Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this legislation. I welcome that the energy companies will be returning significant amounts of money to the Government, the taxpayer and indeed the people who pay for the electricity. I agree it is very late in the day, but at least it is here. No Deputy in this House would say we should not proceed with the legislation as quickly as possible now that we have it.

Of course, there are questions over the policy and the organisation of companies like the ESB and EirGrid, which are State companies. As I understand it the ESB is what is called a vertically integrated company. It owns all of our electricity from production to supply. Some years ago, a report found that it should not have that dominant position in the market and that companies like EirGrid ought to have ownership and control of the distribution network which would result in a reduction in the price of electricity for consumers and for businesses alike. I do not know if the Minister has an up-to-date policy on that; I will submit a parliamentary question to him on it. I believe the State companies are not helping the consumer by the way they operate. Their profits are also exceptional and we need to examine all of that.

I once again raise an issue I have raised with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. It relates to those people who cannot benefit from the €600 electricity household support. Under this Minister and this Government, they cannot claim that benefit. Everybody with an electricity meter in their house, including Ryan Tubridy, Fergus O'Dowd or whoever, gets that €600. The problem is with those people who live in caravans in my constituency, whose principal private residence is a mobile home. They live with very poor insulation. Many of them are in very poor health. As they do not have an individual meter, they cannot benefit from the €600 because people need an individual meter to benefit from that. It is the park owner who supplies the energy to them. There are not too many of these people. I have given the names, addresses, phone numbers and other details to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and still no contact has successfully been made with them to deal with this issue.

In reply to a parliamentary question, the Minister pointed to the exceptional needs payments and stated that the social welfare system will cater for these people. The answer is that it does not and cannot. Because they do not have an energy bill, the exceptional needs payment does not apply to them. Notwithstanding the wish of community welfare officers to give them the €600 they cannot give it to them because they do not have an energy bill. It is unacceptable that this still continues. In fairness to the Minister, everybody in the country gets it. People living in temporary or mobile homes, for instance people who are Travellers, have rightly and properly been supported and benefit from it. In that case the supplier is the local authority and there is no issue with them getting that funding.

However, why do we continue to discriminate against this very small group of people who as I said are in the worst health, have the poorest insulation and the greatest need? I am fed up raising it in the Dáil with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. The Minister of State may not be listening to me now but he should listen. He and his Department should do something about it because it is unacceptable that a very small cohort of people continue to be discriminated against because of a lack of interest in the Department in finding an appropriate solution for these people. It is a disgrace that this is continuing. I will submit a question to the senior Minister about it once more. I hope the Minister of State will listen, go back to his Department and tell the officials to sort this out now please.

See this speech in context