Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the remarks by Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell on the group of people canvassing on behalf of the Camelot group. It is an important issue for this House and the Lower House because it has always been a useful facility for Members to be able to bring in groups, particularly groups in the voluntary sector, to put forward issues and to brief Members on matters that are coming up. It is important we do not end up with that facility being abused so we should have some sort of protocol in the Houses as to who can and cannot come in and the circumstances under which they can come in to speak to Members.

It should be done in a way that does not discourage people with whom we genuinely wish to have an exchange of views and who would not otherwise have access to Members of the Oireachtas.

My weekend activities included attendance at a cross-Border housing conference in Derry. The most notable part of the weekend was not the conference but the dreadful weather which left 14,000 people in Northern Ireland without electricity. I was struck by the decision of the annual congress of the Gaelic Athletic Association, which also met in Derry at the weekend, to allow GAA facilities to be used by the Irish Rugby Football Union to facilitate its efforts to host the Rugby World Cup in this country. We have moved on in a way I would not have anticipated 15 years ago, which is to be welcomed.

On a more serious note, the appalling weather conditions we have had, whether the rain last summer or the exceptionally cold weather we are currently experiencing, are having a serious and detrimental effect on poor people. This is not a laughing matter. Bord na Móna, for example, has not been able to maintain sufficient supplies of peat briquettes owing to the poor harvest of last summer. I spoke this morning to a woman on a very low income. She and her partner, who is also on a low income, leave their apartment first thing in the morning and do not return until last thing at night. They have their heating on for three hours each day, yet their electricity bill for two months was ¤300. Fuel poverty is a serious problem and those who pay most are those who can least afford to pay. Having raised this issue previously, I ask the Leader again to arrange a debate on fuel poverty with the relevant Minister in order that we can discuss the steps that need to be taken to eradicate the problem.