Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not finished. I will go through them fast but I have many questions.

It was mentioned that the gas and electricity element was paid at a rate of €35 per month for 12 months. I wonder about that. When was the €35 per month last changed? The witnesses will probably not be able to give me the figures off the top of their heads – I am sure they will have a good idea – but will be able to send them on to us. How many units of electricity on average would that rate have bought when it was set? The basket is not that big, as it is a false market really.

They have this great competitive market the EU laid down and all the rest, but they are all buying the same wholesale electricity from the same wholesaler and the same electricity comes into your house. Over the long term, there is not that big of a difference in the prices of Airtricity, Electric Ireland and all of these. The Department might tell us how many units it is worth now compared to then, taking the change in the standing charge into account. There was a time when I knew a lot of pensioners who basically paid no electricity bills, but they are sure paying them now.

I have two final questions and I hope I am being brief. There are 5 million people in the State and only 950 of them need heating supplement. What criteria are applied to getting this heating supplement because at 950 people it is as rare as hen's teeth? I wonder what criteria are being assessed. I was also a little surprised that the additional needs payment only goes to 5,800 people in a year. Again, there are 5 million people in the State. I am glad it is only 5,800 because that would be a great sign there is nobody under financial stress at the moment. However, it is not what we have been hearing all morning with people not able to pay heating bills and whatever. What criteria are applied to that 5,800 because we need to look at these figures to try to get to the bottom of them? Something does not hang together between what we were hearing in the first half of the meeting and what we are hearing in the second half.