I want to talk about a place I visited last week. It is a new residential hub in Inchicore village called Richmond Place. We have 68 new neighbours in Inchicore in Richmond Place. It is a great facility. It is a pilot programme that has been in the making for years between the HSE and local government and it is funded by the Government as well. The Minister of State, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell, was out and we met all of the residents who have moved in there in the past couple of weeks. These are older people. Some of them had been living in houses and some had been living in flats and apartments around Inchicore, Ballyfermot, Drimnagh and all around the area. Some of those houses were damp council houses. They have now had the opportunity not just to get out of those less-than-comfortable positions, but meet new neighbours. You have 68 people living in this very secure environment. They all have their own front doors and two-bedroom apartments. I managed to get a nice, private tour away from all the humdrum of the cameras. It was really nice to see the pride in people when they had their own front door and to share that but also to have neighbours beside them, security on site, a panic button in the apartment and somebody in the Richmond Place location 24 hours a day from ALONE. They are very supported in where they are living.

All of these people qualify for the fuel allowance. When I hung around for a couple of hours chatting to them, I found out that they were really struggling with heating bills. A rate of €38 per week is paid, which was increased by €5 in the budget. Alternatively, it can be paid in two lump sums. It is paid to people who are 66 or over or to people who are under 66 and in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment. There is a weekly income limit of €534 for over-66s. I ask that we think about extending the fuel allowance to 52 weeks of the year. At the moment, it is only for 30 weeks of the year and people are really struggling. There are 470,000 households in receipt of the fuel allowance. At the current rate, it would cost the State €17.9 million to extend it up to 52 weeks. Last week, it was reported that 320,000 people were actually in arrears on their electricity bills. Obviously, it is mostly the type of people whom I met last week who are falling into arrears. With the conflict in the Middle East, which was referenced by my colleague, there is now an additional uncertainty in energy markets and we are seeing a spike in energy prices already. This further highlights the need to add additional support from April for people whose electricity bills may not decrease as much as they typically would in the summer months. I ask that we look at that increase from 30 to 52 weeks of the year for the people who have already qualified for the fuel allowance.