Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said the Government will look at this "if there are any gaps". Let me point out the gap. There are 450,000 households that the Government has abandoned. The Minister spoke about energy credits. They are welcome and they will be available to people but there is also a ban on disconnections for hundreds of thousands of people who use bill payment. Why is that? It is because the Government recognises that this winter is going to be severe and that there should be a ban but for 450,000 people on prepay meters, the Government has decided to abandon them. The Minister said the Taoiseach was right. The Taoiseach did not say the Government would do all it can. He said nobody will be disconnected this winter. The disconnections are happening. The Minister talked about the real world. This is happening. People are self-disconnecting. That is what is really happening. Why can we not have a bit of fairness? There could be one house beside the next with the same financial problems and getting the same energy credit but one has the protection that it will not be disconnected this winter and the other does not. That is 450,000 households across the State, made up of vulnerable people who are looking into this winter and seeing a Government that has abandoned them. It needs to do the right thing. I ask the Minister to do the right thing and give action to the commitment that was given by the Taoiseach. He must introduce a ban on disconnections now, not in December, and introduce it for all households, giving them certainty that the heat and the lights will stay on over this winter period.

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