Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend my party colleague Deputy Doherty on bringing forward the motion. The pressure being felt in every community in the State needs to be addressed in a meaningful way whereby ordinary workers and the most vulnerable members of our society will feel the benefit. We see little to no change from energy providers or on the shelves of supermarkets. What we do see are record-high energy bills and record-high profits for the energy sector, with food and energy companies having more than doubled their profits in 2022. Many residents feel utterly crippled in the face of these bills. The residents of Shelbourne Plaza have been hit with colossal bills in recent months because they were locked into astronomical energy rates by the building’s management company. The Government needs to intervene and ensure ordinary people will not be crucified by high energy prices above the already-high charges such as those in Shelbourne Plaza.

We often use figures to reflect the cost of living, but behind every figure is a real person who is being crippled by the energy crisis. Nurses are leaving the country because of high costs and that is having a significant impact on our health service. Earlier I met Amanda Boland and Janice Kiernan. Their dad, Joe Griffin, a 74-year-old man, died in St. James's Hospital on 4 January. They are convinced, and showed me compelling evidence, that their dad would still be alive if staffing levels were the way they should be. The staffing in our hospitals is strained because of the high cost of living, which means nurses are moving abroad. This is the impact that the soaring cost of living is having on ordinary people. It is the human impact of soaring costs.

For those reasons, we need the measures outlined in the motion, such as a discretionary fund to provide financial support to households experiencing severe utility debt. We also need to expand the fuel allowance to those in receipt of the working family payment.

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