Home Heating Oil Costs: Motion [Private Members]

Deputy Pearse Doherty

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that:

— approximately 700,000 households across the State depend on home heating oil to keep their homes warm, with many families facing unprecedented financial pressure as winter approaches; and

— the cost of filling a home heating oil tank has increased by more than €700 since the beginning of 2026;

further notes that:

— in the hours after the Budget was announced, wholesale home heating oil prices increased by €100 for a fill, with a further increase projected;

— households now face bills of over €1,600 on a 1,000-litre fill of home heating oil;

— despite these extraordinary increases, Budget 2027 delivered a reduction of just €43 on a 1,000-litre fill of home heating oil;

— increases over recent days demonstrate how quickly the Government's inadequate €43 reduction has been wiped out;

— Sinn Féin has consistently called for the removal of carbon tax from home heating oil, including through legislation brought before the Dáil, to deliver immediate and meaningful reductions in household heating costs;

— Budget 2027 also failed to introduce any further reduction in petrol and diesel prices, leaving workers and families facing continued high transport costs, and changes in the fuel allowance have actually left recipients worse off; and

— despite the strength of the State's finances, the Government has failed to deliver sufficient immediate relief to households struggling to afford the basic necessity of heating their homes; and

calls on the Government to immediately remove all carbon tax from home heating oil, delivering a meaningful reduction in costs for the approximately 700,000 households dependent on it.

As winter approaches, workers and families will be forced to pay more now to keep their homes warm. This Government's response in the budget to rising prices is a token gesture and bears no relation to the bills landing on kitchen tables.

The Government is out of touch with what the people are saying. It is not listening. These are people who are paying these bills and the Government is removed from the reality of their everyday lives. It defends a tax on home heating oil that is ripping people off and then it expects people to be grateful to it because it delivered a pathetic reduction of €43.

So many people are working every hour they can. They are cutting back wherever they can and they still find that the money simply does not stretch far enough. They are telling the Government plainly that they cannot cope but it is not listening.

Before Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael vote against cutting their bills once again, they should listen to what people are actually saying to them. A person from west Limerick contacted me to say that they work full time. They take on extra shifts and work the weekends also. They cannot afford to turn on the oil to heat their water. They describe taking cold showers and then getting into a cold bed. They are working all week, including the weekends, and are still unable to afford the basic comforts in their own home. What is the Minister of State's answer to that person?

It is not just him. Another person told me about the previous winter, when they and their partner ran out of home heating oil. Between them, they had just €8 per day to live on. Refilling the tank was out of the question. They huddled together on the couch and in bed, wearing layers of clothing to keep warm. They used an electric heater for half an hour before bed and they could not afford to leave it on any longer than that. They now live with their partner's parents. They are trying to save enough money to move out - that is another challenge - but the cost of living keeps on pushing them further away. They are unable to afford warmth in the home they had or to save for the home they want.

One woman told me that last October, she got 500 litres of kerosene and it cost her €505. Today, the suppliers in her area are charging her €800 for the same amount. She has half a tank left, she tells me, and she will not be refilling it for the foreseeable future. Another person who came to me told me they are buying oil 100 litres at a time. They are carrying the drums from the station down to their home and filling the tank themselves because they cannot afford it any other way. Another reported paying €1,600 for 1,000 litres just recently.

Behind every one of those bills in those households are real people who are trying to make money stretch across food, rent, the mortgage, going to work and keeping the lights on. That is a challenge that so many people have and now, it is the fear of the oil running out. These people need meaningful relief from this Government. A pathetic €43 reduction on 1,000 litres of home heating oil comes nowhere near meeting the pressure they are under.

The Government keeps pointing to global events but they do not absolve the Minister of State and his Cabinet colleagues of their responsibility. The Government cannot control every movement in international oil prices - we get that - but it can control the tax it charges the people of Ireland to heat their homes. That is on the Government. That is the Government's decision, so it should own it.

Irish workers and families deserve better than this. For many families, filling the tank is one of the biggest expenses they will have this winter. People are saving for months. They are cutting back on all their spending, dipping into savings and borrowing money. They do whatever they can. More than 700,000 households rely on home heating oil and they do not need Government lectures. What they need is no more Government excuses. They need lower prices and that is why Sinn Féin is once again calling on the Government to completely remove the carbon tax from home heating oil. That is why we are bringing this motion again before the Dáil and why every TD in this House should support it.

This is the ninth occasion that Sinn Féin has brought forward this proposal to cut the cost of home heating oil - nine opportunities to help households, nine opportunities to reduce their bills and nine opportunities to stand up for workers and families. Every TD has a choice tonight. They can stand over a policy that has already been overtaken by rising prices or they can support meaningful action. They can support more Government spin or support workers and their families struggling to heat their homes. They cannot blame international crises on the vote they cast in this Chamber.

I am calling on all TDs from all parties to send a clear message. When the Irish people who elect them to this House need them to step up, they have a duty to act. When people are struggling, TDs have a duty to do what is right, which is backing Sinn Féin's motion. Scrap the carbon tax from home heating oil and put workers and families first.

Deputy Mairéad Farrell

Last week was really hard for people. People had been holding out on getting oil since the spring, expecting that something would happen in the budget that would allow them to get a fill of oil, to be able to put the heating back on and to live a good quality of life in their homes. Not being able to put on the heating is not conducive to a good quality of life. Straight after the budget was announced, I got loads of messages asking what was happening with the home heating oil and the carbon tax. The Government had bigged it up so much that people were expecting something that would actually make a difference in their lives but the reality was that there was nothing, tada, faic. That was the message from the Government last week. That was the message to people across the west of Ireland who have been relying on home heating oil and who have not been able to get a fill of a tank. These are people who have no oil left and have no ability to heat their homes.

When we saw the prices increase, we got another swathe of messages. One man contacted me saying, "I was waiting too. Then, I looked and it is the same price or higher everywhere. Might hold off another week or two and see." That man should not have to hold off another week or two. He should be able to heat his home. He should be able to put a fill of oil into his tank and heat his home. It should not be the case that he cannot afford to do that because the Government has decided to keep a tax on the oil he is trying to buy to heat his home. The Minister of State has the opportunity today to change that by backing this motion to cut the carbon tax fully on home heating oil and to make people's lives easier by enabling them to put oil in their tanks and heat their homes.

Deputy Thomas Gould

A man contacted me today. It cost him €1,400 to put 800 litres of oil into his tank. That is not even a full fill but that is all he could manage. This is an ordinary person who, as members of the Government say, gets up early in the morning to go to work. He cannot even afford to fill his tank with oil because of the carbon tax. If that carbon tax was removed, as Pearse Doherty suggested, he could have filled his tank. That would have made a real difference to him. This man is angry like so many other people who are doing everything they can and who are working every hour God sends and yet this Government is taxing them out of existence. These people are looking for help but the budget last week did not deliver that. Pearse Doherty is trying to deliver help.

We cannot sort everything out but for those 750,000 people who rely on home heating oil and who are looking for support, this would make a real difference to their lives. I think of pensioners in their homes. I know pensioners living alone and widows getting their sons or daughters to dip their tanks to see if they can fill it or half fill it.

Is the Government so out of touch with ordinary people that it will not support them? Why will the Government not support ordinary workers, families, pensioners and people with disabilities? Who is pulling the strings behind the scenes? Ordinary people and families need help and the Government is not delivering for them.

There will be protests this winter because as prices go up, people will get more angry and frustrated and they are looking at this Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Government and saying that it has broken every promise to them. Where are the energy credits? Where is the tax on the profits of the big energy companies? Where are the cuts to the carbon tax that it should have delivered but did not deliver? Once again, this Government forgets about ordinary, hard-working people who get up early.

Deputy Louis O'Hara

Last week's budget was a Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael one designed with the interests of the elites and wealthy in mind. It was anti-worker, anti-rural and anti-young people. It will do nothing to bring costs down and protect households from the cost-of-living crisis. It will do nothing to alleviate the burden on households that do not have alternatives but yet have been punished by successive carbon tax increases from successive Governments. These are the people in rural Ireland who have to use their cars to go to work, to pick up their kids from school and go about their daily lives and who have to rely on home heating oil to keep their home warm through the winter months. Families have seen the cost of oil skyrocket by hundreds of euro and all year we have been telling the Government that it needed to intervene. We brought forward nine separate proposals to the Dáil to remove the carbon tax from home heating oil but the Government did nothing. It sat on its hands while people struggled. Days before the budget, Simon Harris said that help was on its way, and what did people get? A measly €43, even though prices have gone up by €700 this year alone and now by another €150 since the budget. It is gone before you even get it.

Today with this motion, the Government has an opportunity to do the right thing and stand up for households who are being fleeced left, right and centre and to offer them real support, to remove the carbon tax completely from home heating oil and to deliver the maximum possible reduction to households at a time of soaring prices. It is the right thing to do because these prices affect all 700,000 households that rely on home heating oil but they are felt the most by the most vulnerable in society. One woman described to me how she is dreading this winter because of the high cost of home heating oil. Another old-age pensioner told me that she simply will not be able to keep her house warm because of the current prices this winter and that is the reality people are living right now.

Being able to heat your home is one of the most basic of essentials that everybody needs, yet this Government has only offered up half measures and that is because of the political choices it has made. It prioritises the big energy companies, vulture funds, developers and landlords over vulnerable people who need to heat their homes. Nobody should be going cold in a country that has billions of euro of surplus and in a wealthy country such as ours. Do the right thing, support this motion and remove the carbon tax.

Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh

It should not be news to the Minister of State that families across the State are struggling to keep their heads above water. On his watch, record numbers of households have fallen into arrears on their electricity bills. Now, the winter is here and pensioners and families are terrified of the cost of heating their homes. The most common question in rural Ireland these days is, "Have you dipped your tank and how long more is it going to last?" People waited and waited for this budget and they did not get what should have been done in the budget. The Government has turned its back on the people and people in rural Ireland certainly know that.

