Greens say action is needed urgently to tackle fuel poverty and protect the vulnerable

The Green Party has said that the next Assembly must introduce policies to insulate 500,000 homes in Northern Ireland as an urgent priority. If the incoming group of MLAs fail to endorse this action they will be betraying at risk children as well as households struggling with rising energy bills, Party Leader Steven Agnew and said today.

The Assembly candidate for North Down said Mr Agnew said: “Families are facing ever increasing bills for gas, petrol and oil. The recent announcement that Phoenix Gas customers will face price rises of nearly 40% will obviously concern families struggling to make ends meet, but rather than tut-tutting, politicians can do something to tackle this problem.

“As fossil fuels run out, energy bills are only going in one direction – unless we improve efficiency, reduce usage and switch our homes, businesses and forms of transportation to renewable sources of energy.

“Almost 110,000 children live in relative poverty according to statistics from Save the Children, and half of Northern Ireland’s homes that are experiencing fuel poverty include children.

“No child should be brought up in cold, damp houses. It is extremely damaging to a child’s health, education and well-being.

“If all of our elected representatives supported the Green Party’s plans for retrofitting older, draughty houses, no child would experience this terrible hardship. Thousands of jobs for people working in the construction sector that disappeared during the housing crash would also be created.

”Before the next winter approaches and while we enjoy the current spell of good weather, I urge voters to think of the long term. I also urge other parties to sign up to our plans to insulate houses, encourage renewable energy projects and take fuel poverty seriously. Rising energy costs and fuel poverty will become a crisis if we don’t plan and act now,” Agnew added.