Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to come in on amendment No. 2. I had expected to hear the bells go off but I did not. Hence, I am little late.

These amendments are related. They are specifically around ensuring that people who are paying the electricity bill, particularly those who are in rented accommodation, are the ones that will benefit from this measure. I understand that it is an emergency measure. I take the Minister’s points about universality being important. However, universality also needs to apply to people who are not necessarily the named person on the bill or the final payee, but to those who are renting and, therefore, are the people who are paying. I ask the Minister to accept this or, if possible, to introduce another regulation for renters, as well as for people who are paying an electricity bill, who are often in housing insecurity and who are paying insanely high rents, which are going up month-on-month. They should be the people to benefit from this cost-of-living measure, particularly regarding heating. Many renters around this country are now afraid to turn on their heating. This is because they are being hit with the double whammy of rental increases and the massive increase in the price of heating.