Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As of last week over 12,000 people in my constituency of Longford-Westmeath were in receipt of the PUP. The vast majority of those 12,000 workers and families have never needed social welfare support previously and need it now solely because of this pandemic. The struggle to keep a warm roof over their heads is very real and so is their growing energy debt as they try to meet the cost of keeping their homes warm.

I want to highlight the case of one family for the Minister. Dad is a tradesman and Mam works in the home, caring for their small children. They are an average, hard-working family who always managed to keep their heads above water until this pandemic struck and Dad was laid off. For the first time ever, they could not even pay their rent. This family and countless others have survived this winter by begging and borrowing from friends, family and charities. Initially their local community welfare officer refused their application for an exceptional needs payment but eventually they were given a one-off payment to provide heat for a single week. They found themselves in the unprecedented and deeply distressing position of having to choose between spending their last €10 on food or on electricity. That week, food won and they sat in their kitchen in front of the oven for heat while the food cooked. This is not an isolated case. It is a reflection of the wider, very real lived experiences of people who are in need of urgent support.

I call on the Minister not only to heed the concerns being expressed here today, concerns that are echoed by Barnardos, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Free Legal Aid Centres, FLAC, but also to act on them. I urge her to extend the fuel allowance to workers in receipt of the PUP, suspend the 15-month qualifying exclusion period for jobseekers and provide a double-week payment for two weeks in February. A properly funded scheme for exceptional needs payments will assist not only those on the PUP but others who are fighting fuel poverty on an ongoing basis this year.

This payment is called an exceptional needs payment. We are living in exceptional times and these measures are needed now.

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