£17m support for heating oil costs in NI is 'not enough'

A Lisburn woman has said the £17m pledged by the UK government to mitigate home heating oil bills in Northern Ireland is "not enough".

It was confirmed on Monday that the Northern Ireland Executive will receive £17m to help "low-income households" in Northern Ireland with the rising cost of home heating oil.

It is part of a £53 million UK-wide support package announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for "vulnerable customers" and households "most exposed" to rising prices.

First Minister Michelle O'Neills said the funding is a "slap in the face" and that it "doesn't touch the surface of what is required" for households affected by the rising costs.

Almost two-thirds of homes (62.5%) in Northern Ireland use oil for heating - the highest proportion of UK nations.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said rising prices were an "urgent problem", and the package would deliver support to Northern Ireland "where this issue hits hardest".

Prices have risen sharply in recent weeks due to the global impact of the US-Israel war in Iran.

Lisburn woman Rebecca Crothers works two jobs and said she "cannot afford" to fill up her oil tank with the current price of home heating oil.

"It's really unfair," she told Evening Extra.

"I've got three children at home, two of them are still quite young. You cannot wear a uniform for more than one day, it needs washed. Obviously, you need to send your children into school in clean, dry uniforms," Crothers said.

"With us having such a cold and wet winter we haven't been able to hang our clothes out on the line. I'm having to rely on my oil."

Crothers said she now has to send some of her clothes to her mother's house to have them dried there.

Crothers puts her home heating on in the morning and evening, however said she said cannot put it on more often as she would not be "able to afford" to top up her oil.

"I'm trying to bide my time with it."

The funding needs to be made available to people "quickly", Crothers said, adding that it also "needs to be targeted".

David Caddell, a pensioner from Newtownabbey, ordered 300 litres of oil a couple of months ago for less than £200.

He ordered another 300 litres last Monday and it cost £350.

"We'd done that after watching the news because we'd seen they were saying the price of oil was shooting through the roof. The next morning when we'd looked at the price of oil it was £383. So we saved ourselves £33," Caddell said.

He said: "Just because you're not on a social benefit doesn't mean to say that you don't see the hardship and you don't actually feel it, so yes it would be really good to get something coming through very soon."

Caddell described the funding as a "stop gap", adding that "people will be waiting with bated breath to find out what's going to happen".

Julie Cunningham, a 71-year-old from the Ballyhackamore Knit and Natter group in Belfast, bought 500 litres of oil for about £324 on 8 January.

She purchased another 500 litres on Monday morning and the price had risen to £615.

She said there needs to be more detail provided from the prime minister's announcement.

"We don't know who will be helped. It could be everybody. But that seems very unlikely, because there's too many of us to get anything significant, and could end up with five pounds each," she said.

"But it's more likely someone would choose particular sectors of the community and I don't think I would be in in that category."

73-year-old Ann Leacock said she hopes the executive gets "payments to us very quickly and that they would be fair to everybody and not just to people on benefits".

"There will be plenty of people like me who will be just above that threshold. But we're still having to heat the whole house with just our pension," Leacock said.

She said it would be a "real confidence booster" to receive financial support.

"It would mean that you could relax and just put the heating on whenever I needed it."

Florence Haslett from Dungiven in County Londonderry said she has had to cut back on the amount of oil she uses because of the rise in price.

"Why should I at my age have to cut down on the bare necessities? I am a pensioner and I worked hard all my life," she said.

She is waiting to see if she will be eligible for the government support package, adding "no doubt it will not be very much that we get, but every little helps".

Joseph McVeigh from Derry said the price rise is the thing "everyone is talking about".

It is causing stress and anxiety for a lot of people, he said.

He worries especially, he said, about his siblings who have young children.

"I am thinking do they have enough (oil) to heat the house for their children, I think I am not the only one."

Speaking in the assembly on Monday, the first minister said the available money should be "targeted at the lower-income households".

"I have to say, I find the £17m that's been put on the table today to be a real slap in the face - a real slap in the face to families that are struggling, who are already struggling to pay their oil bills," O'Neill said.

The first minister said what's been announced today "doesn't cut it".

"So we have to continue in making the case for an urgent support package to mitigate the worst excesses of what people are experiencing right now."

The Secretary of State Hilary Benn has defended the UK Government's response to the home heating oil price crisis.

Benn said O'Neill is "looking at just one part of the help that the government has given to support the people of Northern Ireland".

He said the £17m "comes on top of a record settlement for the executive in the spending review last summer, the money that will come to Northern Ireland to account for the crisis Resilience Fund".

The Secretary of State also suggested some of an £81m package previously pledged to cutting electricity bills here could be used to alleviate home heating oil prices

"If the executive wants to come to the Treasury and say 'we'd like to use it in a slightly different way', then a conversation could take place about that."

Finance Minister John O'Dowd said the amount of funding that the UK government had made available to the Executive was "extremely disappointing" and "significantly below par".

O'Dowd explained that with half a million homes in NI relying on oil fired central heating the funding works out at around £35 per household.

"On that basis I think it's only right and proper we target those on the lowest incomes," he said.

But O'Dowd said he would continue to engage with the government and would be emphasising to them that there needs to be further funding to help a broader range of people.

"We need to be able to support our workers and families in a more appropriate way than has been offered by the prime minister today," he continued.

O'Dowd said he would be writing to Communities Minister Gordon Lyons today to ask for proposals on how the funding should be best used and distributed as soon as possible.

Lyons said he has directed his officials to engage with the departments of economy and finance to "understand the most expedient way to deliver a scheme that can help people in Northern Ireland".

"Unlike others, I will not be found wanting on this matter but we need clarity on the parameters for a scheme including eligibility and how the scheme could be administered," he said.

Starmer acknowledged that his recent visit to Northern Ireland, during which he spoke to people facing rising bills, had helped inform his view of the crisis.

The prime minister added that he was "absolutely determined to clamp down on anybody who might think of ripping others off".

He described reports of "suppliers cancelling orders and jacking up prices" as "completely unacceptable".

He also hinted at plans to enhance regulation in the heating oil market, describing it as "under-regulated."