Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Senator referred to hardship funds and I referred to the fact that there is a new €10 million fund, which is on top of the hardship funds that were there already. As she mentioned, not all suppliers are taking part in hardship funds. Affected people who are worried about paying their bills can contact a supplier directly and ask for that. If they prefer, they can go to the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, or to Alone and have them advocate on their behalf.

The Senator mentioned that she felt that electricity suppliers are more responsive than gas suppliers. As I was not aware of that, I will take note of it.

I wish to add that we had extensions to welfare payments. We had targeted payments for welfare recipients specifically because when we analysed who needs the money most, that was the answer – double payments in some cases.

The windfall taxes that are coming in will be significant. They will be hundreds of millions of euro and they are ring-fenced for electricity and gas consumers. Again, those will be payments to try to cushion the blow. It does not do it all, but it helps. I think that when people get that €200 in their account, they notice it. The fact that this is going to be a fourth payment is something that people notice. The public service obligation, PSO, levy is gone now; it is actually a credit. We have done many things. It is not over, and we will keep looking at it. If there is anybody falling through the cracks, please contact me.