Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Significant numbers of older people die of hypothermia because they cannot afford to heat their homes during winter. The number of recorded deaths in this regard has increased in recent years. There is no getting around that what the Minister is proposing exacerbates that situation. I would like to hear the Minister's response to this issue. Organisations representing the elderly make this point year-on-year. What is proposed in this Bill will worsen a situation that is already unacceptable for elderly people. As I stated earlier, this increase taken in conjunction with the reduction in the period in respect of which the fuel allowance is paid, will hurt. Elderly people may die as a result of it. This is a serious issue.

I ask that the Minister and Government give serious consideration to the issue of alternative solid fuels that are CO2 neutral, including logs, and expansion of that sector. People must have alternatives. If the cheapest way people can heat their home is to light a fire in a fireplace then they must be offered alternatives that are not damaging to the environment. Log burning is an alternative that is carbon-neutral because trees act as a carbon sink. There is a need to look at and develop this sector in the context of providing logs cheaply to people as an alternative to coal, briquettes and so on.