Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

I welcome this motion being brought forward by Sinn Féin. It is a timely motion due to the time of the year and the upcoming budget. It is important to continue to focus on the cost-of-living crisis, a crisis that is pushing more and more families towards poverty.

I want to share with the Minister of State a very sad and disturbing story of a family in particular difficulty relating to energy costs. The family, who are in my constituency, contacted me recently and asked that I come to visit them as they were not in a position to come to see me. I called yesterday and met a lovely couple under severe mental and financial pressure. They have three dependent children. Two are twin boys, both with additional needs. They are aged 14 years and were born after 28 weeks' gestation. One boy attends secondary school and with support is doing well. The other boy, Alex, is profoundly affected and has complex needs. His conditions include spastic quadriplegia, cerebral palsy, uncontrolled epilepsy, obstructive sleep apnoea, tracheostomy, dystonia, autonomic dysfunction, urinary retention and catheterisation. Alex became quite unwell in March 2023 and had a prolonged admission to intensive care in Temple Street hospital here in Dublin. He spent nine months there. Thankfully, he came home in 2023. He has been home now for two years in his bedroom, which for all intents and purposes is an intensive care unit. Alex needs full-time nursing care and requires two trained personnel with him at all times. His parents are trained in his care needs. He has two support nurses, and LauraLynn has provided two trained staff to support him. The couple is very appreciative of the nursing and LauraLynn support, and without that support, Alex would not be able to stay at home. He is reliant on medical equipment at all times, and the following list of equipment must be plugged in at all times: an electric bed; a ventilator, with 24-hour operation; a suction machine; a cough assist machine; a feeding machine; an oxygen saturation monitor; and a fan, hoist, shower trolley, oxygen concentrator and nebuliser.

The family is heartbroken now. Alex is in respiratory failure and palliative care is required and has commenced. As the Minister of State can appreciate, there are significant costs involved in looking after Alex, not least the cost of electricity. That cost, for Alex alone, is €200 per month. The husband has had to leave his job to look after Alex, and even with a payment plan with the electricity supplier, the family are in arrears through no fault of their own. In recent times, they were threatened with disconnection. The Minister of State can imagine the pressure this family is under.

They feel that their plight and the plight of other families like theirs is not understood by politicians like us. They have said they would welcome a visit from the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Health to acquaint them with the various difficulties they face on a daily basis. A funding scheme needs to be put in place to cover energy costs - electricity and gas - for this family and for families in similar circumstances. I ask the Minister of State to consider this suggestion favourably and as a matter of urgency.

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