Dáil debates

Wednesday, 13 October 2010

8:00 pm

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

In his budget speech last December, the Minister for Finance committed to a vouched fuel allowance scheme for low income families to offset the carbon levy. No such scheme has materialised. In a reply to a parliamentary question asked on 19 January, the then Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Hanafin, stated: "Before the tax is applied to fuels for home heating, arrangements are being made to assist those most at risk of fuel poverty." She clearly stated that assistance would be provided before the tax was imposed on home heating and not just on solid fuels, as the Taoiseach mistakenly claimed this morning.

During Question Time on 20 April, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Ó Cuív, indicated that he would receive a report from the interdepartmental group by the end of April. Six months later, there is still no outcome. On his own website, the Minister declared that the interdepartmental working group was to report to Government by the end of June to allow for any proposed measures to be implemented when the heating season starts again at the end of September. We are now beyond that point, and still we have heard nothing. What is taking the interdepartmental committee so long?

Even today, the Government's amendment to the motion does not mention fuel vouchers. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources did not refer to them last night. This morning the Taoiseach stated that vouchers will not be introduced until the carbon levy is imposed on solid fuels. The goalposts are being moved. Ten months after the budget day announcement, the Government has not yet developed a plan to help the poorest in our society deal with the cost of the carbon levy.

The fact of the matter is that budget 2010 was littered with half-baked measures announced without first working out how they would be implemented, chief among which was the carbon levy. The Government should not have introduced the levy without a plan to offset its effects on those who cannot afford to heat their homes. It was the act of a stubborn and reckless Administration. The failure of the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to even mention the matter in his amendment reveals how out of touch his party and Fianna Fáil have become. Some 340,000 households in this country receive fuel allowance. As it is a condition of the scheme that recipients must be on social welfare payments, we are discussing the poorest cohort of people in the country. For the thousands of households that are reliant on oil and gas for heat, the carbon levy has resulted in a significant extra cost. The households are not just paying extra via the carbon levy because, owing to some inane EU ruling, they are also paying VAT on that levy. For many, it has come at a time when their basic social welfare payment has been reduced.

The cost of home heating oil, which was already on the increase, rose by nearly 9% as a result of the carbon levy alone. The Taoiseach should note this has contributed to a 27% increase in the cost of home heating oil in the past year and a staggering rise of 124% since the start of 2007. Perhaps the Taoiseach will correct the record in view of his misinformed comments this morning.

Many more poor families, including thousands who would be considered the working poor, do not qualify for a fuel allowance because they are not in receipt of a social welfare payment. Since they do not get a fuel allowance, they are also excluded from the warmer homes scheme. Their income is generally too low to be able to afford the works under the home energy savings scheme so they are caught on both fronts. These are the people who pay for everything but get very little in return. The Government is not interested in people in these circumstances.

When the Government is coming to a decision, whenever that may be, I urge it to consider a proposal put forward by Active Retirement Ireland to the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs earlier this year. At that meeting, it was suggested that home heating oil should be added to the categories covered under the household benefit package. The current structure of the scheme disadvantages people who rely on oil for their home heating. Allowances under this package are currently available in respect of electricity, gas and bottled gas, but not oil. Given that the carbon levy has impacted most on users of oil, this suggestion really is worth considering.

It is time the Government delivered on its promise to produce a fuel poverty strategy. The litany of missed deadlines and forgotten commitments is the reason we are debating this motion. The measures have been agreed by Cabinet and were to be introduced long before now. We are not asking the Government to do anything it does not agree with or anything it cannot afford. We are simply asking it to do what it promised it would do. We have yet another reason to ask why this Government is still in power. It has clearly lost all interest in the people it is meant to be serving. Sadly, the promise to produce a fuel poverty strategy is yet another broken promise.

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