Since January, the cost 1,000 litres of home heating oil has soared by over €700 but the Government has given back a measly €43. Nobody can afford to fill their tank in the first place, so it is even less than that. It is an absolute insult to the households already at breaking point and totally wiped out by further price increases since budget day.

In rural counties like Mayo, home heating oil is not a luxury. Families have no alternative. People cannot simply switch to another source of heat this winter. Instead of backing Sinn Féin's motion this evening, the Government amendment delivers another slap in the face. The Government tells people it will keep the situation under review and protect those most vulnerable. The Government is not protecting the most vulnerable because the people I meet every day are extremely vulnerable.

If people cannot heat their home, they are, due for that mere reason, vulnerable.

The time for reviews is long gone. Shall I forward the Minister for Finance the emails and calls my office is receiving from pensioners afraid to turn on their heating and from families facing the prospect of freezing in their own homes? The budget was the Government's opportunity to act. On this side of the House, we are often accused of not coming up with solutions. We have gone to the Government eight times to give it the solution as to what needs to be done here. This is the ninth time. It is never too late to do the right thing. This is the ninth time and the Government needs to act.

Deputy Martin Kenny

I was on my way home the week before last when I pulled into a filling station and there was a couple there with five-gallon drums in the boot of their car that the were about to fill with heating oil. I was chatting to one of them and he said he hoped after the budget they could fill the tank properly and they would be getting a bit of relief. There is no relief; that is the reality. What was taken away in the budget was already gone before they got it. That is the reality for the vast majority of people. This goes across every aspect of heating, fuel for the car and electricity.

All the measures that the Government had an opportunity to something about, it did nothing on. Home heating oil is a particularly sore one for people who live in rural areas in poorer houses and who have no option other than to heat their home using home heating oil. That is the only option they have and yet the Government chose to do little or nothing about it, suggesting that leaving the carbon tax on home heating oil means they will be able to get a grant to insulate their home. They cannot afford to get a grant to insulate their home because they cannot afford to pay a mortgage or pay to get their children through college and everything else that is going through the roof as well.

There is a total disconnect with the Government when it comes to all these issues. While it can point to Putin, Trump and the wars as causing all of this, suggesting it is international factors and all that, the reality is that the Government has an opportunity to do something about it here in this country and it does not do it. Instead, it turns its back on people and points to somewhere else. That is no good to the people out there who have five-gallon drums in their boot of the car to fill with home heating oil. It is no good talking to them about Trump and Putin; that will not solve the problem for them. The Government had the opportunity to solve it by taking away the carbon tax. It is already making bumper profits on the VAT, excise and other duties on home heating oil, other fuel, electricity and everything else. The ordinary people out there who have to go with five-gallon drums in the boot of their car are not data centres and cannot get cheap energy. That is the difference. The Government looks after one sector of society and it lets down the others, the ordinary people out there who go and vote for Government Members and put them in here. Nobody in data centres is putting them in here, but yet they are the ones they look after.

What is wrong? Where is the disconnect? What is the ideology that means the Government looks after people who do not actually elect it? What is happening here? Why do we have this society where people trust democracy and democracy fails them? It is not just in Ireland but in many countries across Europe that there is this neoliberal style of economics where the well-connected are looked after and the ordinary people are told to suck it up. That is basically what is happening and it is wrong. That is why we brought this motion. The Government needs to take away the carbon tax and do something to help the ordinary people. This is one opportunity to do it but there are many others that should be taken as well.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

A few days before the budget, the finance Minister was asked about the crippling cost of energy and he said that help was on the way. Why anyone would want to listen to him is a mystery to me, but there you go; some people do. Following that message, people waited because they thought the Government would be as good as its word, that help was on the way. People waited, not to fill their tanks because they do not do that any more, but for the half-fill they thought they could afford. They waited for the help that they thought was coming from the budget and they got crumbs. What they got will be quickly swallowed up, as the Minister of State knows. Everybody is calling the budget the gone-before-you-get-it budget and this is a very good example of that.

We in Sinn Féin have offered solutions. This is the ninth time the Government will get a chance to help families struggling to keep their homes warm. Will it ignore this one as well? Its amendment tells me that it will, and shamefully so. People who use home heating oil to heat their homes know that winter is coming and they are panicked. I want to be very clear with the Minister of State. We have talked this evening about the people bringing drums to fill them in the garage. Their neighbours see that and they know what that means. Does the Minister of State have any idea of the crippling shame of people making an announcement to their community that they cannot afford to heat their home? It not their fault. It is not because they are not working hard. Jesus Christ, they are getting up early. It is not because they are not paying tax; they are paying plenty of tax. It is not because they are not doing the right thing. They are doing the right thing but they have a government that is against them at every single turn.

The people in my constituency have a very clear message for the Government and they were not shy in telling me about it. They need help to heat their homes. They need the carbon tax taken off home heating oil so that they have a chance to be warm in their homes this winter. That should not be an aspiration. This is Ireland in 2026. People should be able to heat their homes.

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Deputy Robert Troy)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"recognises:

— that the Government remains deeply concerned about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Gulf, and recognises that de-escalation will have the single greatest impact on reducing prices on home heating oil and other oil-based fuel products;

— that the Government continues to monitor increased energy prices that are felt across Europe and the globe;

— that the Government fully understands the pressures on households that have arisen due to rising home heating costs, and has continuously acted to allay these pressures;

— successive Budgets have provided targeted support to help households with cost-of-living pressures, and re-affirms that energy affordability is a priority for the Government;

— that the Government remains committed to decarbonising our society, increasing investment in renewable energy sources and recycling carbon tax revenues to protect those most vulnerable to fuel poverty through targeted welfare interventions;

— Ireland's obligations in respect of European Union (EU) legislation pertaining to fossil fuel taxation, and that abolition of the carbon tax may result in Ireland losing a derogation under European law;

— that the Government continues to use the funding from carbon tax to help farmers, businesses and households with increased energy prices;

— that the Government continues to monitor the economic impacts carefully, having already taken actions to mitigate energy increases, and provide certainty for families and businesses against the backdrop of global instability; and

— that the Government continues to invest in retrofitting, boiler scrappage, wind energy and many other measures to help alleviate costs in the medium-term;

notes that:

— the Government has delivered one of the largest support packages in the EU per head capita, amounting to over €1.7 billion in supports from March 2026 to June 2027, to assist households and businesses;

— excise reductions have been extended until February 2027, retaining a 30 cent reduction in diesel and 25 cent reduction in petrol;

— Budget 2026 and 2027 have expanded fuel allowance payments to 50,000 more households, and increased the weekly payment;

— the trajectory of the carbon tax has been altered to ease pressure on households, with the rate on home heating oil and gas reduced and paused for the lifetime of the Government; and

— a series of new schemes have been developed to help people make the transition away from fossil fuels; and

confirms that the Government will continue to:

— keep the situation under review in the time ahead; and

— respond in a way that protects those most vulnerable to fuel poverty.".

Like many of my colleagues across this Chamber and in government, I hold weekly clinics in my constituency. I engage with family, friends and supporters. Every week we sit down with people from across communities. We listen to their concerns, the challenges they face and the issues impacting their daily lives. Like my colleagues across government, I do everything I can to help them. Any insinuation otherwise is completely false. One of my colleagues opposite gave an example of people working overtime. Because of budgetary changes introduced last week, people doing overtime will now earn more before going into the higher tax bracket. That was a change made last week, one that put more money back into individuals' pockets.

I do not know who pulls strings in the party opposite us in terms of running that party, but there is no one pulling strings in terms of who is running the Government, which was democratically elected by the will of the people a number of years ago. I acknowledge that the cost of living is the number one issue affecting people across the country. I and my colleagues hear it and we understand the pressures families are facing. These pressures are being driven by circumstances far beyond the Government's control, with households across Europe and beyond facing similar challenges. That is something that was not really acknowledged in the last 20 minutes, or at most maybe once or twice. The most effective way to bring about an end to current pressures on fuel prices is through a de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. The disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately 20% of the world's oil supply normally passes, has profound consequences for international energy markets. Ireland continues to use its diplomatic influence wherever possible but we must recognise our influence alone cannot resolve this crisis.

However, that does not mean the Government cannot or will not respond. We have responded and we will continue to do so. As I have said before, the Government will respond to those most in need when they need it most. We have a strong record of doing so during Brexit, the Covid pandemic, inflationary prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the challenges we face today. Supporting people does not mean that we can afford to be reckless. We have a responsibility not only to those who need help today, but also to those who may need help tomorrow. That is why the balance we sought to strike in budget 2027 responded to the challenges of today while protecting our ability to respond to the crisis of tomorrow. It is because of the prudent management of our economy over the last number of years that we have full employment, we are running budget surpluses and we were in a position to announce a number of interventions last week.

Let us consider where some other European countries stand at the moment. In France the government is proposing tax increases. In Spain the government fell because of its inability to introduce the taxation measures it needed to introduce. Because of the prudent management of our economy, we have been able to make interventions.

Budget 2027 introduced targeted measures to provide relief to households and businesses facing rising costs. They included increasing the fuel allowance by 13% to €43 per week and expanding eligibility criteria to approximately 50,000 additional households, bringing the total coverage to more than 465,000 households nationwide.

A total of 465,000 households are getting over €1,200 a year towards their fuel costs. We are extending the 9% VAT rate on gas and electricity until 2030, continuing temporary reductions in fuel excise duties with the overall cost of these interventions expected to exceed €1 billion, enhancing social protection supports and extending the €400 income tax disregard for households involved in microgeneration until the end of 2028. These measures will not eliminate every pressure households face and we have never suggested otherwise but they will provide some relief, particularly to those in most need. Importantly, they have been designed to provide that support in a sustainable way, ensuring we retain the capacity to intervene again if necessary.

