Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When it comes to the energy crisis, workers and families are really being failed by this Government. The Government announced a cost-of-living package back in February when inflation was at about 5.5%. For much of that time the Government added what was announced then with what was announced in the budget four months beforehand, which was the Government's cost-of-living budget. Throughout recent months, inflation has climbed to more than 9% and yet people are still waiting for help. Aside from the electricity credit, which by the time it was paid nearly five months after it was announced had been wiped out, the only other energy support that was announced was the fuel allowance. The fuel allowance is an extremely limited scheme. The vast majority of households, and particularly workers, are locked out of the fuel allowance. They do not receive it and they have never received it.

In June the additional needs payment was announced. It tweaked what was there in relation to the urgent needs payment. This was welcome. I welcomed it at the time. This, however, is one way in particular in which Government is failing households. This payment was widely promoted by Ministers. I would like to think that it was presumed obvious that demand for this payment would be high given that it was particularly aimed not just at those on social welfare but also at workers. Yet, the entire process around this emergency social welfare payment is up in a heap. Demand for that scheme in January or February was about 5,000 or 6,000 applications. As of July, it was more than 17,000 applications. Figures I received earlier this month from the Department of Social Protection show that 95% of current applications are taking between five to eight weeks to be finalised. Can the Minister imagine having a bill that cannot be paid in a household struggling and waiting up to two months for what is supposed to be an emergency payment? Before the Dáil recess, the Minister had said that the Department was giving consideration to putting that payment online as an option for people. That is still, apparently, being looked at by the Department. We need to return these payments to the community welfare officers within our communities if we are going to make sure that this support is available to people when they need it. Applications like that need to be resourced properly in order that people get support when they need it. If they are waiting for two months, it is no good. Clearly, demand for that scheme is going to increase. The proposals in this motion are exactly what is needed. They reduce costs and put money back into people's pockets. Existing supports that are there need to be resourced. Emergency social welfare payments cannot take two months to be processed.

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