Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The electricity bills dropping through the letter boxes of ordinary workers and families in my area are pushing people into poverty. The Government is out of touch with the cost-of-living challenges. The Taoiseach even questioned the validity of research published by Barnardo's that claimed that one in ten parents had used food banks in the past year. He went on to state that he wondered about the scientific basis of such a survey. I invite him and the Minister to do some qualitative research in my area and to meet the people who run the Clondalkin Cares food bank. The number of families availing of this service has increased dramatically in the past four years. They come from all over my constituency.

The service also collects data on why people are using the food bank. At the top of the list is the increase in the cost of energy. Families are left with stark choices between eating and heating and between turning lights on and turning them off. It is reprehensible that energy companies are refusing to pass the significant savings made from wholesale electricity price reductions on to households. The Government has mishandled this situation from the start. The then Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, opposed windfall taxes. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, opposed the reform of the wholesale electricity market for months. The Government also decided not to reduce and cap electricity prices.

While the increase in electricity prices is impacting on everyone, it seems that it is being felt more by some of the more marginalised members of our communities. My office has been inundated with calls from the Traveller community of Oldcastle Park, whose members have told me that their energy costs have tripled since South Dublin County Council recalibrated their electricity meters and with the increase in the cost of living. The recalibration all but wiped out any benefit they would have got from their energy credits. In the past week, at least seven families from that one small location have been in touch with me. They now report that they are unable to afford food and often wake up cold and in darkness after the emergency energy has been used up. The general population received their first energy credits last March, but members of the Traveller community in my area did not receive them until December. Why has the Government allowed this differential treatment between families in the one area?

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