Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The difficulty lies in the Taoiseach's statement that the Minister "will continue to engage". I am very concerned that there is not a sense of pace in the Taoiseach's response to this situation, which is one of incredible stress and worry for hundreds of thousands of families throughout the land. The Taoiseach's concern about people falling into debt is understandable but I need to say that a far greater concern for those using prepaid meters is that they will not have supply to their homes.

We need to deal with that as a matter of urgency. As I said, many prepay companies already allow protection on weekends and specific public holidays. The best and most straightforward way to deal with this matter is to extend that protection on a 24-7 basis. The Minister does not need to hold endless rounds of meeting with people to arrive at that conclusion. I appeal to the Taoiseach as a matter of urgency to adopt that position and to approach those companies and tell them we need this ban in place now.

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