Jennifer Whitmore

There are a number of reasons for it, and I can absolutely agree with the minister.

It's not this government's fault that we're seeing these kind of energy shocks.

But what I will say, it is this government's fault that they have not helped households become a lot more resilient to them.

We saw these shocks after the invasion in Ukraine, and we have not seen any response.

real measures from government to insulate homes from shocks.

And now people are facing it again.

So these are very reactive measures.

And whilst they were necessary in the context where we were with the incredibly high price rises, what we need is for the government to plan and to actually...

future-proof people's homes.

So Social Democrats are calling for a €400 targeted credit for households to help them with their electricity bills.

But that is an emergency measure because people are struggling.

In order to future-proof their homes, we also have a Solar for All plan, which will double the grants for solar, provide a grant for batteries.

And also include the warmer home scheme, give free panels for those on the warmer home scheme and plug in solar.

Because what's really important is solar could actually, 1 million homes in Ireland are suitable for solar.

It would reduce people's electricity bills by 40% and it can be done in a matter of hours.

The government needs to focus on it.

Well, I think there is a whole lot of, I suppose, technical measures.

What I will say, and the Minister did mention the CRU, the regulator investigation into the pass-through prices.

This is something I've raised a number of times in the Dáil.

So a number of months ago, wholesale prices in Europe were down 72% from the peak in Ukraine.