We can all agree that the days and nights are getting colder. People are turning on their heating earlier and are keeping it on for longer to keep their houses warm. Many cannot afford it. One in four households cannot afford their gas bills. More than 320,000 households cannot pay their electricity bills. Families waited desperately for the Government to provide help in the budget but that help never came. There were no energy credits. There was no real support for working families. No action was taken to take on the big energy companies. Over the past fortnight, what have we seen? Energy company after energy company has hiked its prices. The rip-off bills are going in one direction and that is up. The pressure on folks is intense.

I will ask the Minister a plain question. How many more families have to fall into arrears before the Government takes action and delivers the measures that people deserve?

Hear, hear.

I thank the Deputy. As he is aware, the fuel allowance is paid to 26% of households across the country and that increase of €5 will take place next year. We have also tried to take the measures we can at a cost of close to €1.4 billion, which is nearly the total uplift of the Department of Health this year, to try to suppress energy prices in different ways. Carbon tax on home heating oil and gas has been reduced and will not increase in the lifetime of the Government. The rate of carbon tax on kerosene and natural gas has been reduced to €48.50 per tonne.

The extent of the intervention by the Government is not enough to meet everybody's need. It cannot be. It is more than comparable European countries, but we cannot meet every measure of this extraordinary energy crisis created by the war in the Middle East.