Jennifer Murnane O'Connor: Urgent warning on fuel costs
Jennifer Murnane O'Connor warns the chamber of a global crisis in the supply and cost of fuel and outlines the government's initial response and remaining gaps. She welcomes cuts to excise on fuel and further supports, but says more help is needed for vulnerable households, hauliers, farmers and bus operators.
Jennifer Murnane O'Connor notes the government introduced a package to ease cost of living pressures, including cuts to excise on fuel and increased supports for fuel allowance. She highlights that further measures this week bring the total package to over £750 million, which she describes as the largest in the EU.
She emphasises certainty for businesses most affected by fuel price shock - hauliers, farmers, agricultural contractors and bus operators - and stresses that people in her own constituency, Carlow, Kilkenny, have contacted her about rising heating oil costs.
Murnane O'Connor recounts recent meetings showing how fuel shortages and costs have affected health services: hospital appointments delayed, cancer treatment impacted, and concern about getting nurses and carers to patients. She argues that delaying a carbon tax increase and targeted supports are necessary to help the most vulnerable.
Throughout her address she urges cross-departmental cooperation and continued government support to protect households and essential services, while acknowledging the global unpredictability of supply driven by international events.
Government package and scope
Jennifer Murnane O'Connor notes the government introduced a package to ease cost of living pressures, including cuts to excise on fuel and increased supports for fuel allowance. She highlights that further measures this week bring the total package to over £750 million, which she describes as the largest in the EU.
Who is affected
She emphasises certainty for businesses most affected by fuel price shock - hauliers, farmers, agricultural contractors and bus operators - and stresses that people in her own constituency, Carlow, Kilkenny, have contacted her about rising heating oil costs.
Health services and immediate consequences
Murnane O'Connor recounts recent meetings showing how fuel shortages and costs have affected health services: hospital appointments delayed, cancer treatment impacted, and concern about getting nurses and carers to patients. She argues that delaying a carbon tax increase and targeted supports are necessary to help the most vulnerable.
Calls for cooperation
Throughout her address she urges cross-departmental cooperation and continued government support to protect households and essential services, while acknowledging the global unpredictability of supply driven by international events.
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Transcript
Alaskan Comhairle, we are facing a global crisis in the supply and the cost of fuel and this is the reality here in the chamber. The situation in Iran, it's unpredictable, nobody knows, it's global. The government did introduce a package aimed at easing the impact of the cost of living increases with cuts to excise on fuel and further supports for those to get their fuel allowance. This was only ever going to be the first package of supports and I welcome the further packages announced by the government this week. The total package of over £750 million, the largest in the EU. This is the largest in the EU. The government are really showing support there. They want to work with our hauliers, our farmers, our agriculture contractors and our bus operators and I think it is important that people have certainty, particularly those involved in businesses and that are hardest hit. Now I do know too that some are struggling, we all know that too and I know some of my own constituency, Carlow, Kilkenny have come to me over the last few days about the cost of heating oil and that is a concern and that is why it was important to delay the increase in the carbon tax and more supports are needed. I understand that. No, no, I spoke to my own colleague today, Minister Derek O'Leary and there is support for energy bills there through your local enterprise office but you don't want to hear that. Why would you want people to get help and support? Why wouldn't you? As a Minister in the Department of Health there is real concern and I can say this because we had several meetings over the last week. We were working as well. We had several meetings. We had meetings with the Department and we seen the impact. We had people waiting to go to hospital appointments, people that were waiting to go get their cancer treatment and we were making sure that there was fuel to get nurses and carers to the homes that they needed to be. But this is about everybody working together and as I said, unless we all work together to sort this, we need to help those most vulnerable people in Ireland and it's all of us working together. Absolutely, we are working and that can't be controlled.