Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am at a loss to know how the Government's response to what it calls an energy crisis can be described as comprehensive. The main issue being debated and that has been raised by those who have spoken is household heating costs. The Minister said that the Opposition would not be content no matter what Government proposal is brought forward, but there is no proposal regarding household heating. That is the problem. Aside from the €200 electricity credit announced nearly four months ago, which we are still waiting for, nothing has been brought forward to assist people with heating their homes. That is a fact.

The Minister has overemphasised the fuel allowance time and time again but the vast majority of workers and households do not receive that allowance. A person out sick from work on illness benefit cannot get the fuel allowance. Someone who is on a low income and relying on the working family payment to top up that income cannot access the fuel allowance. A couple or older person with a small occupational pension does not get the fuel allowance. The Minister spoke a lot about energy efficiency but energy efficiency and retrofitting are completely irrelevant for people today who cannot pay their bills. That is a fact.

The Government has also overemphasised the exceptional needs payment but what the Minister has not said each time he has raised it is that if someone works 30 or more hours per week, he or she cannot access that payment. That means there is no assistance or support for any worker who is working 30 hours or more a week. That worker has nothing; no help, no assistance and no support. He or she does not get the fuel allowance or the exceptional needs payment. That is the cohort we are referencing in this motion, primarily, and the Minister has no proposals for them.

I have raised the matter of the discretionary fund for 13 months now; I brought that forward in February last year. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul clearly does not think the exceptional needs payment fund is working either, otherwise it would not be suggesting a discretionary fund. We need a fund for people, especially those who cannot access the fuel allowance, to assist them with utility debt in particular. This is something the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, has raised repeatedly and for which the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has been calling for more than a year now. If the exceptional needs payment that the Government keeps pushing was working and doing its job we would not need the discretionary fund, but clearly it is not. We ask in our motion that the fuel allowance in particular be extended to those people who are receiving the working family payment. We have also asked that the fuel allowance be extended by two additional weeks. We know the fuel allowance was cut by Fine Gael in 2012. It was at 32 weeks. It is now at 28 weeks and has still not been restored to what it was.

I mentioned those people I have engaged with in the past week in advance of tabling this motion. These include a mother who gets up in the middle of the night to refill her children's hot water bottles because she cannot afford oil; a nursing student who is commuting daily to college but has to miss days because she cannot afford to fill her car to run for five days; and a working couple who have to decide next month whether they make their mortgage payment or get a fill of oil. A worker in the oil industry told me about older people who are crying on the phone about how they will afford coal as the price of bags of coal continues to increase. Nothing the Minister said this evening, nothing he said earlier and nothing that is in the Government's amendment will assist or do anything for these people. This is not make-believe; these are real people and real families.

If the Minister does not want to listen to Sinn Féin or people in the Opposition, he should listen to people such as those in ALONE, which is a huge organisation that has been representing older people in this State for a very long time, who are telling us that older people in 2022 are deciding between buying food and buying fuel. He should listen to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which has seen an almost 50% increase in calls in February of this year compared with last year. People are calling that organisation looking for help with their energy costs. These are primarily older people. They are somebody's mother, father, granny or grandad, who are deciding between fuel and food. It should not happen, but it is happening all the time. Nothing the Minister said this evening will make a difference. The Minister has clearly said that anything he does will not be enough but I will again make the point that he has done nothing on home heating oil. I again ask him to look at it and to look at this motion and the proposals we have brought forward. I have a list of costings if the Minister would like to see them. He should know that we never bring forward any proposals that are not fully costed.

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