Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My constituency has a varied demographic, particularly with regard to age. We have areas with a high percentage of elderly people and other areas that have a young population, with young families, single parents and so on. The constituency also has areas of economic disadvantage with high unemployment rates and families struggling to put food on the table for their children. There are also areas of the constituency that are more affluent. A number of voluntary groups in Dublin North-West work to alleviate the everyday stresses of struggling families by providing them with food parcels, clothes for their children and other essentials. Ocras Éire is one such group that does tremendous work, helping families and individuals who are homeless or struggling to provide the most basic needs for their children.

One of the most important things to provide for your family, apart from food, is a warm and comfortable home. For this to happen, it is essential for families and households to have access to an affordable supply of electricity or gas. Under normal circumstances, people in more vulnerable communities find it difficult to provide a consistent, economical or inexpensive form of energy, not just to heat their houses and apartments, but also to cook food and provide hot water for the household. It is now proving a real challenge for many families in my constituency to provide such a necessity and it greatly affects people's health and quality of life, especially the elderly.

The avalanche of price increases for electricity and gas since last year is set to continue into 2022.

This is grim news for low-income families and the unemployed who have been finding it difficult, to say the least, to make ends meet. The high rate of inflation, currently at 5.4%, is a 20-year high. Families that are already paying exorbitant energy bills will continue to do so for the foreseeable future with ever-increasing electricity and gas bills. According to Money Guide Ireland, a customer of Electric Ireland, the biggest electricity provider, would have an annual bill of €1,274 based on the average usage of 4,200 kW a year. Of course there would be an increase in the use of electricity during winter with the increased use of heaters and household utilities such as tumble dryers and washing machines. Electricity bills for winter would obviously be higher than in summer.

The Government proposes that all electricity customers, including pay-as-you-go customers, will receive a once-off payment of €100 off their energy bill, which will be automatically applied to their accounts. While this is welcome, the proposed payment is a drop in the ocean compared to the high energy bills households are already paying. It will make little difference to those vulnerable individuals and families who have to make the choice between heating the house or putting food on the table. The present arrangement that exists for people who are on disability allowance, old age pensions and other qualifying welfare payments is that they receive a discount of €35 a month on their energy costs. There are other similar allowances that can be availed of. I urge the Minister to increase such allowances substantially, particularly in view of the massive impact these energy bill increases are having on some of the most vulnerable in society. Realistically the once-off payment of €100 will not cushion the blow such increases in energy bills will have on these vulnerable people.

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