Ryan says Government is taking 'right approach' to cost-of-living crisis

Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty said a "real plan" is required from the Government to ensure every household is protected from disconnections this winter.
Ryan says Government is taking 'right approach' to cost-of-living crisis

'We will come out in the coming weeks with a further iteration of our combating energy poverty action plan,' said Eamon Ryan. Picture: Julien Behal

The Government is taking the "right approach" to the cost-of-living crisis by giving cash payments to families and businesses, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has insisted.

Mr Ryan hit out at Sinn Féin's energy proposals saying it would be "great" if "easy and simplistic solutions" could be found, but "that is not the real world".

"In this real world, what is actually working is the range of measures the Government is delivering on, such as increases in social welfare protection and increases in energy payments to households," he said.

I believe the right approach in tackling poverty and tackling energy poverty at this particular time is providing cash payments."

Sinn Féin's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said a "real plan" is required from the Government to ensure every single household is protected from disconnections this winter.

He said that more than 700 households were disconnected from their electricity and more than 300 had their gas disconnected in the first half of the year, and since then energy bills have skyrocketed.

"More and more families are falling behind," he told the Dáil. "The possibility of these numbers increasing over the winter months is very real."

Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Mr Doherty said that instead of taking responsibility to protect households from disconnection, the Government is telling them to go to the local social welfare officer.

"The minister needs to grasp this issue with urgency," he said. 

"We have been saying this for weeks and we have been saying it to his Government colleagues for weeks. 

This is in his portfolio. This is his responsibility. 

"All households need to be protected from energy disconnections this winter. The Government must introduce a disconnections ban now and ensure those using prepay meters are included."

Mr Ryan said a Sinn Féin plan to provide greater loans to people in difficulty and those using prepay meters would not be the right solution, and that experts and charities have said this.

"We have been talking to the energy supply companies and St Vincent de Paul and setting out a policy in a co-ordinated and proper way," said Mr Ryan.

"We will come out in the coming weeks with a further iteration of our combating energy poverty action plan. 

That will build on what actually works."

Citing €38m of funding for additional needs payments, Mr Ryan said the Government is targeting the people who need the money most.

"Provision for that is the right approach to help people through this particular period," he said.

Wastewater plants

Mr Ryan also defended efforts to bring wastewater treatment plants up to standard after Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy raised an Environmental Protection Agency report that found only half of our sewage was treated to EU environmental standards in 2021.

While accepting that Ms Murphy was "right" to draw attention to the findings, Mr Ryan said "progress is being made".

"Money is being spent and will have an effect and make a difference," he said.

He said the completion of the Ringsend treatment plant in Dublin will bring Ireland up to the 90% cited as the European norm, but he added that Ireland should go beyond the norm.

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