Ms Issy Petrie:

It is really important to highlight that energy poverty is a health issue as well. That is very much seen by SVP members in terms of not only the impact, as the Cathaoirleach said, of housing quality on people's health and the amount of energy you can afford and how warm you can afford to keep your home, but also the high levels of energy poverty among people with ill health. An important aspect of this to highlight is the mental health impact of the energy price crisis, which I think is coming up a lot for SVP members in terms of seeing people go through the distress of bills they know they just are not able to meet - those sums just will not add up - or, for those on prepay meters, just feeling like it is self-disconnection. The extreme self-rationing that can happen among people on prepay meters is becoming unavoidable. There is a great deal of distress and anxiety caused to people at the moment. Mental health and energy poverty are really closely linked. It is important to highlight those health impacts because tackling energy poverty, whether through the market, through incomes or through retrofitting, is also about investing in people's health and investing long-term in public health.