Fuel poverty is at crisis levels in the State. I see it first-hand in my own constituency in Fingal East, particularly among the elder generations who are having to choose between heating and eating. I met a woman in her 70s from Malahide the other day who has worked her entire life. She spends her days walking around shopping centres to try to get some heat. It is absolutely appalling. She has changed her diet and is living on instant Cup A Soups because she cannot afford to eat. When it comes to the choice on blister packs, she is not going to be able to afford that either.

The Taoiseach's Government patted itself on the back for having a surplus of €9 billion and that surplus has come at a terrible cost. People are literally freezing in their homes. The Government has to release the purse strings to give the disabled a once-off payment and give our elderly people the financial assistance they need to heat their homes properly.

The surplus is because of corporation tax and other taxes, not because of any cutback here. We have actually increased the fuel allowance and the number of people entitled to receive the fuel allowance. It is now supporting about 417,000 households and will cost about €400 million, which is money well spent. In addition, the household benefits package for a lot of elderly people comprises, as the Deputy will know, the likes of the gas or electricity allowance, the free TV licence and so on. The retrofit programme has also been particularly impactful in terms of the number of households that have benefited from that. It is increasing significantly every year, which reduces energy costs. I acknowledge that there are challenges and pressures on people but we have focused and targeted our resources on the low-income groups, as opposed to having universal energy credits this time, which would have spread money to those on higher incomes. We wanted to focus on the elderly and those on low incomes.