Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to present my first Bill to the Dáil with my colleagues, Deputies O'Rourke and Kerrane. I welcome that it is to the benefit of people living with the dread of disconnection from gas and electricity. These are not the days of the glimmer man. This is 2021. We have a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Heat and light are basics of security for life in this modern State of ours. Every year, thousands of hard-working families and pensioners face disconnection in the middle of winter. This must be stopped. In 2019 alone, we had almost 7,000 disconnections, leaving people unnecessarily cold, distressed and humiliated. This Bill will give people certainty and security that they will not be cut off in the winter months when their need is greatest and their fear deepest. People in financial distress need security that they will not be disconnected. Disconnection from gas and electricity brings embarrassment and wholly unnecessary shame on families.

Energy poverty is experienced by too many. That it exists at all impoverishes us all as a people and a State. The sudden inability to pay utilities can happen to any of us and we must be assisted and not punished when it happens. I am extremely grateful that this Bill will give those people dignity.

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