Of course, the Opposition will argue that we should have spent more, done more and taxed more but the decisions we make today have a direct impact on our ability to respond tomorrow and, as a Government, we do not have the luxury of ignoring that. We must consider both. What confuses me about Sinn Féin's position is its fundamental contradiction. Sinn Féin supports many of the measures funded by carbon tax. It regularly raises concerns about waiting lists for schemes supported by that revenue yet it opposes the very tax that helps fund them. The reality is that these schemes are popular because they provide meaningful long-term supports to households to help families reduce their energy bills, improve the energy efficiency of their homes and become less dependent on volatile international energy markets.

Every cent of carbon tax revenue is allocated towards measures supporting households, communities and our transition to a more sustainable economy. These include the fuel allowance, SEAI retrofitting grants, agriculture environmental schemes, such as ACRES, peatland rehabilitation, greenways, electric vehicle supports and the just transition fund for the midlands. Between 2020 and 2026, €4.2 billion in carbon tax revenue was made available for these purposes. In 2026 alone, €566 million was made available for retrofitting, just transition and climate measures; €350 million was made available for targeted social protection supports, including the fuel allowance; €173 million was made available for sustainable agriculture, principally schemes such as ACRES; and €20 million was made available for transport measures, including greenways and electric vehicle infrastructure.

As of October 2026, 287,000 households have qualified for home energy improvements since 2019. Of the most vulnerable, such as people who are dependent on the fuel allowance, 39,500 households were fully funded for deep retrofit grants. These are households that have had their windows replaced, have had their walls pumped with insulation and have had new energy-efficient heating grades installed. These households will not be left to the volatility of the energy markets in terms of keeping their energy costs at a sustainable level in the future. This is making a permanent difference to the households that benefit and we want to do more in that regard. We want to continue to support families to make the change and make the improvements. It is fully funded for people in receipt of fuel allowance. Quite frequently in parliamentary questions, for example, Sinn Féin asks when people can access these schemes but today it is talking about taking away part of the funding that would help fund these schemes, which would mean a longer waiting list for people to access these schemes.

Research using the ESRI switch model has demonstrated that low-income households particularly benefit from social protection measures funded by carbon tax. These are not simply one-off interventions. They are investments that help address the underlying causes of high energy costs, so I put a simple question to Sinn Féin. How does it propose to continue funding these measures if it abolishes the very tax that helps pay for them? It cannot support the expenditure while ignoring the revenue that makes it possible. Sinn Féin cannot have it both ways.

We must be honest about what is possible both in providing immediate relief and in protecting households over the longer term. Any changes must be carefully calibrated. That is precisely what this Government has sought to do. We have listened and we have responded. The carbon tax on home heating oil has been reduced to 2023 levels, delivering savings to households. Furthermore, by maintaining this reduced rate for the lifetime of this Government, those savings will continue into the longer term. No government can fully shield every household from the consequences of international crises but this Government has consistently demonstrated its willingness to intervene, provide supports and protect those who need it the most. We will continue to do so while ensuring that the decisions we make today do not compromise our ability to respond tomorrow. The Government proposes to adopt the countermotion that we have tabled.

Deputy Matt Carthy

I really wish the people who voted for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael got to hear the Minister of State's speech in full because they would see a Government that is out of touch and completely detached from the realities people are going through. Without an ounce of shame, the Minister of State talks about France and talks about everything apart from the issues that are being discussed around kitchen tables across Ireland tonight, namely, how are we going to make ends meet? When Sinn Féin brought forward motion after motion and proposal after proposal that would give workers and families a break, people heard Simon Harris tell them that help was on the way. What help actually came for people relying on home heating oil? We got a €43 reduction that does not even match the increase that we have seen since the budget announcement itself. The Minister tried to defend that and to point to people in my constituency and, to his shame, in his constituency who have no option but to use home heating oil to keep their house warm and heat their water. They have no other option and yet the Government has sat by and watched their costs soar with zero support or empathy for them.

What is the Government's answer? It is that carbon tax funds other things. For most people with whom I speak, the carbon tax is simply a mechanism that makes their lives more difficult because they do not get any of the support the Minister of State outlined that could be funded through other mechanisms just as easily. They could be funded through the Government actually the banks or taking away the sweetheart deals it has given to developers but instead it expects people in rural communities to pay more and more carbon tax to fund retrofitting for somebody else and to fund somebody else's purchase of a brand new electric vehicle. It is unfair.

I really hope the Minister of State's speech circulates far and wide because if it does, I think people will realise Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael no longer have their backs. They are not even in touch with the realities of the Irish people.

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

I want the Minister of State to hear directly from my constituents in Meath East. A number of them have been in contact with me. One pensioner said, "It's so expensive that you have to spare the oil and just put up with the cold, which the elderly shouldn't have to do. We paid taxes all our lives and at the later years of our lives, we should at least be able to afford food and heat." Another said, "I went to work at 16 years of age until I was in my 60s always paying my taxes but now I have cancer so I'm unable to work. I get €250 a week to pay for food, heating, rent and all other bills and ESB. Where does the Government think I can live on that? Let one Minister live for on that money for a week." Another said, "The poor haulage companies need help. Look at the haulage company closing in Cork. We all need help with diesel to get to work. It is just so much pressure. We're avoiding filling up the oil tank and switching on the heating. We both work." Another said, "We need the energy credits brought back please" while another said "Home heating oil is more expensive today than it was the day of the budget - €43 off a fill gone before you get it. They need to scrap the carbon tax on home heating oil." Another said, "For 500 litres, €809" while the last one said, "Kerosene has gone up so much since the day of the budget. We buy by the can. I'm on invalidity pension and going on old age pension. I'm excluded from the disability payment." The Minister of State needs to listen to these people and support the Sinn Féin motion.

Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh

Tá daoine ar fud Chill Dara Theas ag braith ar Kerosene, agus tá siad ag breathnú chun cinn le himní agus éadóchas agus geimhreadh fuar, crua amach rompu. Ní dhearna beartas an Rialtais maidir le kerosene aon difríocht do na teaghlaigh mar tá na praghsanna tar éis ardú ó fógraíodh é ar lá na cáinaisnéise. I mo Dháilcheantar féin, tá an praghas ar líne ola méadaithe 80% ó mhí Dheireadh Fómhair na bliana seo caite. Teastaíonn ón Rialtas beart a dhéanamh de réir briathair agus gach cáin a bhaint de kerosene go dtí go bhfeicimid athrú suntasach ar an staid geopholaitiúil.

Government failed to deliver meaningful relief for families dependent on home heating oil in this year's budget. The meagre €43 reduction delivered on the price of 1,000 litres of oil was completely wiped out following its announcement as wholesale prices increased by €150 in the days after the budget. So much for the Tánaiste’s promise that help is on the way. This means that families across my constituency of Kildare South, along with another 700,000 households nationwide continue to struggle.

The average price of 1,000 litres of oil in Kildare has increased by 80% since this time last year, with families now paying €1,641 for a fill. That is shocking. A warm home should not be a luxury, yet that increasingly seems to be the situation this Government is presiding over. Older people, disabled people and people in rural areas are being disproportionately affected by the Government's frugality. If people are to be able to heat their homes, prices have to come down. It is as simple as that. It is within the Government's gift to make that happen by temporarily removing all tax from kerosene. This is the right thing to do to support families who are increasingly feeling abandoned and hopeless heading into winter.

Deputy Johnny Guirke

The Minister of State talks about prudent management. One would not think Fianna Fáil was the party that brought this country to its knees and broke the country. It is very hard to listen to the Minister of State.

There are real and serious pressures facing households across County Meath and, indeed, the State as we approach winter. Many people in County Meath and across rural Ireland are hit with higher costs than normal. People are fed up with increased fuel costs every time they go to the pump or get a fill of oil. Oil is how many families heat their homes, older people keep warm during the winter months, and parents ensure their children are living in a warm and comfortable environment. Many people in rural communities have little choice but to depend on home-heating oil. They cannot simply change their heating system overnight, nor can they avoid the ever-increasing costs when their tank runs dry.

The Minister of State will have heard the term "heat or eat" used in this Chamber when discussing families struggling with mortgage repayments, rent, food costs, electricity bills and childcare costs. When the price of a fill of home-heating oil rises by hundreds of euro, that money must be taken from somewhere else in the household budget, with a fill of oil now at €1,685 in County Meath.

So many families are forced to make very hard decisions that no one should have to make. They are forced to choose carefully if they should heat their home or put food on the table. This is a result of the Government's political choices. The elderly, the sick, and people with disabilities need heat all year round, not just in the winter months. Sinn Féin's proposal would help thousands of struggling families. People are being pushed further into debt and poverty.

Budget 2027 has gone down like a lead balloon. We all know that this was not a budget for workers. If the Minister of State asks the workers, they will tell him that themselves tomorrow when they are on the picket lines. His party colleagues and councillors throughout the country are saying in council chambers that this was not a budget for people who get up early in the morning.

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú

I do not think any of us doubt the Minister of State engages with constituents, the same as the rest of us, but there has to be some level of embarrassment in relation to Simon Harris saying help is on the way. There is a €43 reduction on a 1,000-litre fill. What are we talking about? In County Louth, the average cost of 1,000 litres of oil is €1,653.05, while the lowest is €1,610 and the highest is €1,680. I accept this has been caused by geopolitical circumstances and by the madness of Donald Trump and genocidal Israel. I have no doubt the Government will do what it can in relation to playing its part and hoping that sense is brought to that part of the world. There are limits to what can be done there but there are definite limits to what the Government has done to help people who have absolutely no choice but to use home-heating oil. Who needs heat more? We are talking about older people and those with disabilities who feel really let down. For those who can avail of the cost-of-disability payment, it is going to work out at less than a tenner a week.

I accept the Government cannot do everything but it could have done a hell of a lot more for people who are under severe pressure. We deal with people who are suffering as a result of the housing crisis. We are talking about those impacted by the failures in health. Regarding the cost-of-living crisis, the Government has failed miserably. The Minister of State talked about taxation. For those on lower incomes, what are we talking about? They may be €5 a week better off. The Government did not look at any of our proposals, like reducing the USC on the first €40,000, putting real money into the pockets of people who are under severe pressure.

