What is the modelling?

There are averages.

Modelling by its nature is not accurate.

It gives us information.

We need evidence to make decisions.

Last week, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party voted against a humane and common sense Aontú amendment, which sought protection for cohorts of vulnerable people in the context of eviction. The parties voted against a tenant or a member of his or her family who has a disability being protected from eviction. The parties voted against a tenant or a member of his or her family who has a terminal illness, a cancer diagnosis, who has suffered from a stroke, has advanced heart disease or who suffers from mental he…

Castlepollard is a vibrant, strong rural town. It has a hinterland that stretches for miles. Like many other rural towns, it has been devastated in recent years by the closure of a number of key businesses and services within that town. It lost banks, it has lost shops, etc. The latest blow to Castlepollard has been the closure by Fine Gael of the full-time social welfare office in the region. It is nearly a year since the Minister closed that office. Will the Minister give some hope to the people in the region tha…

The Minister is saying on one level that she did not close it and on another level that it is only operational two days a week because there is not enough business to go through it.

The Minister is responsible for the delivery of that service in towns such as Castlepollard. The Minister goes on to say people can travel down the road to Mullingar. The Minister may not be aware that in many regional rural towns there are difficulties with public transport. There are definitely difficulties with private transport currently for many people on lower incomes given the price of fuel as well. Let me tell the Minister that the closure of this service has had an enormous impact on spend. It was nearly a…

The Minister should not mention post offices because her party has closed hundreds of them over the past number of years.

In fairness, the Government's approach to rural Ireland is not about keeping key services functioning in those towns so that people will come into them and then spend and shop elsewhere, but is, as I stated previously, like a landlord of old, to throw money up in the air and let the peasants tip around the ground and see can they pick up those pennies. That is a culture of dependency. What I am talking about is different. It is about building towns and villages in rural Ireland and regional Ireland that can grow an…

Irish energy poverty has reached record levels. Nearly one in three households is currently in fuel poverty. That is double what the figure was when the current Government was formed in 2020. It is a startling fact. Per capita , Ireland is now also considered one of the wealthiest countries in Europe, more affluent than every other country except Luxembourg. Does the Minister see anything wrong with the incongruity in that statement? Does she see anything wrong with a situation where we have nearly one in three fam…

The Minister has provided startling information. At one level we have a big increase in population and a doubling of the number of families living in fuel poverty, yet the Government's response in real figures is such that in 2018 there were 380,000 households in receipt of fuel allowance and in 2022 the figure was 393,000. That is incredible. The number of people in receipt of fuel allowance has stayed practically stationary at a time of the worst fuel and energy crisis in the history of the State. Older people ar…

I am startled at these figures. The Minister mentioned fluctuating numbers of people receiving fuel allowance. The price of fuel is fluctuating upwards only. There has been a massive expansion in the number of people in fuel poverty yet we have rigid figures for the number of people in receipt of fuel allowance. The Minister talks about expansion of the means test. That is because there has been a massive increase in the cost of energy. The really frustrating thing about this is that the Government has two levers i…

There was a real cut in social welfare rates last year, if we take inflation into account.

Less than the rate of inflation.

In three days' time, there is about to be an avalanche of people who will be evicted in this State. In my county, there are 127 eviction notices and 31 properties for rent. There are zero emergency accommodation beds available through the local authority. Many people are lying in their beds in fear of what is about to happen to them. What mitigation policies has the Minister put in place to help those people through eviction?

How many people will be evicted in this State in the next seven to ten months? What modelling has the Government done to identify the number of people who will be evicted from their homes in this country? What modelling has the Government done to find out how many houses are available and what emergency accommodation is needed in this country as a result of the policies it has taken? Is the decision taken an evidence-based one or are we going on the basis of hope or ideology? The Minister referred to the level of a…

I asked the Minister how many people will need the additional needs payment. How many people will be evicted?

That means it is as long as a piece of string. Surely the Government made a decision on the basis of evidence. For example, the Minister would not vote to take away protection from eviction for people with disabilities unless she knew how many people were likely to be evicted in that cohort. I am sure she would not have allowed the Government to get rid of the safeguards against evictions for people with terminal illnesses unless she knew the evidence and the modelling on how many of those people would be made home…