Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to address something I would like to think the Minister of State is aware of, which makes me very disappointed that he is prepared to do nothing about it. Perhaps he is not aware of it. Every winter, in homes up and down the State, people do not get formally disconnected but many people are on a meter because they have fallen into arrears.

The Minister of State will acknowledge we are in the grip of a cost of living crisis. While he may not want to acknowledge the part he played in the crisis, it certainly exists and outside of the walls of this House, in real life, we know it is affecting people. Due to the cost of living, people fall behind in the payment of their electricity bills and are put on a meter system. They must pay back some of the money they owe and heat their home. The day before payday for low-income workers can often be the day they have to put on both extra jumpers and a coat, while indoors, when it gets very cold. That is absolutely reprehensible. This Government needs to reach out to those people. Every day of the week, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul or other charities give people money to keep their homes warm, which is a basic need. I do not know how people tell their kids that they cannot turn on the electricity or the heating. There must be real and meaningful action taken on this. These people want to play their part, but what they hear from the Government is that they can play their part by being freezing cold for one or two days a week. That is not good enough.

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