Cost of Living Issues
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-30
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Louise O'Reilly (SF), Dublin Fingal West

The Minister will know that, before the war in Iran, 330,000 households were already in arrears with their bills. The average household arrears are €470. The Minister is playing ducks and drakes with percentages and references to millions of euro. The figure for the average arrears for household energy bills is €470 and the extension to the fuel allowance is worth €136. The Minister can see how those figures do not add up. The Taoiseach referred to October and January, but if people are struggling now, what is the Minister prepared to do for those households that are at risk of or are in poverty? They cannot pay their bills today and cannot wait until the budget in October and the measures to be introduced in January. That is far too long for people to wait.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-30