I ask that the Minister of State go back to his Government partners and have a bit of sense. This is the ninth time we have put it to the Government, namely, to cut all carbon taxes and excise on home-heating oil so we can give people a small break which they deserve. These are people who work every day of the week and who are under severe pressure. None of this is good enough.

Deputy Eoin Hayes

As I rise, we have an enormous set of interconnected problems in Ireland. Our country is an island, and is almost entirely reliant on foreign energy in order to function. The vast majority of that energy is still in the form of fossil fuels. So many households are still dependent on fossil fuels, and there is no better example of that than home-heating oil. As a result of this reliance on imports, we are in a position of extreme energy insecurity, which puts us at the mercy of international oil market pricing.

The surge in oil prices arising from geopolitical events has been drastic and catastrophic for many families, households and businesses. An energy crisis has now contributed to what is a major cost-of-living crisis. PwC recently estimated that home-heating oil costs have surged a stunning 175% since August of 2020, one of the largest percentage increases in an essential item cost in Ireland in the past six years. Given that more than 40% of households are reliant on home-heating oil, the cost pressure is particularly acute and felt widely across society.

We have a full-blown energy crisis and an accelerating cost-of-living crisis and all of that is happening against the backdrop of climate breakdown brought about by the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels. Extreme weather patterns, the collapse of ecosystems, rising sea levels, a degradation of our air, water and soil can all be traced back to a fossil fuel and petroleum dependence in our global economy, which has only grown since the 19th century.

In the context of these three interconnected crises, it is incumbent upon us as the people's representatives to understand these problems and put forward clear and compelling solutions. In that context, the Social Democrats are clear: we must initiate a strong and just climate transition that relieves the financial pressures on people and households, charts a secure renewable energy future for our country, which simultaneously secures us more energy security, and do so in a way that protects our environment. This is not an easy thing to do. It requires thoughtfulness and vision - a politics that does not ignore the problems facing households and or succumb to the anger and ignorance which climate denialism breeds but charts a bold vision for the future.

Over the past number of months, we have put forward several solutions. We appreciate tax increases and fuel excises should be temporarily suspended, and we have voted to support that. However, it is worth noting that, despite tax cuts brought in by the Government last week, home-heating oil is still more expensive now than it was then. The measures we in the Social Democrats have proposed have sought to materially support households struggling the most with the costs imposed by the energy crisis, with a targeted €400 energy credit for households earning less than €70,000 per year.

Dealing with a tripartite crisis like this requires more than just one intervention, and so we wanted to go further. Responding to a crisis like this requires targeted supports on social protection payments, or extensions to home benefits packages, and proper increases to social protection payments to support our most vulnerable, like the elderly living alone or those with disabilities and their family. It also requires urgent and important infrastructural work and expanding access to solar energy, like our Solar for All plan. It requires applying the brakes to rampant profiteering through restoring temporary extra taxation measures on energy companies.

It requires using the full power of the State, through its investment arms, to properly expand renewable energy, including offshore wind, without delay. It requires actively promoting active travel and public transport, not increasing public transport fares as the Government has. Most importantly, it requires us to choose those who are struggling over investors who want to boost their own coffers. In short, responding to a crisis like this one requires leadership, and today we see very little of that on the Government benches. It is a Government at sea in a world of chaos, with no clear plan on how to weather the storm other than by giving people flimsy umbrellas. I do not have confidence today that the current Government can navigate these crises. It will continue to do what it has always done: make minor adjustments, spin on the airwaves and retreat into its privilege. However, one day someone will have to pick up the pieces of this ineptitude. We will decry the day we had a chance to act boldly, yet there was no courage on the benches opposite.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Barry Heneghan)

Sula mbogfaimid ar aghaidh, I welcome the Clontarf senior team to the Gallery. Glaoim ar an Teachta Hearne.

Deputy Rory Hearne

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward the motion and keeping the focus on this because the Government completely failed to address the cost-of-living crisis in the recent budget. It has fundamentally failed to address it because it does not change the situation whereby Bord Gáis customers have seen a €177 annual increase in their electricity bills, a €140 annual increase to their gas bills and 322,000 households in arrears. The cost of home heating oil is up 60% in the past year. For so many people who are really struggling, this budget simply did not come near addressing the scale of the cost-of-living crisis. What the budget said to me was that this is a Government that is utterly out of touch with what ordinary people are going through in this country. Anyone going to the shops to buy food has seen the massive increase in prices in recent years, particularly children, older people, lone parents and disabled people. These groups are really struggling, and the budget took no serious account of the fact that prices have increased year after year, with no fundamental addressing of this situation whereby people are choosing between eating and heating. I raise again what the Minister, Deputy Calleary, said earlier this year when we brought forward the motion on the cost-of-disability payment. He said people were using emotive language and criticised organisations and representatives of disabled groups for saying that people were choosing between eating and heating when, in fact, they could just go down to the social welfare office to see whether they could get some support from people. It was completely out of touch with the reality that people are facing.

What this Government has not addressed are fundamental issues like why houses are cold, why they are damp and why the heating is not covering the costs. It is, of course, because the Government has failed to deliver on matters such as retrofitting. Fundamentally, when we look at local authorities, the area for which the Government is responsible, only 2,671 local authority homes were retrofitted in 2025, an increase of just 37 houses on 2024. The Local Authority Performance Indicator Report 2025 unsurprisingly found that the Government's target of retrofitting 36,500 homes by 2030 is unlikely to be met. The very thing the Government could and should be doing, that is, investing in retrofitting homes, it is not doing.

We have put forward, as my colleagues said, numerous solutions in our alternative budget. We laid out very clearly what the Government could have done, such as providing an energy credit of €400 to households with an income below €70,000, postponing all fuel excise increases until March 2027, incorporating easy-install heat pumps into the existing heat pump system grant scheme, increasing the weekly fuel allowance, increasing household benefits and ring-fencing funding to increase the number of social homes being retrofitted, but it is not doing it. Fundamentally, it is not changing things and it is not addressing why electricity prices are so high. The fundamental thing it has failed to do is put a windfall tax on energy companies. Again, something it has not answered is why it will not put a windfall tax on energy companies. Why is it refusing to do that?

Tomorrow we will see public sector workers in the biggest strike we have seen in many decades. Public sector workers are absolutely right to go on strike because the Government has ignored them. It has completely failed ordinary workers. In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, nurses, teachers, SNAs, and civil and public servants cannot afford to pay for the basics. Most fundamentally, there are nurses and teachers who cannot afford to buy a home. Today's figure for the median price of a home is €400,000, ten times the salary of a civil or public sector worker on €40,000. They cannot afford the rent. Thousands of public sector workers are going home after a day's work or a night shift to their childhood box room because they cannot afford the most basic thing, buying or renting a home of their own. Thousands more are struggling with the basic costs of groceries or energy, but the Government does not take them seriously. It has completely failed to value the essential work that public sector workers do. We in the Social Democrats completely back these workers. They should have decent pay and conditions so that they can buy or rent a home affordably and cover the cost of living. We believe in decent public services being delivered by decently paid public sector workers, and that is why we will be on the pickets tomorrow.

It is important that this strike is going ahead because it is sending a message very clearly to the Government that public sector workers will not be taken for fools. They will not just be ignored, failed and not listened to by this Government. They are taking this action because the reality is people are choosing between eating and heating, between paying the rent and putting food on the table, and 200,000 children in this country are living in poverty. However, Ministers and the Government have made commitment after commitment to address the issue of child poverty, but it just one more broken promise. It can be added to the list of affordable childcare, affordable housing and actually addressing these issues properly. The Government completely fails to do it, despite having billions in a budget surplus and having the potential to raise significant amounts from a windfall tax and from wealth taxes. It could actually invest in fundamentally changing this country so that we would not have the poverty we have and so that older people would not be going to sleep at night pulling the blankets up. I was contacted by one of my constituents in Beaumont just this morning. A man in his late 80s-----

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy John Paul O'Shea)

Thanks, Deputy.

Deputy Rory Hearne

-----said he was quoted more than €1,000 for 600 litres of home heating oil. He is afraid to turn on the heating as we approach the winter months. This is a man in his 80s afraid to turn on the heating. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael talk about their great achievements in the economy, but here we have-----

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy John Paul O'Shea)

Thanks, Deputy. We are moving on.

Deputy Rory Hearne

-----someone in his 80s who cannot afford to turn on the heat.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy John Paul O'Shea)

The next speaker is Deputy Nash.

Deputy Ged Nash

On the elevated cost of home heating oil, as my colleague Deputy Ó Murchú mentioned earlier, in Louth this week, the average cost of filling an oil tank is just over €1,600, and it is rising. This is leading to enormous anxiety, not just across rural parts of my constituency. My constituency, as the Minister of State will know, also has Ireland's two largest towns, Drogheda and Dundalk. The reliance on kerosene to heat homes is not merely a rural phenomenon; it is also the experience of many thousands of homes in places like Drogheda and Dundalk, notwithstanding the availability of natural gas and potentially other sources of heat as well. It has been the case that large urban areas have also been depending on oil. We need to ask ourselves those questions. Why do working families feel excluded from many of the schemes the Government will rightly promote as the solution to decarbonisation and excessive reliance on fossil fuels?

We need to ask ourselves why large-scale retrofits and the technology we need to apply to every home are simply out of reach of people who would regard themselves as having decent, secure jobs, despite the supports that are available from the SEAI. I have said here and elsewhere that retrofitting is often a middle-class pursuit and beyond the reach of many people I represent. We have not tackled that challenge because there is not the energy or ambition to do so.

We have had everything from back-boiler replacement grants to small contributions to the introduction of solar and other initiatives. However, we do not have the vision and ambition that is needed at scale to finally grapple with this problem and withdraw from carbon-producing energy generation. As we have said time and again, the answer to less carbon tax is less reliance on carbon. It is that simple. It would cost money. We have resources now to be able to tackle the problems we could not tackle in the past, but what we have in money we lack in vision. This is the problem.

