Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is important to put on the record that all the measures I have just mentioned, especially regarding the fuel allowance for many hundreds of thousands of households around the country who benefit to the tune of €914 from October to next April, are funded through the carbon tax. Those who oppose the carbon tax are trying to reduce the Government's ability to assist those households. We must be consistent. If we want funding to help people with the rising costs of energy, we must raise it through a carbon tax. It is important that we have support in the House when it comes to raising the expenditure in order that we have the funds available to spend on those measures. People in receipt of the fuel allowance will get the €100 I have just mentioned as well.

The ESRI has shown in a recent report that if people shop around and change their electricity supplier, the average household can save more than €300 on its electricity bill per annum. I encourage people to shop around as an immediate way of getting a better price for electricity.

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