Pearse Doherty
Donegal · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I move amendment No. 1 to Seanad recommendation No. 2: To delete from the row dated "1 September 2026" down to and including the row dated "1 May 2030" and substitute the following: " 15 July 2026 €502.88 €502.88 €371.85 €371.85 €371.85 €0.00 €210.45 €172.14 €167.25 €79.17 €11.48 14 October 2026 €502.88 €502.88 €371.85 €371.85 €371.85 €0.…”
“Next week, this House will rise, the doors of Leinster House will be locked and Ministers will head off on their summer holidays. Their parting gift to ordinary Irish people across the State will be to have locked in fuel price increases that will hit them in their pockets.”
“That is not acceptable and it is why we in Sinn Féin have tabled this amendment to say that these price increases should not be going ahead and that prices should be properly monitored at the appropriate time.”
“This is tied to the latter amendment and I will speak further at length on that. Recommendation No. 1 deals with the diesel rebate scheme, which operates within a window that closes on 1 October.”
“Hope is what we rely on when we have no control. It is not a substitute for prudent economic planning. There is zero certainty here. There are no guarantees that the Strait of Hormuz will remain open or that global supply lines will not be choked tomorrow morning.”
“As if that were not good enough, the Government is not just hitting people with increases on petrol and diesel. On top of that, it is going to hit them with an increase in the cost of home heating oil, natural gas and a basic bag of coal.”
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“Sinn Féin put a clear proposal to the Tánaiste this week to remove excise duty and strip out carbon tax from home heating oil - real, immediate relief - but he refused and dug in. I again ask why. Why, when he knew that these measures are not enough, did he choose to leave people short? The Tánaiste should be bringing a financial resolution before the House today. We should be reducing excise duty on home heating oil tonight and giving the maximum reduction possible on diesel and petrol. He needs to recognise he has made a serious mistake, because from today this place will not sit for 20 days and families will be left high and dry to fend for themselves, trying to stretch whatever is left in the tank and making impossible choices. Again, my question is simple. Will the Tánaiste act now to do the right thing?”
“That is not fairness. It is insulting and people know it. Let me tell the Tánaiste what this actually looks like. A support worker who contacted me is working constant overtime trying to keep two children in college and one in school. She told me she is exhausted and burned out and still cannot get ahead. Electricity is up, food is up and fuel is up. She is now sitting with no heat on, asking what the point is. Another women who contacted me in the past day is 67 years of age. She is still working. She told me she only turns on the heat when her grandchildren visit. She is saving the last little oil she has for them. Think about that for a second. People are denying themselves basic heat in their own homes. That is the reality of the Tánaiste’s decisions, whether he likes it or not.”
“Caithfidh siad dul i ngleic le costais ag dul in airde agus in airde agus roghanna dodhéanta á ndéanamh acu. Níl faoiseamh ar bith ón dá cent atá ceadaithe. Teastaíonn fíorthacaíocht ó na teaghlaigh seo agus teastaíonn sé anois. Rud a dhéanfadh difríocht láithreach ná chun a fháil réidh leis an gcáin charbóin ar ola teasa tí. Let us talk about fairness because the Tánaiste spoke about fairness yesterday. Where is the fairness for the 750,000 households relying on home heating oil? The vast majority of them do not get any fuel allowance. They have seen their costs to fill soar to eye-watering levels and the Government's response is a reduction of 2 cent per litre and €20 in the cost of a fill. Incredibly, the Government is going to take back this measly €20 in a couple of weeks when it jacks up the prices by increasing carbon tax.”
“Tonight at 7.45 p.m. the country will come to a standstill to cheer on the boys in green in Prague. It is wrong that so many people in the North who share the same passion and identity may be unable to watch their national team free to air because it is geoblocked. This is something the Government urgently needs to address. I was a young lad when Donegal's famous son Packie Bonner made that save to set Ireland up for victory in Italia '90, and that memory stays with me. Let us hope the lads can do the business tonight and take us a step closer to our first World Cup in 24 years. The nation believes and the nation is right behind them. I lár ghéarchéim breosla as cuimse, tá an Rialtas i ndiaidh teaghlaigh atá ag brath ar ola teasa tí a fhágáil ar lár. Ní fhaigheann formhór acu an liúntas fuinnimh go fóill.”
