Last night, Sinn Féin brought a motion before the Dáil calling on the Government to ensure that households are protected from electricity and gas disconnection this winter. Our motion proposes a ban on disconnections now instead of waiting until December as the Government's plan suggests. It would provide desperately needed protection and certainty for the hundreds of thousands of households using prepaid meters. The Government has stated it will not oppose the motion and this is to be welcomed.

Those struggling to pay their energy bills need urgent action now to implement these measures without delay. It is nearly three weeks since the Taoiseach stated nobody would be disconnected this winter, including households using prepaid meters. As the Taoiseach knows, I welcomed it at the time. Since then, I and others have asked the Taoiseach repeatedly for his plan to deliver on this commitment but he has not provided an answer. Instead, we hear that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is to publish a plan in the coming weeks. Those struggling to pay their electricity bills do not have the luxury of weeks. They are in trouble now.

As we speak, more than 200,000 households are in electricity arrears. The fear of disconnection is very real and very present for them. This will only get worse as people scramble to keep up with the soaring cost of living. The October bills are arriving now. They are landing like a body blow. I spoke to a woman last night who told me that the heart was put crossways in her when she saw her bill. She said she felt winded. That is how she described it.

People work hard all day but are afraid to turn on the lights when they come home. Parents worry that they will be disconnected and that their children will not have light to do their homework. Many families using prepaid meters are forced to have dark days and to ration their electricity. This is where it is at for so many people. Asking these households to wait on the never-never for the Government's plan is not good enough. They need the Government to act now to ensure every single household is protected from disconnection. This has to include those using prepaid meters.

I have said before to the Taoiseach but let me repeat that there is a simple solution to what is a big problem. Some prepaid companies already have disconnection bans in place at weekends and some public holidays. This ban should be extended to provide these households with 24-7 protection until the end of March. The Taoiseach needs to grasp this solution. Do not leave people waiting and waiting with unimaginable stress. Ní mór teaghlaigh a chosaint ó dhícheangal fuinnimh an geimhreadh seo. Caithfidh an Rialtas cosc ar dhícheangal a thabhairt isteach anois agus cinntiú go n-áirítear iad siúd a úsáideann méadair íoc-mar-a-úsáidtear.

I want the Taoiseach to follow up on the decision not to oppose our motion and to deliver for these households. This means a ban on disconnections starting immediately. It means including those on pre-pay meters now and providing them with an absolute assurance that they will not be disconnected. Yesterday, I said sincerely to the Taoiseach that we will work with the Government to get the eviction ban in place as quickly as possible. We need the same urgency and willingness to work together to ensure no household is disconnected this winter.

We all share this view and objective. The Minister has met with the companies and suppliers, with MABS, with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and with other non-governmental organisations that are at the coalface in respect of challenges that certain families or people may experience, particularly during a winter like this. The Government has taken a number of measures. We are not standing by or waiting. By any fair measure, the budget announcements are significant to ensure people have the wherewithal to avoid disconnection and, in particular, to meet the significant increase in electricity costs. This is apart from the measures taken earlier in the year.

The €600 energy credit is a significant intervention. There will be three payments of €200 in the billing periods of November-December 2022, January-February 2023 and March-April 2023. We go further then, with more than €2.5 billion provided in the budget to support households. There is a €400 lump sum payment for fuel allowance recipients. There is a €200 lump sum payment for pensioners. There is a €500 cost-of-living lump sum payment for all families getting the working family payment. There is a double payment of child benefit to support all families with children. A €500 cost-of living payment for people receiving the carer's support grant will be paid in November. The €500 cost-of-living disability support grant will be paid to all people receiving a long-term disability payment. These are substantial interventions. They are far stronger than what Sinn Féin proposed in its alternative budget. We will leave that to one side. I will not go through the list. Its alternative budget was quite poor in respect of the fuel allowance and pensioners. That is the bottom line. It had major gaps.

The winter moratorium on disconnections of all domestic customers for non-payment has been extended to three months, as I said yesterday, from 1 December to 28 February. In respect of pay-as-you-go meters, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has decided to suspend the €200 gas meter exchange siteworks charge associated with a customer moving from a pay-as-you-go gas meter to a bill-pay credit meter for all domestic customers. This is welcome. The level of emergency credit for prepaid meters was increased. The CRU is examining this further.

In the Minister's engagement with quite a number of NGOs, they warned against increasing the overdraft because it would increase debt for families. It is called a credit but in essence it is an overdraft. We would prefer for this not to happen and to seek more effective ways to support people who could end up in difficulty or may have challenges with pay-as-you-go. The Minister will continue to engage with a number of stakeholders to make sure no one is disconnected. Following his discussions with the companies and with the CRU, we do not believe disconnections will happen. There are people who could be in difficulty and we are looking at what is the best mechanism to prevent anyone from being disconnected, as opposed to just increasing the credit and the overdraft, which could lead to further debt for families who do not need to get into further debt.

The difficulty lies in the Taoiseach's statement that the Minister "will continue to engage". I am very concerned that there is not a sense of pace in the Taoiseach's response to this situation, which is one of incredible stress and worry for hundreds of thousands of families throughout the land. The Taoiseach's concern about people falling into debt is understandable but I need to say that a far greater concern for those using prepaid meters is that they will not have supply to their homes.

We need to deal with that as a matter of urgency. As I said, many prepay companies already allow protection on weekends and specific public holidays. The best and most straightforward way to deal with this matter is to extend that protection on a 24-7 basis. The Minister does not need to hold endless rounds of meeting with people to arrive at that conclusion. I appeal to the Taoiseach as a matter of urgency to adopt that position and to approach those companies and tell them we need this ban in place now.

Again, the measures introduced by the Government are substantial on the income side in respect of providing funding to people to meet electricity bills, with substantial monthly payments from now until the end of the year. They should not be so lightly dismissed as the Government doing nothing. The scale and volume of those payments is unprecedented. In addition, there are other measures the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has taken in respect of pay-as-you-go customers as well measures through additional needs and social protection.

Tá an Rialtas ag déanamh gach rud chun cabhair agus tacaíocht a thabhairt do dhaoine atá i dtrioblóid-----

Unbelievable.

-----de dheasca na bpraghsanna ag dul chomh ard agus atá siad. Coimeádfaimid súil ar sin chun cabhair a thabhairt do dhaoine i rith an gheimhridh ar fad agus táim muiníneach go mbeidh an tAire, a bhuí leis an méid atá déanta ag an Rialtas go dtí seo, in ann daoine a chosaint.