Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

It is not easy to follow that. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue. There is no doubt that death can occur through fuel poverty. Ireland has among the highest energy prices in the EU added to by the recent price increase of 17.5% in electricity and a 20% rise in gas prices as recently as September of this year. This is creating serious energy poverty for at least 227,000 households in Ireland today. The frightening situation is that the Commission for Energy Regulation is actively considering further electricity and gas increases from January 2009 and the price of home heating oil has risen dramatically in recent years.

It is clear that in recent years, Ireland has suffered more severely from higher energy costs than our colleagues in other European countries. Only last year, I highlighted the fact that one company based in my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan was paying twice as much for its electricity as it was for a similar plant in France and had an almost similar situation at its other plant in Holland. This means that our Government should be making every effort to develop a joint energy market with the UK and integration with France and mainland Europe.

It is vital for our elderly and disabled who need so much heat and power that we minimise the cost factor at a time when it is more difficult to increase supports because of our financial difficulties. Another aspect I must touch on is that our county councils and HSE authorities no longer have funds to help people reconstruct and improve their houses to make them more acceptable for our elderly and disabled, particularly from a heat conservation point of view. People have been told they will receive a grant and to borrow the money from their credit unions as it will be paid next year.

Over the years, great work was carried out under the auspices of the health boards to ensure that essential repairs were carried out for the elderly and the disabled. In my constituency, an independent company was established which carried out such work at nominal costs to the elderly and disabled and at very good value to the State. Funding was withdrawn from this scheme last year and in principle the scheme was transferred to the local authorities. However, as has been stated, in reality no funds were made available. Under this scheme double glazed windows and roof repairs, including insulation, were carried out allowing many people to remain in their homes for a much longer period. I believe the winding up of this scheme will have serious implications for the future and will lead to much more pressure on the social housing sector within the council.

The Government can no longer advise that an essential repair scheme or a disabled grant is available when it has totally failed to fund county councils and other authorities to support the work. It would surely be cheaper for the Government to provide proper funding to insulate and improve houses rather than giving tax breaks to private builders to build nursing homes and fund the people through subvention to stay in them.

One other issue I must highlight tonight is the failure of the Government to realistically increase the living alone allowance over the years when money was plentiful as the amount of €7.70 is an absolute joke for some individuals, especially in rural Ireland where a person living alone must pay the same amount to heat a home as was paid to heat the same home for the entire family. The person must keep and maintain a car, if they are still able to drive, so as to avoid isolation.

If two people are living in that household their pension would be approximately €450 but if there is only one person the pension is only €225 plus €7.70 for fuel allowance. The person in those circumstances must live with less heat and possibly less food, particularly if the person is to retain his or her car and therefore retain some independence? I appreciate that in difficult times money is scarce and hard decisions have to be taken but I contend that the living alone allowance must be increased if people are to continue to live in their own private homes and not in long-term institutions.

I congratulate Deputies Simon Coveney and Olwyn Enright who have spelled out clearly how structures can be put in place and changed and funds obtained from unearned windfall profits. Fine Gael believes that the poor, the needy and those needing heat should be looked after, even in difficult times, and they should be a priority.

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