Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

No Member on either side of this House is unaware of the problems emanating from such a high percentage of family homes at present. I have listened to Members refer to the warmer homes scheme and I agree that the number of people in towns in south County Kildare such as Athy, Newbridge or Kildare who have installed a system is highly positive. A drawback to the scheme is that many people who have a small pension, etc., do not qualify for the fuel allowance scheme and consequently do not qualify for this grant. This is to the scheme's detriment because it is doing such good work in making provision for families. However, someone with a small post office pension or small occupational pension and who did not qualify for the fuel allowance scheme does not qualify for this scheme. Consequently, those who wish to avail of the grant must make down payments. Hopefully this will be addressed.

In his contribution, the Minister for Social Protection spoke of one-parent families and the major problems they encounter in life when trying to provide for their loved ones in the present economic climate. This is one sector of the community that requires assistance at present. Moreover, according to the stories recounted by the director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, such problems can emanate right down to local branches of that society nationwide and each branch has its back to the wall when trying to provide for vulnerable people within their respective communities. We have learned of the energy regulator's proposal to make people pay their energy bills by imposing a reconnection fee of €200. Who will pay that €200? This is the amazing thing about regulators and their wonderful flair for developing theories in their own mind. Such reconnection fees will be paid for by either the Society of St. Vincent de Paul or a community welfare officer and in the case of the latter, it will come from State funding. These families will be put through the mill while trying to get that €200 to ensure there is light and heat in the house and that something will be ready for the kids when they come home from school. While the regulator has been wonderful in his assessment of what he has done to ensure they will suffer, it will be the kids in those families who will suffer and not the regulator in his big high office.

In the context of the difficulties arising from our present economic difficulties, I refer to the insistence by the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, that Bord Gáis and the ESB must spend €80 million to rebrand and rename themselves. When one considers what could be done with such an amount for one-parent families and senior citizens with regard to the matter under discussion, it is a sacrilege that the energy regulator should be allowed to get away with this proposal. I appeal to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to invite representatives of the commission before it. They should be put through the mill to explain why this should happen at a time when the energy regulator is making families suffer because they are unable to meet the reconnection payment requirements. The children of those families will suffer because of the fine - which is the only way one can describe this fee - of €200 being imposed on families to be reconnected to gas or electricity supplies.

I note that a statement regarding Bord Gáis talks about how 59% of the households being disconnected are in private estates. However, that figure is not relevant because many local authority estates are not connected to the gas lines. It is merely a figure Bord Gáis came up with itself. Only Members of this House are familiar with the hardship being experienced by families nationwide while trying to ensure there is heat and electricity in the house. Consequently, Members should stand up and be counted in opposition to the expenditure the regulator is imposing on every family in this country both to rebrand the ESB and Bord Gáis and in respect of the proposed fine to have one's electricity or gas supply reconnected. The aforementioned joint committee should invite representatives of the CER before it and should ensure that these two matters will be addressed in order that funding and facilities will be made available to families to ensure they will not be scapegoated by the energy regulator's high-flying ideas.

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