Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Minister to come back to me regarding the reasons for the refusals. A number of issues jump out in her reply. Measuring fuel poverty is difficult and how it is done is not satisfactory. I met pensioners yesterday who were former semi-State workers with RTÉ and the ESB. They cannot afford to keep their houses warm due to the pension levy applied to their pensions and because there has been absolutely no increase in those pensions since 2008. This is a separate subject but it is an indicator that the rate of fuel poverty goes beyond the measurements used by the State or the ESRI. The money spent on retrofitting is paltry to say the least. Given that we have a climate emergency, €52.8 million is paltry and the increase of €2 will barely cover the increase in carbon taxes these people will face in travel and other expenses in heating their homes. It is like someone splitting their head and being given a plaster. I ask the Minister to comment on that and tell me exactly how she is going to proceed.

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