Bríd Smith TD to host press conference on fuel poverty Monday 16th Sept 12noon Buswells Hotel
People Before Profit TD and member of the Oireachtas Climate Action Committee Bríd Smith will host a press conference on the issue of fuel poverty and the impending increase of the carbon tax.
The press conference will be held in Buswells Hotel on Molesworth Street today at 12 noon on Monday 16th September.
The press conference will address the issue of fuel poverty in Ireland, the groups that are particularly vulnerable to fuel poverty and how energy costs and the energy efficiency of homes are impacting on fuel poverty.
The issue of fuel poverty was a recommendation, which Bríd Smith TD raised repeatedly in the all-party Oireachtas committee report on Climate Action.
Bríd Smith TD requested that “the Government commission a comprehensive enquiry into the extent and nature of fuel poverty across all cohorts of the population and the short, medium and long-term impact of increased carbon taxation on all cohorts prior to taking a decision to increase carbon taxation.”
While the Committee’s report contains a recommendation seeking a review of fuel poverty which was to be completed by June 2019 (Priority Recommendation 3 in Chapter 6 of the Joint Committee on Climate Action (p48), the report is still awaited.
The TD recently asked a parliamentary question of Minister Richard Bruton to establish the precise status on this report
The press conference will be addressed by Gerry Loftus, a farmer from Mayo, who will provide the rural dimension to the fuel poverty issue; Louise Bayliss of SPARK who will discuss fuel poverty and lone parents; Clare Carey, who will speak about the issue of fuel poverty for older people and others which will be announced in due course.
