Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I thank my colleagues in the Labour Party and all the other Members who contributed to this debate. I sensed across the House concern about people at risk of fuel poverty. Winter is setting in. There are people alive today who will die this winter because the conditions they live in are too cold or damp. Winter mortality levels in Ireland are particularly high but we can do something to save lives if we deal with the problem in a coherent way. Regrettably, the Government is not doing so.

There have been between 2,000 and 2,500 electricity disconnections per month this year and 4,000 by Bord Gáis. The most extraordinary aspect of this is that VAT is paid on every disconnection. The coffers of the State benefit from what is happening.

The Minister of State, Deputy White, is speaking tonight on behalf of her party. The Green Party has been subject to some criticism to the effect that its Ministers are out of touch. That is a little unfair in that the Government as a whole is out of touch, regrettably it is not just the Green party. This happens when Ministers are in warm offices and driven around - the Greens are very good at being driven around - in heated cars.

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