Debate contribution: Energy Prices
Debate contribution by Mr Colm Gildernew on .
- MLA
- Mr Colm Gildernew
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 13 April 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Matters of the Day
- Heading
- Energy Prices
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5483040
Read the official Assembly record
Text
It is quite bizarre to ignore the reality that the war that we are seeing has forced thousands of households and businesses to experience huge spikes in their bills. We know that the North relies heavily on home heating oil — to a much greater degree than other areas. The latest statistics show that the prices have more than doubled since the start of the illegal war. That is having a devastating impact on families and right across our society. It is having a huge effect on small businesses, working families and healthcare workers and carers who are out there using their vehicles. The British Government must revisit their decision to allocate only a shamefully inadequate £17 million to the North. They must also consider a range of other measures. The British Government need to step up to the plate and provide substantially more funding. Having said that, I welcome the Minister for Communities' writing to me recently to acknowledge that he is responsible for and is working on a scheme to get that £17 million into people's pockets. I welcome that fact. As Chair of the Communities Committee, I will certainly work with him. We are almost a month on now since that £17 million was announced and allocated. We now need to see a scheme brought forward by the Minister for Communities with urgency to get that money into people's pockets.
233 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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