Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion and the opportunity to speak on and debate this issue. Unfortunately it is not the first time we have debated this issue and it will not be the last time we do so. Each time we have these debates and discussions the crisis is bigger for people. The Government's responses have failed to meet the needs of those people and the crisis gets worse and worse. Those who are in energy poverty are unable to cope and the reality is that more and more families are entering energy poverty, inevitably leading to a rise in overall poverty rates in this country. Two weeks ago Barnardos produced a stark report, revealing that one quarter of families fear they will not be able to feed their children as rising costs make it harder to put food on the table. That is the reality for many families around the country. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has revealed that the number of requests for help with fuel in February 2022 has increased by a staggering 497% on the same period last year. It also revealed that there is a 152% increase in the number of people seeking its support for fuel since January of this year. That is a clear illustration that the measures the Government has put in place are not meeting the needs of our vulnerable people. ALONE has said that things are so bad that it has called on the Government for a pandemic-like response to alleviate the rising costs of living to help those in greatest need. It is clear that the rising costs of energy, coupled with rising rents and other challenges, are placing huge pressures on families already in poverty or at threat of poverty, especially those with children, lone parents or those on fixed incomes. The Government’s focus must be on those people and on helping and supporting them.

We are all aware, we all agree and we all acknowledge that there is a global crisis happening that is outside of the control of the Government and that the market is in a constant state of flux. However, there is a lot that the Government can do to buffer the experience for those people in need. It is the lack of preparedness by Governments past and present that means more people are made vulnerable to this changing environment. The Government’s first mistake in this crisis was to delay. The Government delayed its reaction in the first place and then when it reacted it failed to respond adequately. The Government has consistently responded in an unambitious and untargeted manner that is not meeting people’s needs. I first raised the issue of rising energy costs back in September 2021 when I asked for statements on the issue in the Dáil, which was refused. It was clear that a lot more needed to be done in budget 2022 to address existing energy poverty by increasing the supports for those who we knew were about to enter a very difficult winter of rising fuel costs. While inflation has risen further and faster than even the European Central Bank foresaw, it was clear from early October that winter fuel bills would be challenging for those on low budgets. The Government failed to respond properly and in time and now we are presented with this unimaginable global situation that will further impact us and that we could never have envisaged.

The Government has come up short in the short-term measures needed to address this issue time and again. The €200 energy credit that was first spoken about in early December was an untargeted measure that would have benefited people who did not need to receive that support. The reason that was given for that at the time was that we needed to act quickly with a fast measure that reaches people’s pockets as quickly as possible. That still has not hit people’s bank accounts and we are nearly in April. The Government has failed to move on other issues. The costs that people are facing are heating and transport. The reductions in public transport costs have not come into play yet either and they will only benefit people in certain areas of the country, predominantly those in more urban areas. We appeal to the Government to do a lot more in respect of public transport. It should invest a lot more to make off-peak travel free so that people can use that if possible. There is also a need for the Government to focus on rural communities that may not necessarily have access to Bus Éireann or Dublin Bus routes. The Connecting Ireland plan is a good one but it needs more investment. We need those local community buses all over our rural areas. The Government has invested €5 million for this year in Connecting Ireland for the entire country, including every rural route in this country. It is a tiny amount of money that will not meet anybody’s needs. If the Government was to invest properly in Connecting Ireland, it would help people in this crisis and would also help us to meet our carbon emissions targets. It would get people into public transport and help those in rural Ireland to deal with this crisis.

The other issue the Social Democrats have raised time and time again is the fact that a large number of people who are not in receipt of fuel allowance are being hit hard by these rising energy costs. A huge number of people are struggling despite working and, despite never having a need for these support before, they now need them. The Government had an opportunity and still does. It needs to link the fuel allowance and widen it further to those in receipt of the working family payment. That would make a big difference.

Another issue the Social Democrats have raised time and time again, which I am glad the Minister finally raised at EU level, is the fact that there is a need for a penalty-free derogation on VAT. I wonder whether the Government’s hesitancy in raising this at EU level is down to the fact that it is actually profiting from higher fuel costs. The higher the fuel costs are, the more VAT the Government brings in. I would be interested to see figures in respect of the VAT the Government has pulled in in recent months. The reduction of excise was on a fixed rate. It was not on the proportion of the overall fuel cost. That is why the Government has been hesitant in addressing the VAT issue.

The Government is not doing the simple things it could be doing. Where is the energy poverty strategy? It is years out of date. I have consistently raised it with the Minister with responsibility for the environment. There has been little progress on this. Even things that are within the Government’s control, it is not doing them. It is important that we see movement on these issues.

We often hear Ministers talking about what they are doing in regard to this issue. They talk about retrofitting as if it is a short-term measure. It is clear to people who have tried to retrofit their homes or get State support to do so that it is far from a short-term measure. The current waiting time is approximately two and a half years, and that is before works begin. We need to see significant ramping up of the retrofitting programme. I do not believe the measures the Government is putting in place will meet the needs of that cohort of people who will not be in a position to take out a loan, regardless of the interest rate being offered, to retrofit their homes. They cannot afford their rent, their mortgages or their childcare costs. Now, they cannot afford their fuel costs. They will not be able to take a loan out and we should not expect them to take a loan out to do the job that we need them to do. We need them to retrofit their homes. We need them to be more energy efficient. The Government should be supporting them as much as possible to do that. Relying on the one-stop shop, on corporate entities and on the market to fix this issue will mean that action will not come quickly enough and that it will not target the right people. The reality is that this should be a programme that is led by the State, be that through the local authorities. It should certainly be a State process in which a rapid retrofit programme is put in place that targets households at risk of energy poverty, regardless of whether they are in receipt of social welfare. That is how it should be done. Those who can afford retrofitting or get a loan, can work independently through the corporate side of things.

The Government’s responses are not ambitious, quick or fair enough. That is what this comes down to. It is about the fairness of it all. We all need to move away from fossil fuels - that is clear - but some people will need more support to do it. By doing so, they will buffer themselves from these high and rising fuel costs. The Government needs to intervene and work with them to make sure they can do so as quickly as possible.

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