Following today's announcement by Bord Gais of a 34% increase in the price of gas, Green Party councillor, Deirdre deBurca said:

"The Government must react to this shocking rise in gas prices with a radical new energy programme that will promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

"This Government has failed utterly to protect the Irish people from high energy prices. Oil and gas prices are inextricably linked and they are only going in one direction as we approach a peak in global oil supplies.

"A large percentage of customers are using gas to heat their home. Green Party councillors are engaged in a process in the local authorities they are on to set new building standards that would cut those heating bills in half. I succeeded in having these higher standards adopted in a recent Local Area Plan for Wicklow Town and will be proposing similar changes to all of the new development plans that come before Bray Town Council and Wicklow County Council in the future. Those standards must now be applied to every single new building that is constructed in this country.

"The Committee for Energy Regulation has blindly ignored the Green Party’s advice on the need to move away from gas-fired power stations. Eight new such power plants have been built in recent years. We need a radical rethink of our whole power generation business so we do not become any more dependent on gas supplies.

"In addition to the recent price increases, we are facing into further problems this winter as North Sea oil and gas supplies, on which we are dependent, are now depleting at some 10% per annum. And there is no open energy market to ensure we have access to supplies from more distant sources.

"Today's price increases are going to be a further shock to customers who are already reeling from a 25% increase this year. Finally the Government must help lower-income families who are already facing severe fuel poverty", she said.