Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)

Electricity and energy costs are crippling families across the country. We have seen almost all energy companies announce price increases in recent weeks and we know these companies are amassing massive profits year on year. There are already thousands of families behind on their electricity and energy bills. I know this debt will grow in my constituency for these families while the Government turns its back on them to protect the profits of the massive energy companies.

We saw the devastation caused to the electricity network last January when Storm Éowyn hit the country. My constituency of Sligo, Leitrim and south Donegal was particularly badly hit. We know people and families who went without heat for weeks on end, some for 13 and 14 weeks. When the repairs were carried out, it was only on a temporary basis. The permanent fixes have not been done. People who work in the ESB tell me it is only a matter of time before the next storm comes and there are more outages because only temporary fixes were put in place.

The Government has failed to invest in the network to be resilient from storms. Families are paying exorbitant amounts for electricity, and particularly in rural areas, they are going for extended periods without service, as they did during Storm Éowyn, and receive no compensation for the lack of service.

The Government has ruled out energy credits which will cause energy and fuel poverty for many households. We need to see an increase in the fuel allowance and household benefits packages to take into account these increases in energy costs. Many working families earn a decent wage but are struggling to pay energy bills. That is why we need an energy credit for all households in the upcoming budget. This country is still in a cost-of-living crisis and providing an energy credit will go some way at least to alleviating many of these costs for households, and indeed for many businesses out there that are also crippled by the high energy costs.

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