Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We discussed the issue of fuel poverty on Committee Stage. I agree with Deputy Michael McGrath that this is a poverty issue. Some people will not be impacted on by this increase in the price of a bag of coal or a bale of briquettes, but others will. They do not have a range of options such as being able to fill their tank with oil and turn on the heating. As I said at the finance committee, even those who have central heating - not every house does - may not have thermostat controls to allow them to turn off the radiators in different rooms. They cannot afford to keep all rooms warm or even at a reasonable temperature. That is what it has come down to for many individuals.

In recent days I have been talking to people in my constituency and others. I was on the campaign trail with Darren O'Rourke yesterday in Meath East where I advised a person to apply for the winter fuel allowance rebate from Britain as a result of the European Court of Justice ruling that anybody in receipt of a British pension, including a partial pension, could avail of that allowance, which is between £100 and £300, as long as they submitted the application before the end of March. I am aware there is anger in Britain that the Irish can keep their homes warm as a result of funding from its Exchequer, as well as people in France, Spain and elsewhere, but that is the ruling and of what people can avail. It has come as a huge relief to people because keeping their homes warm this winter is a source of serious concern for them. We have a fuel allowance for people in receipt of social welfare payments, but in Britain there is just one simple payment in the winter period.

If we take the example of somebody who heats his or her house for just half the year using two bags of coal per week, the increase on a bag of coal as a result of this measure will be €2.50, or an extra €5 per week for the person concerned. That amounts to €130 for half the year. We should not forget that they may have to heat their home during the spring and summer. This means that if they had a budget for heating their house last year and only have the same budget this year, they will have to go without heat for four and a half weeks. That is the impact of this measure. As I said, some people will be able to absorb it without blinking an eye, but others will have to do with less heat. That is the reality.

This is not about changing behaviour because people have cut their expenses to the bone; they are rationing the coal they put on the fire and cannot afford to install a different type of heating system in their homes. There are supports available from the State, some of which are very good in terms of the grant required to carry out the work, but one has to spend a substantial amount of money before one can avail of the grant and that is beyond their means.

This tax is wrong and was not poverty proofed. It would have been common sense and the right thing to do to poverty proof this measure. An impact assessment should have been made to determine how this measure would contribute to fuel poverty and the impact on people's health and well-being. At a very minimum, there should have been compensatory measures to deal with that part of it. This is dressed up as a carbon tax that will be good for the environment and so on, but it is a serious issue because when the price of fuel and the cost of heating one's home is increased, fuel poverty kicks in. This is a live issue. Those of us in this House may not understand it with the salaries we are on, but it is an issue that affects people across our communities the length and breadth of the State and this measure will exacerbate it.

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