Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

Social measures to alleviate energy and fuel poverty are welcome. I will be looking to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, to announce a dramatic panel of proposals on the first Wednesday in December.

However, the operation of this in practice is rather different and I will give the Minister of State an example. The Minister of State mentioned some of the measures Bord Gáis Éireann will take and how kind it will be to customers. In light of the cut-offs some consumers experienced and the way in which some estates were dealt with during the refurbishment programme on the north side of Dublin recently, BGE and its contractors were anything but responsive.

The Health Service Executive has a programme of home insulation operating on the north side of Dublin. Funding was provided for this in last year's budget to an organisation called Eastern Community Works. It is a company of the old northern area health board and its funding for insulating homes for seniors and vulnerable families ran out at the end of April. Such was the demand last winter that its funding lasted only four months. Many families who sought resources last winter will face into this winter without the work having been carried out — their houses are still cold.

The Government did not provide the alleviating moneys to carry out this work. When I tried to raise this in the House, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, did not want to know about it. We now effectively have a regulator for health, namely, the Health Service Executive and Professor Brendan Drumm. Professor Drumm is now effectively the Minister for Health and Children and he is assisted by Mr. Lennon, who sends us nice press releases on the health service almost daily. I cannot raise this issue with anyone. When I approached the HSE, it said that it was up to Eastern Community Works to spend the money in a different way. Although the money ran out in April, the HSE expected the organisation to spread the money over 12 months. Sufficient resources have not been made available and that is why I am seeking market-based solutions. I also want the regulator to take account of the 20% of the public that lives in fuel poverty.

The Minister of State referred to the Green Paper a number of times. It contains just one page on fuel poverty; there are six lines in the main part of the document and three quarters of a page elsewhere. The alleviation of poverty for low income families has been one of the tenets of my party throughout its history. It is a central reason for the existence of my party and we are determined to bring this forward into the area of energy. As I told the wind energy delegation that met the joint committee, while we welcome renewable and sustainable energies we will not allow the poorest people in society to carry the can for it. This is not the way it can be, or will be, done. If we want a proper sustainable energy programme, it must be spread fairly among all sections of society. The only way to do this is by building in market mechanisms and putting in place market supervision, such as the Commission on Energy Regulation.

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