Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, for coming to the House. The State pension is €13,100 per annum. The minimum wage is €21,840 per annum. People have to pay for groceries, house and car insurance and the price of a car. People in rural Ireland can barely live on what they have at the moment.

I spoke on radio during the week with the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins. He mentioned the €2 billion the Government will spend on energy grants for people in Ireland, but he forgot to mention that that is only for ESB and gas. I was accused of not knowing what I was talking about. I had to remind the Minister of State that 67.8% of the people in County Limerick rely on oil and solid fuel to heat their homes.

They are the people who elected him and Deputy O'Donovan to come up here and look after them in a time of crisis. They are the people who Deputies Niall Collins and O'Donovan will go to looking for votes. They sent them up here to get them fairness until there are alternatives. They have the likes of the Minister drawing a line across it and saying that we should get rid of turf, solid fuels and coal, and tax everything out of existence. If that happens, the 70% of people in County Limerick who rely on these fuels and have no alternatives will suffer but everyone living in areas with gas and public transport will actually make a saving. That is on the Government Deputies who are present, and every other Deputy from Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. When Deputies Niall Collins and O'Donovan go to the doors in County Limerick, that is what they will hear from the 70% of people in the county who are affected. They asked the Deputies to represent them but they have not been doing so. I will be watching which way they vote on this.

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