Some 700,000 homes are still dependent on home heating oil. We all want to see a transition to alternatives, but there are families and businesses that simply need their bills to be paid this autumn and winter to heat their homes and premises. I was looking at figures earlier and the cost of filling a home heating oil tank has increased by €700 since the beginning of the year. I have encountered, on many occasions recently, constituents who shared stories with me about placing an order, often for a half-fill of oil because they are so concerned about their ability to find the €1,600 they need to fill the tank, and said that by the time they ordered and the oil was delivered the price had moved and it only moves up. We heard earlier across the Chamber that the Tánaiste promised during Leaders' Questions two weeks ago, before the budget, that help was on the way. Help to fill a tank with oil amounted to a paltry €43 reduction on 1,000 litres. We have said time and again that the Government needs to seriously scrutinise the VAT rate on home heating oil and align it with the 9% VAT rate for gas. That would be the fair thing to do. The Government is being selective about its alleged inability to reduce that rate to 9%. It conveniently reduced, on a selective basis, the VAT rate for its friends with large-scale hospitality chains, but it cannot seem to address the issue of a lower VAT rate for households that rely on kerosene.

It was mentioned by colleagues beside me that what we require - we have routinely called for this over many years - is a targeted energy credit for 1.2 million households with a cumulative income below €80,000. It would be a €400 energy credit to assist families with rising energy and electricity costs. With the increase in wholesale gas prices in recent times, if we think electricity prices are elevated now, after Christmas and coming into January, "We ain't seen nothing yet" because there is a lag. We are far too reliant on imported gas to generate electricity and we have not met the moonshot moment famously described by then Deputy Leo Varadkar a few years ago. That moonshot moment was supposed to be the development of large-scale offshore wind generation to provide us with the energy security we need and clean energy that would ultimately see Ireland become a net exporter of energy. Again, the vision simply does not seem to be there.

The need to move to solar energy and democratise access to renewable energy, for example, by introducing plug-in solar technology, has been mentioned. It is technology that is suitable for all kinds of households. It has been done elsewhere. It is taken for granted. It is de rigueur in continental Europe. These opportunities are there and, as I said, we have to turbocharge retrofitting. We need a retrofitting revolution.

Like other colleagues, we understand we have to move on reducing the burden on all households this year. One way of doing that is to relax the carbon charge applied. I mentioned that the Labour Party also favours a reduction in the VAT rate on kerosene, but the best way - the very best way - to reduce carbon tax in the longer term is to reduce our reliance on carbon. It is as simple as that.

We need to focus on permanent reductions to energy costs. It will not be the first time the Minister of State has heard me say this but it is beyond me why, with all the rich data we have available, we cannot develop a targeted energy credit system. We managed to introduce and turn around a sophisticated wage subsidy scheme overnight at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to save and protect jobs and businesses. That was a credit to the public service. We have the capacity in the public service to do this. We know who is earning what and, through the social protection system, who needs additional supports. Revenue has incredible datasets that would allow us to target supports. We have the meter point reference number, MPRN, information and a certain amount of building energy rating, BER, information.

The energy affordability task force the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, convened still has not issued its updated report. A response I received from him in recent days suggests to me that the report made available to people involved in that task force has been out since August. They are due to come back to the Minister and he will publish it shortly. We were told it would inform the initiatives taken in the budget. I am also told there may be propositions in the report about the targeting of energy credits, but it may not be possible for it to happen until next year. Why is that the case? It is extraordinary when we are four years on from Putin's invasion of Ukraine where we saw the introduction of universal energy credits, which was not necessarily warranted. It was in many cases a waste of public funds. We know the composition of the families who need support. Why can we not get resources to them when they need it? It baffles me. It is important we do.

People made their minds up about the budget quickly. It was trailered as a workers' budget, but when the Government decided to pull the rabbit out of the hat of cutting capital gains tax and inheritance tax, and tried in a half-hearted way to make up for the two fingers given to PAYE workers last year by indexing bands this year and adding a little more on, people will make their minds up about it. Can we stop the nonsense of describing what happened in the PAYE system of moving the tax bands as anything other than indexation? It is not a tax cut. It is indexation, something that is simply taken for granted in other, well-off sophisticated European Union states. Many countries do it as a matter of routine. They index social welfare rates as well. That did not happen this year or last year. We favoured other economic sectors over PAYE workers and, in many ways, the anxieties people are experiencing now can be traced back to those mistakes made by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in that budget, which have made working people less able to absorb the rising energy and grocery prices they are experiencing at the moment. People have made up their minds about this budget already and this winter will be all about energy and the absence of any meaningful assistance for people, most notably the absence of energy credits, which people will really feel this year.

Ahead of the publication of the finance Bill in a couple of weeks' time and the social welfare Bill around the same time, it is important the Government reflects on that and reviews its position on targeted energy credits.

Deputy Brian Stanley

Middle- and low-income households are under pressure like never before. General inflation, according to the most recent ESRI figures, has jumped even higher than we realised over the past month. It is at an all-time high. Overall inflation does not show the full picture, of course, because the items going up are disproportionately hitting middle- and low-income households the hardest. This is due to the sharp rise in outgoings on essentials for those households. Rents in Laois have gone up between 11% and 13% in one year. Across the State, mortgages are up 10%, diesel is up over 22%, gas and electricity are up 15% to 16% and home heating oil, on which 13,500 households in Laois depend, is up in excess of 60%. Households are under serious pressure. They are all essential items. People are expressing feelings to me of being overwhelmed and stressed and unable to keep up.

Unfortunately, the budget did little for these workers and households. Analysis by Social Justice Ireland and others showed that those on the highest incomes who have the most wealth did the best again. Workers on €40,000 gained just €3.34 when all other factors are taken into consideration. Workers, be they single or couples, on €30,000 are actually worse off when all the adjustments are taken into consideration, according to Social Justice Ireland and others.

The gap between the wealthiest and ordinary working households and workers continues to widen. The ESRI report published today underlines this. The top 10% of the wealthiest own as much as the other 90% of us. One in ten owns more than the other nine. That is how it is working now in this country. That gap continues to widen.

It is little wonder we are having strikes and protests. I will support the workers in their claim. Any percentage increase needs to be highest for those on middle and low incomes in the public sector. If it is a flat percentage across the board, it will not benefit the low-paid and middle-income workers in the public sector as much. Those workers need to get the highest lift.

In relation to energy, while we have to transition and there are SEAI grants available, if you are on the lowest income and on the fuel allowance, it is free but there is a two-year waiting list for that. For the grant assistance for other upgrades, people need to have substantial amounts of money if they want to carry out a retrofit to their home. There is a cohort of people on middle and low incomes in the middle who do not qualify for the fuel allowance or the free scheme and do not have and cannot raise the money to pay for retrofits. These working-class people need a just transition. In the case of counties Laois and Offaly, a huge number of households, higher than across the State, depend on solid fuel because of the presence of the peat industry in our two counties. There needs to be a special energy upgrade grant for those households. We should have a special energy upgrade grant for solar panels to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

There are also needs to be a €400 winter credit - the Government ignored this in the budget - for households with a gross income below €75,000. It must be a targeted payment, not untargeted. It should be for households with incomes below €75,000 gross. The carbon tax take should be reduced to ease pressure on households, including the 13,500 households in Laois, that depend on home heating oil. The Government failed in the budget; it is essential now that it take measures to ease the burden on those households.

Deputy Seamus Healy

Some 700,000 houses depend on home heating oil to heat their homes for their families. The cost of a fill of home heating oil has increased by €700 since January. In September, home heating oil prices had increased by 58.6% compared with the same month last year. They are astronomical increases, particularly at time when families are devastated by a cost-of-living crisis. Budget 2027 last week, in the teeth of those increases, gave relief of only €43 on 1,000 litres of oil, a remarkable slap in the face for 700,000 households.

The carbon tax is another unfair tax heaped on families already reeling from the cost-of-living crisis. It should be abolished on home heating oil, together with a reduction in VAT to give real relief to families. This is all the more necessary against the backdrop of soaring electricity, gas, diesel and petrol prices. There was no relief on any of them in last week's budget, meaning we will continue to pay the highest electricity prices in Europe with no energy credits and we will face increased petrol and diesel prices from February 2027.

There is also the lack of public services. I raise again the fact that there has been no public eye care ophthalmic service in south Tipperary going into a third year. This is beyond shameful. Clonmel and Cashel have no consultant-led ophthalmology clinic, optometry clinic or nurse-led clinic. The Government and the Health Service Executive are failing the people of south Tipperary. The Government has no excuse. A vacant consultant post was a planned retirement known for years by the Health Service Executive. As a result of this failure, there is now a huge and growing waiting list stretching for up to five years for many patients. There are 2,300 children waiting, of whom 1,783 are awaiting treatment, with 541 relating to public health nurse referrals awaiting triage. Hundreds of adults, including patients with conditions like glaucoma, are also on the waiting list. This is not good enough. South Tipperary eye patients are entitled to the same quality of service as people elsewhere. It is time for the Minister to roll up her sleeves and get this service up and running immediately.

There is also huge dissatisfaction across south Tipperary in relation to Irish Water. Some 11,000 customers on the Ardfinnan regional water supply scheme were thrown into confusion - despair even - last Friday evening when a "Do not consume" notice was issued because of high levels of aluminium. Boiling will not make this water suitable to drink. This was on top of a boil water notice in place on the scheme since 7 June. A further 5,000 customers on the Tipperary town scheme have been on a boil water notice since 11 February. There is no end to the incompetence of this organisation. It can give no indication of when these problems will be solved.

Irish Water is an unaccountable quango. It has no respect for public representatives and no public offices. There must be a full debate in this Chamber on the future of Irish Water, its incompetence and its arrogance. It must be abolished. Water services must be handed back to county councils.

Deputy Brian Stanley

Hear, hear.

