Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I attended a briefing by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul last week in Buswells Hotel. The society has produced a major report, one of the findings of which points to the significant pressure on people at home all day, particularly the elderly, owing to the cost of energy. We heard about people who are choosing to go to bed at 7 p.m. so as not to have to sit up and shiver.

Those who are least likely to be able to shift from one company to another are those in arrears because the new rules appear to suggest one cannot move from one company to another and leave one's arrears behind. People in this category do not have the scope of those who can pay their bills.

Let me outline my motivation for my question and also the question I really want to ask. Competition between the energy providers is internal. Bearing in mind that this is a very small country, is there any question of a more collaborative approach between the energy providers in terms of purchasing, such as that adopted by the National Treasury Management Agency in negotiating a better currency arrangement? There is no point in telling someone there has not been any increase since 2008 and that there have been decreases, because an increase of 22% is horrific for people under serious pressure.

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