“It was buried and was denied under freedom of information, but now we have it in black and white stating that this scheme is having a negative impact on the private rental sector. It is an incentive to divert properties from the rental sector to the ARP. It is deeply unfair. The amendments that Deputy Carthy has tabled will remove the unfairness from it. The Government should not be extending this scheme, which embeds that unfairness. I challenge the Opposition parties to call out this unfairness. Of course, we need to support Ukrainians but it should not be in this way, which seriously impacts the private rental sector. We would not stand for it in any other situation and we should not stand for it here. The amendments are sensible and should be supported by the House.”
“Since I stood up here two years ago and warned that the extension of the scheme should not go ahead without our amendments, I have seen the impact of it in my county of Donegal. It is a county that is under huge pressure in terms of accommodation. It is a county with so many houses with defective blocks, it is really hard to find a place to rent. The number of properties hosting Ukrainians has gone from 608 to 2,159 - one in ten such properties in the State are in Donegal. How can the Minister stand up there with a straight face and say that this is not impacting the private rental sector in that county? I do not need him to tell me that because we have been saying it for two years. The Government has hidden the evidence from the RTB report on the effects of the ARP.”
“We have been saying it is having a serious impact on the private rental sector. We have been telling the Government the scheme is unfair in the way it has been framed. It is unfair for five different reasons, First, it is only available to Ukrainians. Second, it is the only situation wherein the State pays a tenant's full rent. Third, no means test is applied to the individuals for whom the State pays rent. Fourth, landlords in the scheme receive a tax-free payment. Fifth, landlords have no obligations whatsoever in relation to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, or tenants' rights. These incentives are why the scheme has exploded in the two years during which we have been raising these issues. Despite the concerns we have raised time and again, the Government has persisted in extending the scheme and it is doing the same again today.”
“I commend Deputy Carthy on the amendments he has tabled and his steadfast challenging of this scheme, which is deeply unfair. The amendment he has tabled today would remove that unfairness. The scheme should not be extended without the amendment being accepted. For more than two years, we in Sinn Féin have been raising concerns about the accommodation recognition payment. It was brought in, as Deputy Carthy outlined, as an emergency measure following the brutal invasion of Ukraine. It was about supporting people to host Ukrainians in their own homes, which Sinn Féin supported. That happened throughout the State, including in my constituency of Donegal. However, it morphed into something completely different and we have been telling the Government that for two years.”
“They cannot put up with more delays from this Government because people need a complete removal of excise duty from home heating oil, the maximum cuts in diesel and the same for petrol. They need the Government to abandon its mad idea and reckless plan to jack up prices by increasing carbon taxes in the middle of this crisis. Here is the truth. There is nothing stopping the Government from doing it - nothing at all. Right now, families are sitting in cold homes under real pressure and being left behind. That is on the Minister.”
“I have taken on an extra job onto my full-time job just to support myself and my son. Even with the second job, I'm emailing you tonight with a blanket wrapped round me because I have no heating oil. I don't care about me. It's my son whom it is affecting more due to me only being at home one day a week. On that day, I have to do my shopping, clean my house, do the laundry, as I have no other time to do it. I'm sore. I'm exhausted. I have no quality of life. That is what the Government's decisions mean in real life. That is the human costs of its inaction. She is not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of families just like hers doing the right thing, working hard, cutting back and still being pushed to the brink. What people need is real action, and I am going to continue to fight for them. I am going to continue to have their backs.”
“It gives with one hand and takes with the other. Let us think about how that looks for families out there sitting in cold homes tonight. At a time other countries are scrambling to bring down energy prices, the Government is preparing to increase taxes on home heating oil, gas and even on a bag of coal. It is staggering and it is completely out of touch. Last night was a cold night. It was cold in homes right across the State. What people were waiting for was Government action. What they got was a Government that abandoned them. It voted down proposals we tabled to remove excise duty completely from home heating oil and to cut the excise on diesel by the maximum amount with the same for petrol. As the Government did that, a grandmother reached out to me devastated. She said: Pearse, I'm a granny with a disabled son at home.”
