Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I support the concept of this amendment. Targets were set in the programme for Government that will not be met, unless there are significant jumps in the rates of payment next year and the following two years. The adequacy of payments are also linked to this amendment to some extent, when determining the benchmarks against which the rates can be measured. The Government currently tends to rely on the overall inflation figure, rather than the issues that most affect people on social welfare. Two of those issues are the dramatic rises in the cost of fuel and the rise in the cost of food. I know fuel has come down somewhat in the past few weeks but people have not seen that everywhere as yet. I hope the decreases in the price of diesel and other energy supplies will last but we do not know that they will.

This year we have already seen electricity prices rise by 17.5%, gas prices by 20% and similar increases in home heating oil. Such rises, along with the rise in the cost of fuel, are much higher than inflation and must be taken into account when assessing the value of social welfare payments. They are not taken into account currently. An interesting study was done by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland, which we have quoted before on the energy poverty issue. It published a study yesterday on people's options which reiterates what Age Action Ireland has stated, in that people will make the choice between heat or eat — fuel and food — in homes this winter.

Outlining figures as to what people are getting currently does not deal with the reality. The institute's report links cost factors to the issue of fuel poverty — as well as obesity — because of the choices people are making as a consequence of the income they have. This amendment relates to those issues and from that perspective, I support it.

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