Local TD criticises lack of action on fuel poverty

A local TD has said people are being forced to make a choice between food and heat and he criticised the lack of action by government on fuel poverty.

Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Wednesday, the Aontú leader and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín said people are also having to choose between buying clothes or switching on the heating.

Pointing out that January was the coldest in 10 years, and that this weekend the temperature is forecast to drop below zero again, he told the Dáil: “Many people, through no fault of their own, have had their incomes collapse. They have had their ability to earn a salary deleted.

“Many self-employed people have had their businesses totalled due to the government’s mismanagement of Covid. I know of an older woman who stays in bed longer every day so she does not have to put the heat on for the whole day.

“With everyone under lockdown at home, homes are being heated for much longer than normal. Significant extra costs for fuel are being incurred.”

He said that even before Covid, Ireland had a high level of fuel poverty.

“Eurostat in 2019 showed that Ireland had the highest increase in gas prices, and the fifth highest increase in electricity prices in the EU. Its estimated that just under 8%, or 393,417 people, were experiencing fuel poverty in this state.

“Now there is no doubt that the figure is far higher. It is ridiculous to think that someone must be in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance for in excess of 15 months before they qualify for fuel allowance.

“During these unprecedented and extraordinary times, this rule needs to be scrapped. Everyone who has been made unemployed as a result of the pandemic should be entitled to a fuel allowance.”

Deputy Tóibín said that Ireland is unique in the fact that it is the only state in Europe where no microgeneration of energy is plugged in to the national grid.

He said: “The third major influencer on fuel poverty is the energy efficiency of the home. Ireland has been glacial in rolling out deep retrofitting of housing stock. A government with real ambition on fuel and on the environment would be ramping up significantly the task of insulation retrofitting.”