Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The Deputy would be aware that in addition to the household benefits package and the fuel allowance, we have 1,000 community welfare officers employed whose job is to assist people who may have exceptional needs in regard to fuel payments. We employ 1,000 people to do that at very significant cost to the taxpayer and it surprises me that the Deputy would not acknowledge the work the community welfare officers do to assist very vulnerable people who may have exceptional needs.

If an elderly person has an illness such as pneumonia and is hospitalised I would seriously hope that a Deputy like Deputy Boyd Barrett would be aware of the work of the community welfare officers at local level because in the event of anybody who is dependent on social welfare becoming very ill it might be that they would need additional assistance in respect of fuel. As I stated earlier, however, the best way we can all help older people is to ensure that their houses are better insulated because many older people's houses suffer extreme heat loss. In addition, the utility companies should be giving us a discount. Eircom did that in that it no longer charges for the rental of the telephone.

See this speech in context