Energy Prices
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-15
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Louise O'Reilly (SF), Dublin Fingal West

That is very regrettable. As the Minister very well knows, Social Justice Ireland described the Government's most recent budget as a recipe for austerity. It was made clear to the Government at that stage, not just by me and Social Justice Ireland but by others, that the value of the fuel allowance needed to increase in line with the cost of energy. We know that we pay, for reasons that are entirely of the Government's making, some of the highest energy costs in the European Union. We do not have some of the highest energy supports, however, in the European Union.
There are 300,000 households in arrears at the moment. The policy of no disconnection during winter is very welcome but it does not take account of people on prepay meters who experience a "micro-disconnection". I asked whether the Minister had quantified the material impact of the fact that children are going to bed hungry and people with disabilities, as they told us yesterday in the audiovisual room, have to make the choice between being able to heat their homes and power their mobility devices or being able to eat. Those are the questions I want to ask. Has the actual impact been quantified?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-15