Kildare people are "terrified" of bills coming through door - TD says

Householders are terrified of electricity and gas bills coming through the letter box, a TD told the Dáil.

Kildare North politician Réada Cronin was speaking during a debate on electricity costs and the payment of a one-off €100 amount to households. 

The Government has said that it is mindful of cost of living increases and is working on a set of measures to reduce the burden on households.

Ms Cronin said: "Many of my constituents in north Kildare are absolutely terrified of the electricity and gas bills arriving through the letter box. The cost of living is absolutely rocketing."

She added: "When people are already pared back to the minimum, some believe there is nothing left to give up.

"Some people are giving up a meal and many people find themselves in similar situations. I met a pensioner last month who had his coat on, on a really cold day because he was trying to make his fuel allowance go that bit further."

The TD said she spoke to a mother who said she keeps the heating off during the day because she wants to have it on when the kids come in from school because they are cold from being at school where all windows are open due to the lack of HEPA filtration in the classrooms.

The Sinn Féin politician added: "Heat is not a luxury; it is a basic human comfort. It is appalling that people are having to be so careful about putting on the heat.

"Nobody should have to see their family or their children shivering from the cold in the 21st century.

"We are going back to the days when pensioners travelled on buses during the daytime to try to keep warm.

"They cannot even do that now because we are in the middle of a pandemic and as every window on the buses is open, they are freezing there, too."

Ms Cronin added that people on high incomes should not get the €100.

She told the Chamber: "High earners do not really need the €100. Low earners need multiples of it. To maximise the impact and to highlight the emergency we are in, this payment should really be targeted."