Struggling Louth households 'left in energy debt while the government stands idly by'

Louth Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne is calling on the government to step up and support families, workers and businesses in Louth and East Meath, as figures show the number of people in energy arrears has hit an all-time high of over 300,000. 

Deputy Byrne said: “Households right across my constituency and beyond, are paying some of the highest energy bills anywhere in Europe. Rising energy prices are heaping more pressure on already struggling families that I meet in my constituency office.

“Information provided to my colleague Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan shows a record 301,379 households are in energy arrears. This the highest number ever recorded.

“We are now in a situation where big energy companies are intent on hiking up their energy costs making huge profits, and the Commission for the Regulaiton of Utilities (CRU) is preparing to hike the network costs that households have to pay but cut them for data centers.

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“The government cannot stand idly by and continue to claim that these issues are outside their control, but they are not.  These are political decisions. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael talk about their glossy ‘taskforce’ to look at energy prices, despite the last government launching a ‘steering group’ to do the same thing.

“We don’t need another talking shop to waste taxpayer money. What we need is for the government to tackle these issues. They need to scrap the cut to costs for data centers and crucially, use this year’s budget to bring forward badly needed supports to help families and small businesses who are struggling with sky high energy costs."

Deputy Byrne added, “September’s budget must include energy credits as part of a cost-of-living package to reduce the pressure households are facing and extend the reduced VAT on electricity and gas bills until the end of the year.”