Motion: Cost of Living Crisis

“Fermanagh and Omagh District Council (FODC) recognises with deep concern the cost of living crisis that is having a seriously detrimental impact on families across our society.

This includes the rise in home energy, incorporating home heating oil, electricity and gas costs as well as food costs and the daily escalating cost of petrol and diesel which has placed a severe burden on already struggling households, businesses and other sectors, including Domiciliary Carers, across our Council district.

The collapse of the Executive caused by the resignation of DUP First Minister Paul Givan is preventing a budget, or the allocation of £300m available from Treasury from being agreed and is hampering Ministers from using their full spending power to give people relief who rely and depend upon it.

This Council calls for the immediate restoration of the Executive in order to allocate and agree spending to support workers and families.

Furthermore this council calls upon the Westminster Government to take action, where local Ministers cannot, by scrapping VAT on domestic energy bills and cutting duty on home heating oil, petrol and diesel, for the duration of the energy crisis; introducing a windfall tax on energy generators and redirect money towards supporting families; reversing the planned increase in National Insurance Contributions; and halt the planned change in red diesel entitlement.

We also call on this Council to carry out an assessment of the impact which rising costs will have on our citizens and on the staff, operations and service delivery of the Council itself and to come up with an action plan which will help to mitigate aspects of this crisis within our competence and influence as a local government authority”.