Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

The strategy is clearly failing because people are suffering as a result of fuel poverty. There are 20 Ministers of State and half of us do not know what they do or even if they know themselves. Could one of them not take the lead in this regard? The Minister does not seem to accept that everyone is only taking responsibility for the small bit that relates to his or her Department. In answer to my earlier priority question, the Minister spoke about the inefficiency of heating and the need to deal with the amount of heat escaping from houses as a result of bad insulation etc., which is true. However, because it is not in her Department, the Minister might not be aware that in the past five years only 9,000 houses were able to benefit from improvements in that regard, whereas tens of thousands of houses have such problems.

Again, because it is not in her Department, the Minister might not be aware that the vast proportion of grants paid by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government are to people building new houses or those who can afford to install green energy systems such as solar panels. The people most affected by fuel poverty, the single-income households and the elderly, have not been able to avail of these grants. Will the Minister co-ordinate with the other Departments — I do not mind whether it has a secretariat — to establish a strategy before the budget to ensure the issue is addressed rather than just discussed?

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