 8th. And here we are in the middle of November, and we have no sign of intervention in this country. As I said, when it comes to implementing something good for the people, we're absolute laggards and blaggards. But when it comes to something that's punitive, whether it be agriculture, whether it's stopping turf-cutting, whether it's stopping other and many other plethora of issues, we're interpreted that night. We can put up bad here at midnight on a budget, but the finance bill here at the moment, take the company cares that benefit and kind. The minister blindly said, look, we have to do this. I thought, business are going to close. The companies can't replace the fleas. We've been penalised. The ordinary working man has been penalised if he hasn't had low emissions care. Where is he going to charge the care? Where is the infrastructure in the country? So you have the cart, not only before the horse, but the cart has gone down Dame Street, when we're still here with the horse. If you have a horse, he might break wind and you'd ban him as well. That's the problem with you, you're going so politically correct. God, I remember saying we'd plough with horses and we'd bring hay with horses and I'd do water from a well with horses. Are we going to go back to that? And we can't bind the water? Unless we have to back the nestock and it's hard on turf. God, minister, you really are. The white coat should be around here regularly and should be checking up people, are you feeling OK of what is going on with the people that want to drive our ordinary people into penery? Hardship and misery, the man going to work, the woman going to work, the delivery services, the man in the van that supplies this country, the fellow with his self-implied concrete glory. Take the super values, chain them in temporary. Their ESP has gone up in some cases from 8,000 to 24,000. OK, they get back 10. Where are they going to come up with the other 8 every month? Just not doable. The prices of the shopping bag, mum's purse, is not able to stretch. People are going to be either hungry or cold and in some cases bored. And the fear and the terror that you've driven into people is palpable. And the media have to take a fair share of blame to you for fanning this climate change. It is real, but it's not a be-all and-all. When we see what's happening, as I said, a coal mine has been opened in Germany, dismantling plants in the Midlands and setting them up out front, exporting the port, bringing them back in refined. So it's called ology. If the forefathers that fought for this country thought that they would be inherited and would be followed on by this madness and lunacy, they would never have lifted a finger to free Ireland. They'd have lifted it in the United Kingdom or they'd have done something else because it is just mockery, madness and charade. You're not opposing our motion, so please, will you implement it? Is this another one of the magic tricks of the liquid of all sorts? You won't oppose it, but you won't implement it. So I'm calling on you. There's a statutory instrument here to be signed into law to make sure that if we're buying energy as a bulk, that the vast majority that's produced by wind is not charged at the oil prices. So it's making the mockery of your green, clean, clean industry. It's making the mockery of your wanting people to go off fossil fuels. So it's a three-carat trick. This says it's becoming a twenty-four-carat trick. All the while, Minister Rhine's outside eating lettuce and smoked salmon with all the rest of them. God knows what they're not eating. They're a cop. I haven't seen them in here. I don't care about it. Oh, meat is on there. It's definitely on there. Oh, of course, 120 euro. Thanks, Deputy. I wouldn't look at those lavish things because I would only aspire to them at a wedding. I have a wedding coming up very shortly. My daughter is getting married Friday week. Hopefully we'll have a feast. We'll have a good day and we'll celebrate, as we always do. But, Minister, we want you to implement this, that's your instrument. Do you want to ask Jane? I would invite Mike Allhance, I'll be there. I know you would. I know somebody kind of your hangers on, you'd arrive all right. No disrespect there. Our motion is a serious motion and we are serious about climate change, but we want to bring the people with us. I'll stick and no carrot. Ain't going to work.