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energy crisis that followed, the Labour Party was the first party to call for a windfall tax on the gross and excessive profits that were being made by energy companies. It took the Government a year and a half to do it but a temporary solidarity contribution … became known, was enacted in 2023 and covered the excess profits of fossil fuel energy companies for the years 2022 and 2023. Some €267 million was raised; it was ring-fenced and helped to reduce the burden of high energy costs on vulnerable households. Then, this really progressive

specifically intended to help struggling households pay their electricity bills. This money was collected under an EU emergency intervention designed to claw back excess profits from energy companies and return that money to ordinary people during the cost-of-living crisis. That was the entire purpose

Government and the regulator. This is a concerning thing. The CRU's interim review concludes that it has found no evidence of excess profitability or price gouging by suppliers. For me, that raises more questions than it answers. The CRU will appear before the climate committee tomorrow

wages together. How much tax do those 3.3 million workers pay on that income? Some €32 billion. What are the total profits of the 170,000 businesses in this country? Some €318 billion. It is more than twice than what all the workers earn between them. How much … rich earn far more and pay far less in tax. Workers earn less and pay more between USC, excessive electricity and energy costs, carbon taxes, you name it. Profits go up for the super rich, they pay less tax and we get more billionaires, while workers are screwed

billion. An agency created in the depths of a financial crisis to manage what were essentially the worst excesses of the Irish property and banking sectors turned a profit of over €4 billion for the taxpayer. That was not the expectation of many commentators … were a country the international markets had effectively written off. The interest rates being demanded on our sovereign debt were excessive. The establishment of NAMA and, critically, its credible and professional operation over subsequent years were part of the signal to international investors that Ireland was serious

energy companies to rake in enormous profits at the expense of working people and families. Sinn Féin's legislation seeks to finally bring fairness and accountability into the energy market. It seeks to strengthen the powers of the regulator, rein in excessive electricity price hikes and ensure greater

facilitate evictions, throwing renters to the wolves while protecting the profits of vulture funds. The Government should be standing up for these renters, banning rent increases and no-fault evictions, and closing loopholes which allow excessive service charges to rise out of control and out of affordability

community. They are not opposed to capital gains tax in principle but a 33% rate on a property they are not selling is excessive by any measure. The reality is stark. Their child is now considering emigrating, leaving behind a good job, because they do not want their … properties or speculative assets. In many cases, the property is the only significant asset a family has and the intention is not for profit but for continuity, stability and giving the next generation a foothold in the housing market. We already have models that balance support with safeguards

behaviour of these maniacs that has created the problems we are experiencing. The problems here in Ireland are even greater because of our excessive reliance on fossil fuels. We cannot keep subsidising high fossil fuel prices or continue relying on fossil fuels for a couple of different reasons … visibility in the context of a potential activation of certain supports during another energy shock is intriguing. Why would we tell highly profitable fossil fuel energy companies that regardless of the increases they impose on consumers, we are going to subsidise that and every household anyway? That does

disappointed that the Social Democrats, in particular, supported the Government on this Bill. Only 15 Labour Party, Green Party and People Before Profit, PBP, TDs voted against it. It is easy to say we want to protect and promote our biodiversity but we also have to vote … repeatedly warned about declining water quality in rivers and estuaries, particularly due to nutrient pollution associated with intensive agriculture and wastewater failures. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus are fuelling eutrophication, algal blooms and oxygen depletion in aquatic ecosystems. That is why the EU nitrates directive exists. It was introduced

literally a game of bluff. If they were poker players, they would be very good at winning. To allow somebody to get that excessive control is wrong so there has to be transparency with regard to that, there need to be very clear rules of engagement and that … figure is 69% on average over two years. The figure for the radio station in my area is 2.8% of turnover - not profit. We are talking about nearly 3% of turnover. That is a huge levy and that is on top of all the other overheads that have