Deputy Roderic O'Gorman

On Tuesday evening last week, the Dáil voted to cut the carbon tax on home heating oil from €63.50 to €48.50 per tonne of CO2. It was argued then that the move would save roughly €25 to €40 on a standard fill. I voted against that resolution because I believe that using climate action as a scapegoat when it is fossil fuels that are hurting families is wrong. It misleads the public as to why fuel prices are increasing and, in a cruel irony, it makes households more vulnerable to the next crisis. The Dáil passed that resolution on Tuesday. By Saturday, the cost of home heating oil had already risen by more than the cut in carbon tax. The €40 saving on a 500-litre fill was wiped out in four days by the volatility of oil prices and demand for the product.

Tonight's motion would give approximately an €80 reduction on a 500-litre fill. How long will that really last? Will it last until the Houthis hit the next oil tanker in the Red Sea, until the next drone strike on a Russian oilfield in Siberia or until President Trump has his next tantrum in the White House? It is not a question of "if" with fossil fuels; it is a question of "when". We have a huge energy affordability problem in this country. The problem is not the carbon tax; it is the oil. It is dirty, expensive and comes from a long way away. The motion before us does nothing to resolve the problem for the hundreds of thousands of households who will still pay far too much for a dirty fuel even if the carbon tax is abolished completely. Where are the long-term solutions for these families? They will not find them in anything Sinn Féin is bringing forward tonight.

What about the Government? When we have hundreds of thousands of families who still depend on expensive home heating oil, it is so frustrating to see that the Government has only grown the budget for home retrofit by 2%. That is a mere €15 million increase in budget 2027. The Minister, Deputy O’Brien, is out announcing all these extra grants. The SEAI has told us already that there has been a doubling in the number of people seeking retrofits between 2025 and 2026. Yet, all these new grants have to be paid to all these new applicants from a pot of money that has only expanded by 2%. There are going be a lot of very disappointed households across this country in 2027 when they realise the SEAI does not have the money to help them with their retrofit.

Too many families are suffering right now from energy costs that are too high. They need real short-term support to make it through this winter and they need a long-term plan to make sure they are not in this situation again. In my view, cutting the carbon tax does neither. It is a populist move that will make the next crisis worse because we will have fewer homes insulated and fewer oil central heating systems replaced. The Green Party proposed a targeted energy credit this winter to support families through this crisis. It is what we did the last time this happened and it is the right thing to do now. The targeted energy credits we propose would more than cover the cut in carbon tax that has been called for this evening and, crucially, it would not undermine the funding base for these solutions that will safeguard our communities from the next spike in the price of kerosene. That spike in the cost of home heating oil will come irrespective of whatever this House decides to do on carbon tax.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy John Paul O'Shea)

We will move to the Independent Technical Group now. The first speaker is Deputy O'Donoghue.

Deputy Richard O'Donoghue

This country celebrated 100 years of people who fought for it which created the people who sit in this Chamber. They were supposed to be representing this country and were once known as the worker's party and the farmer's party. In April, we saw the hard-working people of Ireland go out and protest because they could see no future in the hard work they were doing and they could not survive. Tomorrow, our colleagues in Leinster House and across the country will be out protesting as well. Their ancestors fought for the freedom of this country and to protect the hard-working people of Ireland. I see what has happened in the last couple of months since April. The hard-working people of Ireland could see no future for themselves or their children and the Government failed to listen to them. The public sector will be out tomorrow on the very same thing. Some 300,000 people will be out protesting tomorrow because this Government does not listen.

This is what is wrong today. The Government has forgotten about its colleagues. It has forgotten about the hard-working people of Ireland. There is no reward for them. All the Government can do is take them to the rates commission and the courts. Now, it wants to tax the food producers of Ireland. We are already in a crisis and now it wants to tax the food producers because a judgment was made that it is a process. When spuds are taken from the ground and put into a shed for storage, it thinks it is a process. When milk is taken from the cow and put into a tank, is that a process? When the silage is taken from the field and brought in for the cows to have, is that a process? This is what the Government represents. It no longer represents the workers of Ireland.

Deputy Michael Collins

This is a crisis situation for many people. I have said in this Chamber over the last number of weeks, especially since the budget, how 350,000 are in ESB arrears and a large number of families are in mortgage arrears. The Government did not grab that moment last week because it needed a bold budget that stood with the people. It is afraid to stand with the people. It ran along with the same bland old budget. It is the same old give a euro, take a euro, rob Peter to pay Paul scenario. That is the type of budget it ran with.

Independent Ireland was the only party and the only group sitting in this Chamber that gave a very strong and fair proposal to take carbon off production and delivery and put it on aviation. We were not saying give this, that and the other thing free. We put forward a very sensible proposal. We put that proposal forward too in the negotiations for Government and each time it was rejected because the Government seems to think that the best cash cow is the hard-working mother and father out there - beat them down, knock them out, do everything it can to take a euro out of their pocket, but do not reward the hard-working people. The Government needed a bold budget last week. It was afraid to do that. Now, we are in a crisis situation.

It has this crisis situation tomorrow where the public sector is going out, with over 300,000 people out on the streets. Who does the Government blame this time? The last time it was the farmers and the hauliers. Is it going to get the Army after people this time? Is it going to chase them off the streets because they are in a desperate situation? The last time it was the farmers and the hauliers. The Government did not listen to the ordinary mothers and fathers. It did not listen that time. They went out on the street. What is going to happen next year? The Government is so out of touch. It does not understand the pain people are going through and it is absolutely forcing people to strike tomorrow.

I heard astonishing carry-on from the Green Party today saying we should be fairer and this is what it would have done. It was a number of years in government and it did not deliver for anybody.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

According to Eurostat, Ireland is now the most expensive country in the whole of the EU for a range of different issues, including housing, electricity, health services and fuel. Ireland is the most expensive and that is not by accident. The Government is an engine of inflation. The actions the Government is taking are actually putting up the prices of goods in this country. What that means in real terms is that people's real income is falling. People see that their income is evaporating in front of their eyes because of this Government's insistence on putting up the prices of so many products.

Carbon tax is in many ways a ghost from the Green Party that existed in the previous Government. The Minister of State will remember well what happened to the Green Party. It was eviscerated in the most recent election because it refused to listen to the people in relation to carbon tax. The Government said that the objective of carbon tax is to push fuel up to a price so people move over to alternatives, but what happens if they cannot afford an alternative? What happens if they cannot take the boiler out of their home and put in another source of heating? What happens if they cannot get a bus? I am the chair of the Meath on Track campaign, which has been seeking to get a railroad into County Meath for the last 15 years. Most people in Meath would give their right arm not to have to drive petrol or diesel cars to Dublin on a daily basis but instead get into a train to do so. The fact of the matter is that most people cannot get out of carbon taxes. The idea that this winter there will be elderly people - pensioners - who will have no alternative but home heating oil to put into their house, and the Government is going to inflict a carbon tax on them at this moment in time, is absolutely wrong.

I want to draw the dots for the Minister of State in terms of what is happening on the streets of Dublin and the rest of the country tomorrow. We had the country brought to a standstill in April by protestors with no other choice but to block roads, streets, ports and the oil refineries in this country because their money and income are evaporating. Now, 300,000 public servants will find that they have no alternative but to protest. The thing about it is that the Government showed a shocking arrogance to the protestors back in April in refusing to negotiate with them. Here we have déjà vu. The Government is showing a shocking arrogance again by not properly negotiating with the unions. What is happening? It is plunging this country into chaos again tomorrow with no light at the end of the tunnel in terms of what is going to happen the following week and the week afterwards.

I appeal to the Government. The price of fuel has already reached a price on the international markets so that anybody who could get out of diesel, petrol or home heating oil would be out as fast as they could only they do not have an alternative. We do not need carbon tax to nudge or push people towards an alternative when there is no alternative there. I want the Minister of State to think long and hard about the pensioners who this winter will be rationing the heat in their own homes because of the carbon tax the Government is inflicting on them.

Deputy Paul Nicholas Gogarty

I do not care if it is a carbon tax cut or a rebate but we have to help people who are suffering and who cannot afford the current short-term increases in fuel. However, some people come out in a rash if you mention the words "carbon tax". It is the great populist stick to hit people with. Everything is: blame the carbon tax or blame my former Green Party colleagues. The carbon tax, when it is working properly, is supposed to encourage people to change their modes, work towards cleaner and greener methods of energy and raise the money to fund other things. Unfortunately, that has not happened enough. The people who are stuck with kerosene cannot afford to heat their homes. People in social housing are not getting the retrofits they need. The money has to come from somewhere for that and I have pointed that out before. We need to give the short-term help but we also need to look at the bigger picture. I referenced that in my budget speech.

I want to focus on another element. COM(2026)502 is a European Parliament proposal for the regulation of measures strengthening Europe's cloud and artificial intelligence, AI, ecosystem, the Cloud and AI Development Act, CADA. That basically says that Europe wants to invest more in its own cloud storage, which means a lot more data centres in Europe. It means that even though we are under pressure and people's consumer prices are impacted without corresponding measures because of a reliance on data centres in this country, Europe is going to be looking for more. In my budget contribution, I said we need to spend €20 billion on grid, €10 billion on hydrogen and another €20 billion on other things. Why do we not get the European Union to fund our grid upgrade? Then we can have as many data centres as we want and we will also have affordable electricity while exporting like the Arabs are with fossil fuels at the moment.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. What politicians always need to do is nip something in the bud before it gets out of hand. In the line of home-heating oil, there was so much speculation before the budget. People had built their hopes up that 16 cent or 18 cent were going to come off it. Unfortunately, what has happened now is that a lot of people can only afford 200 litres. When you are buying 200 litres, you will probably pay 15 cent more per litre because the lorry that goes out has to be covered. That is a fact. Lorries do not travel around for nothing. Those people who are basically struggling will end up paying maybe €1.75 or €1.80 per litre because the lorry has to be covered, and they can only afford 200 litres. If you can buy 1,000 litres, you will buy it for a bit less but with the price of it at the moment, a lot of people do not have the money to buy 1,000 litres. That is why that decision should have been made early.

We hear from oil companies that there is no word on the rebate they were going to get on the 5 cent on oil. Some bit of clearance is needed there or someone needs to talk to someone.

