It\u2019s concerning that the Environment Minister has not provided details of his meeting with energy companies a week on, according to Social Democrats environment spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWith great fanfare, it was announced that Environment Minister Darragh O\u2019Brien would be meeting with energy providers to discuss the cost of gas and electricity ahead of the winter months, and, crucially, Budget 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cA week on from that meeting, there has been no report, detail or announcement outlining its outcomes – the Minister hasn\u2019t said a word despite speaking in the D\u00e1il this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cMinister O\u2019Brien told the media that he would be reminding the four largest energy providers that they have a responsibility to ensure that the energy they’re providing is costed fairly and affordably, especially for vulnerable customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important that the Minister outlines how this reminder was received – efforts by the previous government to curb energy bills by engaging with the sector proved ineffective.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith more than 300,000 households in arrears on their electricity bills, further price rises will plunge already struggling energy customers deeper into crisis in the coming months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government must not allow energy companies to blame network costs for skyrocketing bills – the average \u20ac200 annual increase customers will face is way beyond the additional cost that energy companies are incurring.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need proper oversight and an end to light-touch regulation to stop the endless march of unfair price increases – the Social Democrats Alternative Budget contains a proposal to target energy credits at the lowest income households, as well as a postponement of the increase in VAT on domestic energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
October 3rd, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s concerning that the Environment Minister has not provided details of his meeting with energy companies a week on, according to Social Democrats environment spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore said: \u201cWith great fanfare, it was announced that Environment Minister Darragh O\u2019Brien would be meeting with energy providers to discuss the cost of gas and electricity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[735,650,539,727,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-budget-2026","category-cost-of-living","category-energy","category-environment","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n