Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cathaoirleach for letting me contribute even though I am not a permanent member of this committee. I have been listening online to the contributions and statements this morning. Last week, I raised the issue of warmer homes. I note the witnesses have a meeting with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and I wish them well with it. The Minister needs to come up with better answers than he has given me to date. All I get is that spending has increased from €40 million to €210 million. It seems like the more money that goes in, the less affordable it is for people who desperately need it.

I will raise palliative care. One cannot really suggest that, as Deputy Ó Cuív said, constituents will come into our offices and we will ask them to give us something in writing to guarantee they will not live any more than two years. Is that where we are when we have an €8 billion budget surplus? That needs to be brought home to the Minister, Deputy Ryan. We cannot do that and we would refuse do it on ethical grounds anyway. We can ask here today whether any of us can guarantee we will be alive tomorrow. We cannot guarantee that. Why then are we excluding people who are in palliative care? That is what we are doing in respect of the warmer homes scheme.

According to the SEAI, a pre-works BER takes eight to ten months from application; a survey takes approximately 14 months from application; works are completed in approximately 24 to 26 months; and a post-works BER takes approximately two to three months after the works are completed. That is crazy. We are spending all that money and we cannot look after the most vulnerable. I know the witnesses know that. I acknowledge and thank them for the work they do on this. We would not have an opportunity to talk about it this morning if they were not here. We have to find another way around it and it the Minister who has to find it. If the SEAI will not prioritise people in the warmer homes scheme, surely it should be enough to just say that somebody is in palliative care without going into their intimate personal details. Hopefully, people will come out of palliative care and will have better outcomes. We hope all of the time that people will have better outcomes. Surely, that should be sufficient. We need to put it to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, that if somebody says they are in palliative care, they should surely be eligible for funding.

If the Department is not going to make these people eligible for funding for insulation works and other works they need – they are not looking for deep retrofits in the main, as Deputy Ó Cuív said – the local authorities should be made responsible for this. Let housing aid for older people or housing aid for people with disabilities come under the local authorities. Let us not have all of these most vulnerable trapped in the middle of these schemes while the Government pats itself on the back for it. In all honesty, as public representatives, we cannot do what we are being asked to do and I would not expect the witnesses to advocate that we do it either.

Is there anything else the witnesses wish to say on the warmer homes scheme or whether it could be transferred to local government? In the other scheme – the better energy scheme – there is a funding gap that people are expected to bridge. Is there another means by which that money can be paid so that the warmer homes scheme achieves an outcome but it is done quicker? It seems that if you have money, you can have it done quicker. Is there anything more the witnesses wish to say? I wish to also ask about medical cards and transport.