Fuel poverty is at crisis levels in the State. I see it first-hand in my own constituency in Fingal East, particularly among the elder generations who are having to choose between heating and eating. I met a woman in her 70s from Malahide the other day who has worked her entire life. She spends her days walking around shopping centres to try to get some heat. It is absolutely appalling. She has changed her diet and is living on instant Cup A Soups because she cannot afford to eat. When it comes to the choice on blister packs, she is not going to be able to afford that either. The Taoiseach's Government patted itself on the back for having a surplus of €9 billion and that surplus has come at a terrible cost. People are literally freezing in their homes. The Government has to release the purse strings to give the disabled a once-off payment and give our elderly people the financial assistance they need to heat their homes properly.

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