Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State and the Minister filled their time and talked about everything but the issue at hand. This was particularly so with the clear call for the extension of the disconnection ban to all customers from now until the end of March. There was no commitment from Government to do that. There was no commitment to provide a solution for pay-as-you-go customers. The solution there would be to ensure they have the exact same protections as billpay customers have. The Government did not provide a solution for them. I think I am right in saying, and it would be important to clarify this, that the facility to transfer onto a billpay contract is limited only to vulnerable customers. As I said before, that is a subset of a subset of a subset of a subset. That provision should be made available to all customers.

Not opposing this motion while not supporting it either amounts to a shameful abandonment of those people, who are in deep need of support from this Government. It is not a big ask to extend the fundamental principle that in the middle of a crisis, we in this Republic will not disconnect people from heat and light this winter. It should not be a challenge. However, this is a reflection of a failure of Government to support people in need.

The argument was made that pay-as-you-go is good for some people as it helps them manage their bills. It is offensive. It completely misses the point. We know people are, for want of a better term, self-disconnecting. We know people are facing real financial hardship but they are not being supported. This Government is pretending they do not exist. That is in effect what it is doing and it is the sum total of the Minister and Minister of State's contributions to this debate. At the root of all this is an argument of moral hazard, namely, that there is a cohort of people we cannot extend the same protection to because they could not manage their affairs. That is insulting, offensive and is implied by the fact the Government will not extend the same protections to that cohort of people as it has to everybody else. I wanted to put that on record. People can see through it.

There is an opportunity to address it, which we have spelled out. The Government should extend the friendly credit. It should show those people it will support them over this winter. The Government does not even count the people who are so-called self-disconnecting. They are being completely disregarded and explained away on the basis it is good for them to manage their own accounts. They need to be supported. They deserve the exact same protections as the rest of us.

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