Danny Healy-Rae slams 'invisible' regulators over rising costs
Danny Healy-Rae criticised regulators and rising household and farm costs during a debate in the chamber, thanking the Social Democrats for raising the issue. He accused regulators of being 'not visual' and failing to curb supermarket price disparities, soaring electricity bills since Borna Mora's 2020 closure, underpaid farmers, and rising insurance costs.
He said regulators are not visible or transparent, questioning who is in charge and what regulators are doing. He argued regulators are not acting effectively and asked why the public cannot see their activity or accountability.
Healy-Rae highlighted fluctuating oil prices that fall slowly but rise quickly, and said electricity prices have risen since the closure of Borna Mora in 2020. He noted people were advised to install heat pumps and go electric but are receiving unexpectedly high bills of "four and five and six hundred euros," with heat pumps running constantly and pushing up meters.
He raised discrepancies between supermarket prices and what farmers receive, saying supermarkets often sell potatoes cheaper than farmers could be paid for them. He also warned that grain prices are at an all-time low, expressed sorrow that farmers are not being paid properly, and questioned whether cheaper imports or other factors explain the discrepancy. He emphasised concern about food security if good agricultural land is converted to solar panels.
He criticised rising insurance costs and suggested there are monopoly situations among distributors and sellers that allow companies to charge high prices. He called for clearer, more visible regulation to address pricing, competition and consumer protection.
Regulator visibility
He said regulators are not visible or transparent, questioning who is in charge and what regulators are doing. He argued regulators are not acting effectively and asked why the public cannot see their activity or accountability.
Energy and heat pumps
Healy-Rae highlighted fluctuating oil prices that fall slowly but rise quickly, and said electricity prices have risen since the closure of Borna Mora in 2020. He noted people were advised to install heat pumps and go electric but are receiving unexpectedly high bills of "four and five and six hundred euros," with heat pumps running constantly and pushing up meters.
Supermarkets, farmers and food security
He raised discrepancies between supermarket prices and what farmers receive, saying supermarkets often sell potatoes cheaper than farmers could be paid for them. He also warned that grain prices are at an all-time low, expressed sorrow that farmers are not being paid properly, and questioned whether cheaper imports or other factors explain the discrepancy. He emphasised concern about food security if good agricultural land is converted to solar panels.
Insurance and market concentration
He criticised rising insurance costs and suggested there are monopoly situations among distributors and sellers that allow companies to charge high prices. He called for clearer, more visible regulation to address pricing, competition and consumer protection.
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Transcript
I'm glad to get the opportunity to thank the Social Democrats for bringing this topic before us here today because it is the topic that's in everyone's mouth when they meet you, that the cost of everything, every whole thing has gone up, Minister, whatever it is. And you see, there's a major difference between one supermarket company and another, and different, like I said there, and then there's different towns, have different prices, and no one can understand who the regulator is, or what is he doing, or where is he, because he's not visual, he's not visual to any of us, he doesn't seem to be playing an effective role. We see there oil prices fluctuate, they go up and they go down. We hear that they go down, but it seems they take two or three weeks before they go down, and if the price is to go up, it seems to be up tomorrow morning. And the other things that are, you know, that people are talking about, and there's monopoly situations where certain companies distributing or selling different things seem to have a monopoly and they can charge what they like. People are being advised here in this chamber, indeed, by several parties and different politicians to go electric, and yet, since Borna Mora closed down in 2020, the price of electricity has gone up daily. I don't know where the regulator is or who's in charge of that, because he doesn't seem to be there at all, and electricity prices are going up, and at the same time, people are advised to put in heat pumps and to go electric, and they're coming to me with bills for whatever the period is, four and five and six hundred euros, and they can't understand it. Of course, there's a heat pump that's going and twisting the meter around all day, every day, the sunny day and the cold day and everything, and this is what they have been advised, and this is what they did. So, farmers, they have not been paid a realistic price. If we just took potatoes, don't pay farmers here in Ireland to sell potatoes to the supermarket, because the supermarkets are selling them for less, wherever they're getting them, than what they could pay the farmers for. And we have Deputy Gillian saying there about the grain. Grain is at an all-time low, and it is grand to come up the country from Kerry and move into good land along the way up, and see all the fields of grain and corn and turning yellow now and gold, and it is grand, but it is sorrowful to hear that farmers are not being paid properly for that. Where is the regulator? What's happening? Are we importing grain at a cheaper price, or what's going on? Because what, and then we're hot when we hear that good land is being planted with solar panels, another idea by some geniuses, that food security is very important to us here, Minister, and we need to understand that and keep that in mind all the time, because we're all a small nation, and if we have to import a lot of our food, food will be way more expensive. And the cost of insurance, we hear of all the different things that have been said and done to the insurance companies, but notwithstanding that, it's going up and going up every year. I know it, you know it, everyone inside here knows it, the people that are paying through the nose every day knows it, and there's no regulation. Whatever these regulators are being paid, a lot of them, and what to pay, they're paid at all, because they're not transparent, they don't seem to be acting, and we need to hear more and see more regulation from them, because they don't seem to be visual at all to me, or to anyone at the present time. Thank you, Deputy. Deputy Mahe, Deputy Mahe,