Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

It seems this Government thinks the cost-of-living crisis has been dealt with for now. It has ignored calls from groups like Age Action and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for proper increases to core social welfare payments of at least €8 to €12. It ignored calls for the fuel allowance to be given to more people on fixed and low incomes. It took away badly-needed supports in terms of relief on excise duty and energy bills. There are still thousands of people around this country struggling to pay their bills, struggling to put food on the table or have exhausted their savings keeping the light and heat on this winter. People have seen their heating and energy bills double or triple over this winter. That was with a fairly mild winter. We are facing a cold snap over the next few days. People are going to be really concerned about their bills. People just cannot afford to live like this any more. On the release of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul's Warm, Safe, Connected report last week, we heard that up to 40% of households could be living in energy poverty at the moment. Some 469,218 people are now in utility arrears and 21.5% of single-parent families cannot keep their homes warm enough. It is the same for 19.5% of people who cannot work for health reasons, 17.4% of unemployed people and 13.5% of renters. Those figures almost doubled or have more than doubled since 2021. If that is not a crisis, I do not know what is.

People may have heard a morning radio programme last Friday during which a mother, Tracy Carroll, from Kells, County Meath, who is a full-time carer for her daughter, contributed. Her daughter has complex medical needs and needs 24-7 care. She also has a son with additional needs. Family carers, as we know, are means-tested. She is on a half carer's rate and did not get the fuel allowance, which would have been a targeted support for carers. She has to heat her home 24-7 and her daughter has a suction pump which has to be charged fully throughout the day. Her gas and electricity bills have jumped tremendously. She admits she was granted the €200 energy credit, which everybody else is getting, and an additional €200 as a carer. She said that is a help, which it is, but it is not dealing with the core payments.

She said whether to heat her home or feed herself is the question in her head all the time. She said it is greatly affecting her mental health. We are living in a First World country and people should not have to choose between heating their home, having a shower or feeding their children and themselves. The point has been made about the massive excess profits big energy companies are making due to the increase in energy prices. Last month the Government took away supports for people struggling with bills and did not extend schemes like the fuel allowance or the working family payment to those who need them; instead it put in place one-off payments for people on social welfare and fixed incomes who needed permanent increases just to stand still.

Oxfam found 50% of inflation in Europe and the US during the cost-of-living crisis has been caused by companies raising prices to increase profits. The Government has no problem taking supports from people who desperately need it but is dragging its heels on introducing a windfall tax on the excess profits of the large corporations causing this crisis. Inflation may be slowing down but prices are not going down any time soon. Age Action found pensioners have 23% less in spending money than in 2020 and the fuel allowance is worth €300 less in real terms. Once-off payments are welcome but not good enough. They just cover up the structural problems in our social welfare system for people on low pay.

I thank Sinn Féin for putting the motion forward which I support. This crisis will not go away any time soon and people still need help paying bills and rent and putting food on the table. The Government has not done nearly enough to stand up to the profit and greed of the large corporations driving this crisis. I support the setting of electricity prices for households at June 2021 levels and a cap at that level. Tax the corporations and give supports to those who need them. Anything less allows big energy companies to make billions in profits off the backs of hundreds of thousands of people struggling to make ends meet.

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