Mr. David Wright:

I will comment on fuel poverty because I deal with that issue. Fuel poverty has been squeezed between the starting and closing dates, the allowance and qualifications, but nobody took it away. It just grew. One is dealing with something exceptional here. We are saying that there is a citizens' entitlement which is for everybody. It is relatively well defined and the leaks side of it has a significant impact on that.

I would be the first to join in any nervousness because I am not happy with how the fuel poverty scheme is operating or how poverty is being managed generally, including for the low-waged in Ireland. I am not standing on that soap-box today, however.

Because we are looking at it as a citizens' entitlement and because we have some statistical data, from the forum's viewpoint - unless my members tell me otherwise - I have relative confidence in what is being proposed here. That is really all I can say.