Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I am happy to speak on the motion. With my colleagues in the Labour Party, I commend and strongly support Fine Gael in this regard. It is a timely issue given that anybody walking over from Leinster House 2000 this evening will have noticed the nip in the air and the fact that now, on 1 October, it has become quite cold. We are all in the fortunate position that we can go home to our warm centrally-heated homes and the cold is never really an issue for us at home because we can afford to provide adequate heat. Unfortunately, that is not the case for many people in this country, which is why there is such concern among a number of different groups about the major issue of fuel poverty.

It is an issue the Government needs to address. Having listened to the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, I will not be holding my breath waiting for her to deal with it. She displayed a distinct lack of appreciation of the extent of the problem and the extent of the poverty which many people are suffering. I will go into that later. There is undoubtedly an argument for putting in place a good anti-fuel poverty strategy. We need to tackle this in a cross-departmental way, as the problem has been ignored for far too long. Without a fuel poverty strategy, poor people will continue to die prematurely from the cold. In the context of an economy that has been booming for the past ten years and a situation where there was more money than the Government knew what to do with, it is absolutely scandalous that so many people live in poverty and that this year so many people will die because of their inability to provide enough fuel to heat their homes. Age Action Ireland indicates that the country experiences between 1,500 and 2,000 more deaths in winter than in summer. The Institute of Public Health in Ireland estimates that approximately 44% of the excess number of deaths can be directly attributed to poor housing standards. In real terms that amounts to 652 deaths on an annual basis. That is 652 people who die predominantly because of their poverty and because they are unable to provide for their own heating needs.

The latest poverty deprivation statistics indicate that one in 11 people who lives alone went without heating at some stage in the previous 12 months because of a lack of money. That amounts to a whopping 28% of lone-parent households. By any standards that is a scandal. The most recent analysis conducted by Sustainable Energy Ireland has put the fuel poverty figure at around 10% of homes. The ESRI has indicated that the percentage of houses in fuel poverty is currently between 15% and 20%. The Money Advice and Budgeting Service has recorded a massive increase — almost a doubling — in the amount owed by its clients to utility companies. When one looks at the detail, one discovers that in the first quarter of 2006 that figure amounted to €864,000 but in the first quarter of this year it amounted to €1.5 million. The situation would be much worse if it was not for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which has reported an increasing number of people approaching it who simply cannot manage to heat their homes because of the increase in fuel costs. Were it not for the work done by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul that figure of 652 premature deaths per year would be even higher.

The situation is likely to get worse because electricity costs have increased by 25% since December 2006 and 11.2% in the past year alone with another increase of 17.5% from this month, and the possibility of further increases. The figures trotted out by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Hanafin, and the response from speakers on the Government benches seem to completely ignore the increases across all fuel types. Home heating oil is the worst. It has increased by 40% in the past year and by 50% since December 2006. Gas has increased by 20% in the past few weeks alone, with the possibility of further increases.

There is a glaring need for a clear strategy. It is not enough to just compartmentalise the issue as the responsibility of one Minister or another, because it crosses a number of different Departments. That is why so many different agencies working with the poor are calling for a national fuel strategy. The Government seems to be all over the place on the issue. The Department of Social and Family Affairs, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, the Department of Health and Children, the Commission for Energy Regulation, Sustainable Energy Ireland and countless other organisations all have a role to play in such a strategy but, currently, all act in isolation and often in contradiction to each other. The White Paper on energy recommended that an interdepartmental group on fuel poverty be set up by the end of 2007, but progress is painfully slow.

The emphasis of current pensions policy is to encourage people to save for the future. The idea is that people put away money during their working years in order to provide for their retirement. However, when people retire now those who are on modest incomes find they are denied the fuel allowance because of the very pension the Government wanted them to take out in the first place. That flies in the face of good pension policy, which is about providing for the future. It seems the way the fuel allowance rules operate is that where people have tried to be self-sufficient to the greatest extent possible and where they have a relatively small occupational pension in addition to their social welfare pension they lose out on a fuel allowance. That is very unfair because of the low level of income disregard that currently applies.

Earlier this year my colleague, Deputy McManus, produced a Bill to compel the Minister to draw up a strategy on fuel poverty and to set targets. A strategy is all the more important now as it could tie in with the need to find work for thousands of construction workers who have recently been laid off. There is a perfect match between available workers and the large number of homes that leave much to be desired from the point of view of insulation and energy efficiency. In many poor quality homes that were built in recent decades the heat literally goes out the window, the walls and the roof. There is an imperative to provide greater insulation, especially in older people's homes. The Labour Party has already referred to the matter on several occasions and we, again, urge the Government to consider taking on that proposal to set up a national insulation scheme in order to tackle the poor insulation standards in many homes. That would deal with the rising levels of unemployment by providing alternative work for many construction workers who find themselves out of work. It would also be very cost effective in terms of conserving energy in people's homes and helping them to reduce their energy bills.

The Government must increase the fuel allowance by €12 per week and extend the payment for a greater part of the year. The threshold for the allowance must be tapered so that the current poverty trap is eradicated. Pensioners should have the option of receiving the allowance in two lump sums to help those with high home heating oil bills. That is a big issue where people are dependent on oil, where, for example, no gas is available. It is very difficult for people to pay their oil bills and two payments could facilitate them to do so.

Another relevant issue is the inequity in the current assistance provided by the Government to people with high home heating oil bills. The Minister needs to re-examine the rules for the household benefits package. Currently, the system works to the disadvantage of people with oil-fired central heating, as they can only avail of free electricity credits. However, people with gas central heating can avail of either free gas credits or free electricity credits. Depending on energy prices, gas credits can be worth far more than electricity credits so the amount of State assistance offered to one pensioner can be less than to another. That is a ridiculous situation when home heating oil has risen by 40% in the past year. The Minister needs to re-examine the benefit so that where bills are high all pensioners can avail of the same amount of assistance.

We need to give attention to properly financed local authority home improvement schemes. Only claims by pensioners with a disability or other medical condition will be entertained by most local authorities. Pensioners who enjoy any degree of fitness — regardless of the condition of their home, whether they have central heating, double glazing and so on — will not have their applications for home improvements accepted. This is because the new grants scheme that was set up earlier this year has not been funded by central Government. As a result, people cannot access grants to improve their heating provision. Likewise, Energy Action does excellent work in insulating attics and homes generally, but there is a long waiting list for its services.

We cannot await the implementation of budgetary measures for changes to be made. The Minister, Deputy Hanafin, has provided cold comfort to people who are hoping for improvements. Unless action is taken, more than 652 people could die this year simply because of the failure of the Government to prioritise this issue. In a country in which there is so much wealth, that is an absolute scandal.

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