What is worrying is that a 94-year-old woman rang me today. She said, "Michael, things are tough enough, so I will try to keep a drop of oil." She said the price of oil was cruel. She said that on top of that she got a phone call today to say that her carers would not be in tomorrow because they are going on strike. I am not blaming the carers. This is what I am saying about nipping things in the bud. The strike tomorrow should have been averted because talks should have happened and calls should have been made at the right time. No more than when things started going out of control in the line of the fuel, etc., you must nip things in the bud. It is like housing. You can give all the pay rises you want over the next few years but, at the end of the day, there is one common denominator, and that is the price of a house. Until we bring that down or make it affordable, people will constantly need more and more in pay rises.

Deputy Michael Cahill

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion on home-heating oil this evening. It is an issue that matters enormously to people in my constituency of Kerry and right across rural Ireland. As I stated previously, when we talk about energy prices in this House, we have to remember that behind every statistic is a family or an individual trying to heat their home, a person trying to get to work or a small business trying to keep its doors open and that is extremely difficult and challenging today. In Kerry, many households are particularly exposed to the cost of home-heating oil. For those families, filling an oil tank can mean a very significant once-off expense. It is very different from receiving a monthly electricity bill and, for many people, it can create a very serious cash flow challenge.

I was speaking with a constituent today. They told me that it cost them €1,700 for 1,000 litres. It is robbery, to be fair. We all know that energy bill arrears remain at historically high levels. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, reported earlier this year that 316,000 domestic electricity customers and 179,000 domestic gas customers were in arrears, with average debts of €492 and €207, respectively. There is no question that affordability remains a very serious issue.

We also need to be honest about what the Government can and cannot control. Energy prices are heavily influenced by international wholesale markets and geopolitical developments. We all know the State cannot determine the international price of oil or gas. What the Government can do, however, is decide how best to protect households from these pressures.

There are already very significant responses in place. We have strengthened supports for people on lower incomes, including through the fuel allowance. We have invested substantially in energy efficiency and retrofitting. These measures are very important because we should not simply be dealing with high energy bills year on year. We also need to reduce the amount of energy households need to purchase in the first place.

There are also measures taking effect in the electricity market from October. The public service obligation, PSO, level is being reduced by 66% while the CRU has reviewed network charges to limit the impact on customers. These are very practical interventions and they can make a difference to household bills.

The Government has already introduced a package of measures around taxation, energy costs, income supports and the cost-of-living crisis. Government has also looked at the evidence by insuring that whatever measures are introduced are targeted towards those experiencing the greatest pressures. For people in County Kerry who are dependent on home-heating oil, I would certainly be looking at what more measures the Government can introduce to address these pressures. We should continue to invest in retrofitting and energy efficiency because making a home warmer and more efficient provides a longer-term benefit to a family than simply responding to a price spike.

The CRU has also highlighted that suppliers have obligations to work with customers experiencing payment difficulties, including affordable repayment arrangements and protections against disconnection where customers are engaging with their supplier. There is a very big role for Government to play, a role for the regulator and one for the energy industry.

Ultimately, our objectives should be very straightforward - keeping energy affordable, protecting households from the worst effects of international price shocks and reducing our exposure to those shocks over the longer term. That is particularly important for all rural communities such as the one I represent.

I welcome the debate this evening. I look forward to seeing further measures being brought forward by Government. It must also be pointed out that home-heating oil is subject to a reduced VAT rate of 13.5% and, under European Union VAT directives, it is not eligible for the lower 9% rate as is applied to electricity or natural gas, or like the 9% for the hospitality sector. Ireland is only permitted to maintain its long-standing 13.5% rate under the historic exemption and EU rules do not allow the Government to lower it further. It is black and white and that needs to be driven home because the general public still does not understand that. They are not being told the full truth, I suppose. That is the point.

Ireland, as an island nation, is completely isolated when it comes to oil, gas and electricity, so we do need to get our act together and to act quickly.

We need to start investing significant funds in offshore wind farms. The ESB is one of the biggest investors off the coast of Scotland, supplying energy to hundreds of thousands of houses. Our people can do this. We need to engage with them and start working sooner rather than later.

Deputy Cathal Crowe

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak in this debate. When we talk about the cost of home heating oil, we are talking about a fundamental issue of security and comfortable in people's lives. I see this anxiety first-hand when I go around County Clare each week holding advice clinics. Of course, granny's hip operation comes up and people talk about their long-standing application for social housing, but time and again, they talk about the cost of running their household. It is very sad when I call into older people's houses in places like Tuamgraney, Corofin and Kilkee and find they are colder than the street I have come in from. These people have pensions. There could be money in the bank, but they do not want to have the heating on because they are worried about the bill that will come. When people go into a supermarket they pay the bill and will know what the costs are generally. However, energy bills come with a sting for people because they arrive two months later. People fear what is ahead and whether they will be able to pay the bill. These worries are very real and they deserve a constructive, honest response from this House.

The reality that we all face is that the drivers of these oil costs are global, volatile and deeply tied to international commodity markets and the uncertainty that continues in the Middle East. As a small open economy, Ireland cannot fully insulate households from these global shifts. As we cannot control the international markets, our focus as a Government must be on what we can control, providing meaningful, targeted and sustainable relief to those people who need it most. Budget 2027 and our broader response represent a massive €1.7 billion package designed to do exactly that. We have intervened directly on the carbon tax trajectory for home heating oil by pausing the tax and locking it at 2025 rates. We have delivered a direct saving of roughly €64 on a 1,000-litre fill today. By May of next year, that saving will rise to around €80. By 2030, the rate will be halved. This measure is extremely costly but pausing the tax makes a direct intervention and a difference in people's pockets.

We are heavily focusing on the most vulnerable. There was some confusion around the fuel allowance winter heating period. To clarify for anyone worried at home, the winter heating period has not been shortened. What happened earlier this year was a temporary once-off four-week extension to help with a specific spike in costs. The core heating period remains fully intact, and we have expanded the scheme to include some 50,000 more households while increasing the weekly support. We have also extended the excise reductions on petrol and diesel until February to ease the broader pressure felt by families who have to travel to work, school and elsewhere.

Members of the public are not looking for political point-scoring or arguments in this Chamber. They want to know what the Government can do, that the Government is listening, that expenses they cannot avoid are being kept down and that there is a long-term plan, for example, retrofitting schemes. Earlier this evening, Deputy Cahill and I were in a briefing with our colleague, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, at which he outlined the extensive plans, all funded by carbon tax, for home heating systems, retrofitting, windows, doors and insulation. These are incredible schemes that so many people are availing of. Some of the schemes were oversubscribed last year. That tells us how successful they have been.

We must remain flexible because global markets remain uncertain. We must also be responsible with public funds to ensure we can weather any future economic storms. This Government's approach is about balancing immediate practical relief for families in Clare and throughout Ireland with the long-term stability that our country needs.

While all of these interventions have been well intentioned and well received in many quarters, recently a number of taxi drivers have told me they are locked out of the diesel rebate scheme. When someone gets into a taxi - I am sure the Members present will have taken taxi rides recently - there is a technology charge because people usually book taxis nowadays through an app. The minute a passenger opens that door, there is €7 or €8 on the meter to begin with. Then there is the cost of diesel or petrol in the car and the journey. Taxi journeys have become very difficult and expensive for people. Meanwhile, the Government is doing the right thing in increasing public transport. It is a very tough time for those who drive a taxi or own a taxi business. The taxi sector needs to be brought into the scheme.

The budget brought in measures to ease costs on families. It also included measures for schools, as Deputy Cahill mentioned. It is important that school capitation rates were increased. As with homes, I have walked into schools around my county where on chilly days the heat is not on. They, too, fear the energy bill. School buildings are difficult and costly to heat. The increase in capitation has been good. The education committee made a number of recommendations earlier this year, many of which have been acted, including as regards school meals. One cost that has never made sense to me is the charge for water use in schools. We give schoolchildren free lunches, books are free and there are allowances for uniforms and shoes, but schools pay for the water. That just does not make sense. It is one Department that it is paying. I know of one school that has gone into arrears of tens of thousands of euro. I do not imagine anyone is going to shut off the water to the school, realistically. To do so would be outrageous. I do not imagine a court is going to send a board of management chairperson or the principal off to prison for not paying these arrears. Who is going to collect this debt? I am not suggesting that anyone should. I am suggesting that it be written off and schools be made exempt from water charges.

Minister of State at the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (Deputy Alan Dillon)

I fully appreciate all the Deputies' contributions and the concerns they raised. We are living through a period of exceptional uncertainty and exceptional measures have been taken, not only by this Government but by governments across the world, in response to heightened fuel prices. As a Government, we do not control the wholesale price of oil or home heating oil, but we have acted in a very significant way to assist households with the real impacts of the current energy crisis.

The Sinn Féin Private Members' motion does not fully reflect the considerable supports which have been implemented by this Government. As the Opposition is well aware, the Government has delivered one of the largest support packages in the European Union per capita, with supports and tax measures costing over €1.7 billion from March 2026 to June 2027. We have also delivered a budget that will put money back into people's pockets. We have delivered a €1.3 billion income tax package, reduced the carbon tax on home heating fuels to 2023 levels and increased the fuel allowance by 30% over the past two years and expanded the eligibility criteria, providing critical support for those who need it most.

The Government has not just looked at the here and now. We have also invested in Ireland's energy security into the future. We want as many households as possible to reduce their energy bills and make their homes more comfortable to live in. The best way of insulating our economy and society from fuel price shocks is to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. Capital expenditure of over €2 billion has delivered over 287,000 home energy updates from 2019 to the end of August this year. This includes over 39,500 fully funded upgrades for households at risk of energy poverty under the warmer homes scheme. In January this year, we expanded the reformed retrofitting scheme to ensure more households receive grants. This new measure included increased attic and wall insulation supports, an increased grant for heat pump installation and new grants for windows and doors. Almost 89,000 applications have been processed to the end of August 2026, an increase of 116% on the same period last year.

