Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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I generally agree with the points and critiques of Deputies Donnelly and Ó Cuív and, therefore, I will not repeat them. I will come in on two or three aspects I want to address with the Minister. Like everyone here, I support measures that help people make ends meet. Once-off payments are definitely welcome, as has been said. They are a huge relief for people who are desperately looking at Christmas, any other time of the year or at situations where they need a little extra, such as when a child is born, etc. It really helps. Once they are gone, however, people are back where they started. That is where I have grave criticisms of recent budgets.

I have two amendments to propose. One is that the Minister must, within six months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas on the cost and extent of the fuel allowance to those in receipt of the working family payment. That was probably one of Deputy Donnelly's questions the Minister did not answer. Will that be done? It relates to the energy crisis we have been seeing since 2019 and 2020.

We know the figures. In 2022 alone we had 377,400 unable to keep their houses warm; 450,000 who had gone without heating; and 469,000 people in utility arrears. The ESRI estimated that 29% of the country experienced energy poverty in 2022 and St. Vincent de Paul estimated that could be peaked at more than 40% of the country experiencing energy poverty. The Minister made the point about poverty at 3.7% and the hope the poverty rates go down to 2%. However, there are areas, particularly people in work, where we have seen increases across the board for rates of risk of poverty, deprivation and consistent poverty. In 2023, we saw large increases in work deprivation and consistent poverty. Part of this increase in work poverty is driven by energy. That has to be reviewed and a report needs to be brought back as to why the fuel allowance was not extended to working family payment recipients. I would like the Minister’s opinion on that.

The other area is the household benefits package. The €35 a month fuel part of it now barely covers the standing charge. That has to be reviewed. An increase to support people in the household benefits package needs to be looked at. The Minister mentioned she had constituents coming in. I have had a number of constituents coming in about that because it has been eaten away.

I welcome the provision of hot school meals, which are transformative for children.

I agree with Social Justice Ireland, which said that the pension should be index-linked. The trade unions have a campaign related to that.

That is what should be happening in respect of our basic payments. I ask the Minister to comment on those two matters.

On the energy payments, I think it was Deputy Pringle who said last night that he does not but if anybody had four or five houses, they would be getting €1,000 to €1,250 on those energy bonus payments whereas the working poor, as such, are not getting that support in the fuel allowance. I will leave it at that and I ask the Minister’s opinion on that.