Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Rourke for tabling this important and timely motion. The Government's refusal to extend the moratorium on disconnections to households with prepay meters typifies its cavalier approach to this unprecedented crisis. When this issue arose a number of weeks ago, the Government appeared taken aback. The Taoiseach had done an interview at the weekend in which he gave a solemn commitment that no one would be disconnected this winter. There was no equivocation, no caveat. There was no room for confusion. The Taoiseach was clear, and I will quote him. He stated:

In an energy crisis of this kind we cannot have disconnections. We are very clear about that. We don't want people disconnected, particularly vulnerable people and people who will find it difficult in terms of meeting their bills.

Those were his words. That was the commitment, and many vulnerable people took great comfort from it. After all, people have an expectation that the Taoiseach will live up to his public promises, particularly on a matter as important as this.

That commitment was given on Sunday, 2 October, but it did not even last a day. Since then, the Taoiseach and the rest of the Government have been furiously backtracking. They cite a moratorium on disconnections for bill pay customers, which we all welcome, but shrug their shoulders when it comes to pay-as-you-go customers. In fact, the very notion of a moratorium on disconnections for those with prepay meters came as something of a shock when the issue was raised. When Ministers spoke about a moratorium on disconnections, they forgot a significant group. The 260,000 households with pay-as-you-go meters did not even seem to have occurred to the Government. They did not feature in its plans at all.

I believe a commitment was given in good faith that nobody would be disconnected this winter. The Government then realised, however, that it had completely forgotten about pay-as-you-go customers and then decided quickly that it was too awkward to extend this promise to them. We have been told it is too hard and too complicated to sort this matter out. It is not, however. That simply cannot be. The Opposition has made many suggestions regarding how this could be done. The reality is that if this was a priority for the Government, it simply would be done. The truth is that if protecting people from the worst excesses of the energy crisis was a priority for the Government, an extension to the moratorium to these 260,000 households would have been planned and completed long ago.

We all know these customers are among the most vulnerable. These are people who, in the main, do not have the resources to pay large bills every two months. For this, they pay a premium. Prepay energy costs are generally more expensive than other forms of energy bills. We should know this, and if we do not, this is because being poor in this country is extortionately expensive. When people do not have money, their choices are restricted. It is necessary for them to make decisions that seem attractive in the short term, but these choices tend to be more expensive in the long run. These add to the high cost of being poor and this leads to a cycle of poverty that is exceptionally difficult to break. One in six people is now experiencing this. Those with prepaid meters who have been trying to manage their already meagre budgets are extremely vulnerable to energy poverty. Week after week, they scrimp and save to try to keep their readers topped up. The huge increases in the cost of electricity, however, mean they often simply cannot keep up with the costs. When their credits run out, their energy runs out. If they press a bill, they get an extra €5, but if they do not have €10 on top of that, their energy runs out. They are then left in the cold and dark, unable to cook a meal or have a shower. Let us imagine a family in this position. Children will be cold and hungry because the heat cannot go on and a hot meal cannot be cooked. Imagine how hard it is to be a parent in this situation, wishing there was an extra €10 just to keep the lights on for at least another day.

The Government had a chance to make a real difference in the lives of people who have been struggling. It could have given them a commitment, one which has already been extended to every other energy customer, that they would not be cut off this winter. Not only has the Government refused to do this, but it also announced that thoughtlessly-made commitment and then casually broke it the same day. Tinkering around the edges with this issue does not amount to a moratorium. It will not relieve people of the anxiety and stress they are feeling in wondering how they are going to keep the lights on.

Energy is not the only cost that is going up. In the newspapers today, we read that the costs of food will increase by more than €800 this year. We all know about the crippling costs of rent, with rising mortgage interest rates also increasing the burden of mortgage repayments. Energy, like housing, is a human right. We need it to survive. In a wealthy country like ours, there is no reason for anybody, whether on a prepaid meter or not, to face a dark winter. It is immoral and obscene that this is happening. It is, therefore, something that can and simply must be resolved.

Why is it that the Government seems only incapable of targeting its resources at those who need them most? Prior to the budget, 90% of the cost-of-living measures introduced were not targeted. This is a truly incredible statistic when all the expert advice from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, the Central Bank, the ESRI and others has been that supports must be targeted. In the budget, the Government performed slightly better in that 50% of those measures were targeted. Those supports were welcome, but they do not go far enough. Given the scale of the crisis, one-off payments simply will not last. The failure to adequately raise core social welfare rates will mean that many people will be worse off next year than they have been this year. This is the reality.

How can the Minister stand over a situation in which every Deputy, including highly paid Ministers like him, will receive €600 in electricity credits in the months to come? Is he really going to tell me that people on salaries of more than €100,000 need this support when one in six people is living in poverty? This is especially egregious when, under the Minister's watch, it is inevitable that people on prepay meters will be cut off. This can be called "self-disconnection" if the Minister wishes, but that would be a complete distortion. "Self-disconnection" is a cruel and unjust term. It is not an autonomous decision that people will make willingly. It will be forced on them because of high costs and poverty. These people do not have a choice. The Minister and his Government do have a choice. They could make a change this week and announce a genuine moratorium on disconnections which would apply to every household. As matters stand, it is perverse that those excluded from this moratorium are among the most vulnerable and most at risk from energy poverty. It is not right, and every one of us here and every member of the Government knows it.

I could raise many other issues but I am focusing on this issue and imploring the Minister to change his approach. We simply must protect the most vulnerable. This must be the overriding concern of every Deputy in this House. Otherwise, what is our function? We know the State has the power to act in a decisive manner when it really wants to and when it feels the gravity of the situation demands it. There are so many circumstances, for example, the Covid-19 pandemic, that we simply cannot unsee. This is another such circumstance and we are running out of time to act. A moratorium on disconnections that excludes 260,000 households with pay-as-you-go electricity meters is simply not a blanket moratorium on disconnections. These people must not be abandoned this winter. The moratorium must be extended in a meaningful way to these households. The most vulnerable in our society cannot be allowed to bear the brunt of this energy crisis. I implore the Minister to change tack. Some 260,000 people cannot be left at risk of their lights going out this winter.

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