In September this year, we announced another package of enhanced renewable energy and retrofit grants. This is designed to help households and businesses reduce energy costs, lower dependence on fossil fuels and strengthen Ireland's energy security. A particular focus of the package of measures announced in September this year is ensuring that households most exposed to high energy costs benefit from the energy transition. These enhanced supports for households at risk of energy poverty, medically vulnerable customers, low-income householders and renters will help to ensure that those who need support most can access the benefits of lower energy bills. Key measures announced last September included that solar PV and batteries will be offered as standard under the fully funded warmer homes scheme.

There will be more generous grants for solar, attic and cavity insulation for certain social welfare recipients and households in receipt of the housing assistance payment, the rental accommodation scheme and the rental accommodation scheme pilot tenancies. There will be more favourable eligibility for solar PV and solar thermal. There will be fossil fuel boiler scrappage supports of over €2,000, effective immediately for energy applicants, while an enhanced support for businesses will save thousands of euro in energy costs.

The revenues raised by carbon tax also help to fund actions today that will bring benefits long after tomorrow. It is also worth noting that the carbon tax element of home heating oil will comprise around 7 cent of the total cost on current average prices, while the non-carbon component of excise duty on home heating oil is already set to zero. The Sinn Féin motion would have us believe that carbon tax is driving energy prices and that abolishing it is the panacea for the increased cost of home heating oil. We need to be realistic and honest with the people who are here in the House but also watching from afar. Ours is an island nation and we are dependent on imported fossil fuels. Of course, we need to reduce our dependency and continue to invest in energy security measures funded by carbon tax to achieve this. Sinn Féin's motion also disregards our obligations under the European emissions trading scheme, ETS2, legislation and the conditions of Ireland's derogation, which the Government has negotiated with the European Commission. I will be interested to listen to Deputy Doherty's response later in regard to the derogation and Sinn Féin's theory on it. Losing the derogation could result in Ireland having to join the European carbon pricing system for buildings, road transport and other sectors. It would reduce the funding available for our national programmes of home energy upgrades and retrofitting, investing in the electricity grid and the development of indigenous renewable energy at the required scale.

As we have done since the outset of this crisis, we will continue to keep the situation under review in the time ahead. We will continue to respond in a way that protects those most vulnerable to fuel poverty. For the reasons I have stated, I again press the Government's amendment.

Deputy Ann Graves

Sinn Féin is calling on TDs from all political parties to stand up for ordinary people, put workers and families first, and support our proposal to deliver a real and meaningful cut in the price of home heating oil. The Government's €43 reduction on 1,000 litres was wiped out by a price hike of €150 within days of the budget. The average cost of 1,000 litres of home heating oil in Dublin is now €1,631. This is a massive jump from last year's €936. This price hike is coming straight out of the pockets of workers already struggling to make ends meet. A record number of people cannot pay their energy bills. Some 320,000 people cannot afford electricity, while one in four cannot afford to pay their gas bill.

In my constituency of Dublin Fingal East, people are really struggling. An elderly man in Malahide, who unfortunately does not qualify for a fuel allowance because he has a small private pension, has not been able to afford to fill his tank in months. As we face into winter, he has no chance of heating his house properly because of the increased cost of home heating oil. He goes to bed at 6 o'clock every evening covered in blankets and with hot water bottles. It is absolutely shocking. Yesterday, despite Sinn Féin councillors' best efforts to reduce local property tax by the maximum 15% in Fingal, he is expected to pay more tax on his home because it is worth a lot more than when he bought it 65 years ago. He is asset rich, but money poor and struggling. Sinn Féin's proposal to remove carbon tax on home heating oil would reduce the cost of a 1,000 litre refill by €183. I appeal to TDs of all parties and none to stand with ordinary workers and families and to support the Sinn Féin motion and make home heating oil more affordable for those who are struggling.

I want to end by expressing solidarity with civil and public servants, who are forced onto the streets tomorrow for fair pay.

Deputy Dessie Ellis

The rising cost of home heating oil is a significant concern for households across Ireland. Heating oil is not a luxury, and when heating costs rise, low-income families, older people, those with disabilities and families with young children must decide how to divide their limited household income between heating, food, electricity, transport, crèche facilities, mortgage or rent payments, and other essential expenses. The average cost of 1,000 litres of home heating oil in September 2025 was €909. In September 2026, it was €1,444, an increase of approximately 59% in one year. This is according to RTÉ's report on the national average prices. These increases are especially difficult for households that need to purchase a large quantity of oil before winter. Living in a cold home can be particularly concerning for older people, young children and people with existing health vulnerabilities. No household should have to choose between keeping warm and meeting other basic needs. The escalating costs are also having a disproportionate effect on rural communities where alternative heating options are not available.

The minimum relief offered by the Government in the most recent budget has already been wiped out. Sinn Féin is proposing to give immediate relief to households by removing carbon tax on home heating oil. If this happens, households will see a significant reduction in their heating costs, as they could potentially save as much as €183 on a 1,000 litre refill. This would be especially helpful during the winter months, when heating demands are at their highest. This is a way of offering direct financial relief to households, leaving families with more money for essentials such as groceries, electricity, mortgage or rent payments, and other household expenses, and would help reduce the risk of fuel poverty.

Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

When I talked to constituents about the budget, there were two particular things they found inexplicable. Looking at it myself, there are many more things I found inexplicable. If people knew half of what kind of favourable treatment some of the higher earners, vulture funds and landlords get from the budget, it would make their heads spin, but two particular items stood out to most constituents I spoke to. The first was the energy credits. They could not understand how the Government had not learned its lesson. It had been warned by the Opposition right across the board, by every single party, and by the energy regulator that if it got rid of energy credits, people would end up in arrears. Lo and behold, record numbers of people are in arrears with their bills, and we are now facing into another winter with potentially record-breaking, absolutely back-breaking energy bills for homes, and the Government has not reintroduced energy credits.

The other one was about home heating oil. The Government did nothing on this last year and this year it is talking about €47, while people have seen increases of about €700 in some instances over the course of the last year. The change the Government has made has been completely swallowed up and then some, by the €150 increase. People feel short-changed. Many people who rely on home heating oil are among the most vulnerable and are on low incomes, with very few alternatives. The Government has delivered them very little relief.

The budget follows a pattern from last year. During the last election, Fine Gael promised to get rid of third level fees and the means test for carers and promised a limit of €200 per month for childcare. None of those things is anywhere close to being delivered. People feel short-changed and they are right to do so.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Gabhaim buíochas le achan duine a labhair ar son an rúin seo inniu. Mar a dúirt daoine, is é seo an naoú huair a bhfuil rún mar seo tugtha ós comhair na Dála ag Sinn Féin. Dúirt muid le go leor leor daoine amuigh ansin go mbeadh muid ansin gualainn le gualainn leo agus ag iarraidh ar an Rialtas an brú ollmhór a thuiscint atá ar teaghlaigh agus ar oibrithe fud fad na tíre seo, go háirithe agus iad ag iarraidh a gcuid tithe a choinneáil te agus muid ag díriú isteach ar an ngeimhreadh. Dúirt an tAire Airgeadais go dtuigeann sé. Dúirt sé go mbeadh an cuidiú ansin. Ach tá a fhios againn, seachtain i ndiaidh na cáinaisnéise, go bhfuil costais ola le tithe a théabh níos daoire inniu ná mar a bhí siad seachtain ó sin. Is iad sin na fíricí.

I thank everybody who supported our motion. As has been said, this is the ninth time we have brought forward this proposal to the Dáil. Nine times, and we are not going to give up.

We will not give up because we have made pledges to too many people right across the State. I have told the Minister of State their stories. I have told him the challenges that they have faced. I have told him what it means to them when they cannot put oil in their tank, how they have to stretch or what they have to go without because of the price of home-heating oil. Some 700,000 families right across the State have seen the cost of that fuel increase dramatically. It has increased by over €700.

Nine times we have brought proposals before the Dáil and finally the Minister for Finance said he got it. He promised the Irish people that he would act. He promised the Irish people that he understood it and what did the Government come forward with? A pathetic €43 cut. What an insult to people the length and breadth of this State who are struggling with keeping their heat on and struggling with the cost of home-heating oil. In the days after the budget announcement, the price of a fill of home-heating oil went up by €150.

This Government is living on a different planet. Ministers are sitting around the Cabinet table, all well healed and all well paid. They do not understand the pressures that people are under. They have had to rise before. They did it in April when the Government did not listen and again, they are pleading with it to do the right thing. I have heard Government TDs saying that they understand the challenges that people face. Tonight is the time for them to put their money where their mouth is. Tonight is the time for them to stand up for the people who elected them to this position because we have a duty to protect those people who sent us here. Tonight, I am being their voice. I am telling the Government very clearly that it needs to act. Government needs to protect them and it should have their back. The way to do that is to do the right thing and remove carbon tax completely from home-heating oil. It needs to give people a real reduction in the cost of fuel and, by God, it can afford it. Those people have worked hard, they have built this economy and they have ensured that the taxes are there to support them now. However, time and again, Government Members show us who they really are. When it comes down to the crunch, do they support the individuals trying to heat their home? By God, they do not.

When it comes to it, there are always money, always support and always tax breaks for those at the very top. Tonight should be different. Tonight, every single TD will have to stand up and be counted. Here on these benches, those of us in Sinn Féin will have the ordinary Irish people's backs. We will never give up until they get what they deserve. What they deserve is the right thing. The Government needs to remove carbon tax from home-heating oil, give them the break they deserve and reduce the cost of home-heating oil for once and for all.

Amendment put.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy John Paul O'Shea)

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is deferred until next week's division time.

Cuireadh an Dáil ar athló ar 8.23 p.m. go dtí 8.47 a.m., Déardaoin, an 15 Deireadh Fómhair 2026.

The Dáil adjourned at 8.23 p.m. until 8.47 a.m. on Thursday, 15 October 2026.

Dáil Éireann debate - Tuesday, 13 Oct 2026

Home Heating Oil Costs: Motion [Private Members]

Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 13 Oct 2026