'NIO and Stormont cynically holding back energy support payments' - Cllr Shaun Harkin

The response to the Derry City and Strabane District Council's Hardship Fund should be an emergency signal for MLAs attending today's Stormont recall meeting, according to Cllr Shaun Harkin (People Before Profit).

The Council's Heating Payment Fund (Hardship Fund) opened, was oversubscribed and closed on Tuesday, after less than eight hours of operation. The online application page for the Fund also crashed mid-morning due to the volume of demand.

Cllr Shaun Harkin said: "Freezing temperatures will put many more lives at risk if there isn't urgent hardship action. The cynical holding back of £600 in desperately needed energy support payments here must end.

"It's no surprise the Council emergency fuel support programme received several thousand applications within the first eight hours of opening. And many, many people will be disappointed they weren't able to apply or left frustrated with the process of applying. 

"People Before Profit proposed the Hardship Fund in March because of the failure of Westminster and Stormont to take urgent cost of living support. This failure persists," said Cllr Harkin.

Cllr Harkin said the Hardship proposal was originally opposed by the main parties in Council and the proposed amount for the fund was slashed. 

He added: "The motion also called for the Department for Communities and energy companies, including Firmus, to provide matching funds but they refused to do so.  

"The Council fund was always going to be a drop in the ocean compared to what we actually need but more people could have been helped if those with deep pockets had matched their rhetoric with action. 

"We face a deepening hardship emergency alongside proposals for wide ranging cuts and massive pressures on the health service.

"The DUP's selfish boycott of Stormont is compounding the threat faced by households and families across all communities. It is criminal to further delay distribution of energy support payments. We need to maximise people power pressure on the Secretary of State, the NIO and those at Stormont involved in cynically holding back energy support payments."