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

I have tabled two amendments to this Bill. I have been working on one for a while and the other, from a constituent, was raised with me recently.

The first amendment is to review extending the fuel allowance to those in receipt of working family payments. This is a demand I have been making at successive budgets. It has been called for for years by numerous groups working with people living in poverty and deprivation. Between 2018 and 2023, we saw household energy costs go up by over 100%. Since 2022, energy costs went up twice as fast in Ireland as compared to the EU average. This has affected the most vulnerable to the greatest extent. The Government has made no real attempt to target support to those hit the worst by this and there has been no attempt to benchmark these supports to energy costs.

Instead, we saw massive increases in energy costs, driven in some part by massive increases in energy company profits. In 2022 alone, we had 377,415 people unable to keep their houses warm, 453,918 people who had gone without heating and 469,218 people in utility arrears.

The ESRI has estimated that 29% of the country experienced energy poverty in 2022. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has estimated that this could peak at over 40% of the country experiencing energy poverty. I put it to the Minister that those numbers are just shocking. At the same time we have seen increases across the board for the rates of at risk of poverty, deprivation and consistent poverty for people in work. In 2023 we saw large increases of in-work deprivation and consistent poverty. This increase of in-work poverty has been driven in no small part by the cost of energy. This is not to mention that we have seen rising rates of children living in material deprivation, at risk of poverty, and record child homelessness over the course of this Government.

The Minister missed her chance to seriously address child poverty in this budget. The double child benefit payments should not be just for Christmas 2024, it should be for childhood. That is why the Minister should have implemented the second tier of child benefit recommended by the ESRI and many other organisations that are fighting for children's rights. There is a clear need to target energy cost relief to families who are in work. There is a clear need to extend the fuel allowance to those in receipt of working family payment.

My second amendment proposes to review increasing the energy payments under the household benefit package. This issue was raised with me by a constituent recently. These payments have not increased since 2020 while energy costs have risen at twice the EU average and as we went through the worst cost-of-living crisis for a decade. The €35 per month now barely covers the standing charge. This payment has been totally eaten away by the cost of living and the cost of energy. If the Minister decided that a support such as the household benefit package is needed then why on earth would the Minister see no need to increase it if it is seriously affected by inflation?

In my budget statement I said that budget 2025 failed to give targeted relief to those who most need it. This was a giveaway budget by a Government that has given up on actually addressing the problems of this country. Polls show that 75% of the country have seen through the Government's attempts to buy their votes. People are not stupid and a €250 energy credit does not make people forget that they cannot find a home, a GP, or a school place for their kids. The budget ignored the most vulnerable in favour of putting money in the Governments' voting bases' pockets. If the Government had been serious about helping the most vulnerable it would have implemented targeted supports such as these amendments call for. What we have seen over successive years under the Government is a failure to take seriously the real and dire issues in our society, and most clearly in the Government's total failure on housing and health. Most badly felt by people around the country is the failure to seriously resolve poverty and deprivation.

In budget after budget we saw one-off payments with no follow through or adequate increase in targeted supports or core social welfare rates, or a benchmark of them to inflation. We saw a little for everybody but not nearly enough for those who most need it. I support any measure that helps people to make ends meet but when these one-off measures are gone many people will be left behind by years of failing to raise or expand social welfare and different benefits and payments in line with inflation. This is especially in the context of energy supports in a cost-of-energy crisis.

By 2022 there were 377,400 people unable to keep their houses warm while Irish household energy costs rose at twice the rate of the EU average. In 2022 ESB profits rose by €675 million, Bord Gáis profits rose by €948 million, SSE profits rose by €1.5 billion and Energia profits rose by €178 million. That is nearly €9,000 in additional profits for every person who was unable to keep their homes warm, just in one year and for just four energy companies. If the energy companies can make billions of euro and increase their profits then we can target supports so that families and our most vulnerable can heat their homes without going broke.

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