Minister of State, Green Party Senator Pippa Hackett has said that targeted measures will have to be looked at in response to the “stark” figures in the ESRI report on fuel poverty.
The report highlighted the “huge pressure” people were under, she told Newstalk Breakfast. It also illustrated the severe impact of the Ukraine crisis on fuel costs.
“The Government has stepped up to the mark in the last while, we've put in place €2.4 billion worth of supports since Budget 2022 and since then, we have done a mix of different supports, we have targeted supports towards those on fuel allowances.
"There's a €225 one off payment to people on fuel allowances, we've increased fuel allowance by €5 a week, those are specifically targeted supports and then the €200 electricity credit which wasn't specifically targeted."
Ms Hackett pointed out there was a difficulty in implementing supports quickly: “Sometimes the quickest way to do it is to do an across the board cut on something.
"However, the targeted measures approach is something we will have to look at and it's clear that some people are far more vulnerable than others to this, so whatever we can do as a Government - we are coming into that Budgetary cycle now that certainly targeted supports are important."
Ms Hackett added that the Government had introduced other supports which had helped people such as the 20 per cent cut in public transport fares.
Some supports could also bring about behavioural changes in the longer term which was an important factor, she said.
"Targeted measures will have to be looked at because when you see the figures in that report it is really quite stark."
The Government was trying to explore every possibility, she said, adding: "Every little helps."
