Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I find it peculiar that one third of the Minister's answer relates to community welfare officers as a question I tabled for today on the community welfare service was disallowed because it does not come under the Minister's responsibility. To deal with the question in hand, I very much disagree with the Minister. Does she not see and appreciate the difficulty in asking people on low incomes and those in receipt of social welfare to bear the brunt of the type of weather we have had in recent weeks? Certainly, it is unfair to ask them in general - the Minister has not done so - to conserve energy when they do so on such a limited budget.

Was the Minister involved in the emergency committee established to deal with the bad weather? Did the committee consider the difficulties being experienced by people on low incomes and on social welfare as a result of requiring far more fuel than normal? The renewed programme for Government contained a commitment to publish a fuel poverty strategy by the end of last year. This has not been published. When are we likely to see it published? It was decided in the budget to introduce a carbon tax, which will have a significant impact on those in receipt of the fuel allowance. Does the Minister have any plans to alleviate the difficulties that will be experienced by people as a result of this?

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