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<\/p>\nThe Northern Ireland Executive will continue to push for support from the British Government if energy costs continue to rise, a Stormont minister has said.<\/p>\n
Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald said that the \u00a317 million in supports announced for Northern Ireland was \u201cclearly inadequate\u201d and did not \u201cgo anywhere near far enough\u201d.<\/p>\n
Last week, it was announced that Northern Ireland would receive a \u00a317 million share of a \u00a353 million package launched by the British Government in response to a sharp spike in heating oil costs because of the war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The Sinn Fein Stormont minister said that the Executive were aware that people were struggling with the cost of living, and that figures indicated the cost of oil for households had nearly doubled since February 26.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe \u00a317 million announced by the British Government is clearly inadequate,\u201d Ms Archibald told MLAs on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore it\u2019s important that whatever support is available, or becomes available going forward, is targeted at those most in need.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am meeting regularly with the ministers from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Michael Shanks and Martin McCluskey, and I will continue to argue for additional support if the conflict continues to drive up energy prices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Archibald also said the \u201cscale of the resources needed\u201d were beyond the means of \u201can already underfunded Executive\u201d.<\/p>\n
In addition, she said that further energy supports would also be rolled out on July 1 pending the approval of the Executive.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A package of \u00a381 million for Northern Ireland was announced in Chancellor Rachel Reeves\u2019s autumn budget to help with energy bills.<\/p>\n
The funding will be rolled out over the next three years to facilitate a \u00a330 reduction in electricity bills.<\/p>\n
She said the necessary statutory instrument to roll out the scheme in Northern Ireland was tabled at Westminster last Monday and will be in place from June.<\/p>\n
\u201cI and my department have been working to implement the reduction in electricity bills announced by the British Chancellor in the budget last November,\u201d Ms Archibald told the Assembly.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite originally having been excluded from the British Government scheme, I secured approval to implement a similar scheme here.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe necessary statutory instrument to provide legislative cover from Westminster was laid last Monday and is due to be in place in June.<\/p>\n
\u201cSubject to Executive agreement, my department will be ready to go live with the scheme on 1 July.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Treasury has consistently insisted that the funding can only be used for a comparable scheme, meaning a \u00a330 discount on every household\u2019s electricity bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was confirmed in writing as recently as last Tuesday.\u201d<\/p>\n
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