Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Government answer to this motion is not just "Suck it up, we are doing enough". Many have stated already that at this point in time there are 475,364 people on the PUP. In my constituency of Louth this is 15,141, which is a huge number of people who are in a situation they had not anticipated. Many of these people had never been in this situation before. We have all heard the stories about fuel poverty over the years and it needs to be addressed. We need to act on this now.

We are in the middle of a serious pandemic. In the last week, Dr. David Nabarro of the World Health Organization, WHO, said that the states that do better are those that give supports to the people. This is a very small request and a small mitigation that can facilitate people on the PUP to gain the fuel allowance. Heat is an absolute necessity. We have asked people to work from home if they can and we have given people who cannot work the support of the pandemic unemployment payment. It is fair to ensure that they are able to stay in a properly heated home.

I wish to address what the Minister said. Sinn Féin has no difficulty. It believes the Department of Social Protection can work out household payments. I do not believe the Department will have a particular difficulty if the Minister wishes to change this. We must ensure that the 15-month exclusion for the PUP is removed, that there is a double payment in February and that households that are in fuel poverty can avail of the fuel allowance payment. If the Minister and the Department of Social Protection wish to work with Deputy Kerrane on this, we would be open to that because it is about delivery for people.

I also wish to briefly address Deputy Bruton's comments. We want to have a fit-for-purpose retrofitting system. With regard to local authority housing, the problem in Louth County Council is the fact that its maintenance budget is too low because there is insufficient money from the Government.

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