Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I can only say what I said previously, which will be no surprise to the Senators. They are asking me to prepare a report on something that does not fall under my remit. It is a matter for the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. He recently launched a strategy to combat energy poverty which acknowledges, inter alia, that one of the best ways to tackle fuel poverty is to improve the energy efficiency of a person's home. That is going to be addressed in the just transition. My Department administers a number of schemes that provide income supports specifically for paying for fuel, as in the fuel allowance and the household benefits package, which pays for electricity and gas. They are certainly not intended to cover all the costs but are only income support towards paying the costs. I cannot accept the provision to prepare a report on fuel poverty as it cuts across the work of another Department.