“This Government led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael has abandoned hundreds of thousands of households who rely on home heating oil in the middle of an energy crisis. It has turned its back on the very people who are being hit hardest - families who have seen the cost of heating almost double in a matter of weeks. The Minister should make no mistake about it, there is real anger out there. People who are already stretched to the limit simply do not know how they will afford their next fill of oil. The Government's message to them, whether it admits it or not, is that they are on their own. Let us strip it back. A 2 cent cut in the middle of an emergency is not help. It is not relief. It is an insult. To add insult to injury, in a matter of weeks the Government will claw it back through another carbon tax hike.”
“If it got the issue, it would not have introduced the budget it did last year, with a total allocation of €9.5 billion that still left workers and families worse off than they were before it. The Taoiseach claimed the ESRI keeps on saying that the lowest two deciles were the greatest beneficiaries of the budget. In fact, the ESRI report says they lost the most as a result of budget 2026 because of the withdrawal of cost-of-living supports. I ask the Minister to have a word with the Taoiseach and ask him to stop gaslighting the public by saying the opposite of what everybody knows is true, which is that they are worse off now as a result of what the Government did in the budget.”
“It was intended to ensure that the support hauliers and transport operators need is provided to them not in a delayed way, through a rebate, but immediately by cutting excise at the pumps. By doing that, we would provide the support for every carer, every person with a disability, every worker driving to work tomorrow morning and every commuter who has to travel by car tomorrow. That is the way it should be done and it is what our amendment proposed to do. As I said, I welcome any support for the haulage sector but there was a way of doing this whereby the support would not be limited to just one sector. It should have been provided for all but, unfortunately, the Government simply does not understand the cost-of-living pressures people are facing.”
“I was sent an image an hour and a half ago when people were looking at the vote going on in the House and seeing that every single TD who supports Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents in government voted to oppose a reduction in the maximum amount of excise on diesel and to oppose removing excise on home heating oil. The image I was sent, taken today, was of a forecourt showing a diesel price of €2.35. The message under the image said "What planet are these guys living on?". That is the sentiment I am hearing right across the board, namely, that the Government simply does not get it. My amendment has been ruled out of order and I accept that ruling of the Chair.”
“The other way of doing it is to reduce the excise duty, which means that when the hauliers rock up to the petrol station or buy diesel themselves in their yard, they get the reduction there and then. The second is the more appropriate way, with the reduction in excise automatically given at the pumps. Crucially, it not only gives the reduction to the haulage company and transport operator but also to every person who has to put petrol, or in this case, diesel, into his or her car. That is the measure that should be brought forward. It is a way to support hauliers, transport operators and the general public. However, it is very clear the Government does not want to provide that additional support to the wider public. It is a serious error.”
“The Government is being forced, after four weeks, into acting on the issue, which it did not want to do. It is moving from a position where it was going to monitor the situation, with no knee-jerk reaction, blah, blah, blah, to a point where, after we tabled legislation to cut excise and support workers and families, as well as transport operators and hauliers, it is being forced to bring forward some type of proposal. The resolution the Government has brought forward is a half-measure. I completely and utterly acknowledge that we need to support hauliers. There are two ways of doing so. One is by increasing the diesel rebate scheme payment from 7.5 cent to 12 cent. That would mean hauliers having to pay the full whack at the pump and then wait until the end of the quarter to make a return and get the money back from Revenue or offset it.”
“That will be great for some people by allowing them to get more tax breaks for savings they have. However, a whole group of other people are asking me what planet the Tánaiste is on. Some of them are among the 320,000 people who cannot pay their electricity bill. Their cupboards are bare in the evening when their children come in hungry. We have a Minister for Finance who is talking about how we can generate more wealth and how the State can support that generation of wealth through tax cuts. The second debate that is taking place is about how we can allow the very small proportion of people who have an inheritance above €400,000 to keep more of that money for themselves. It is a type of parallel Ireland, with a divide between the haves and the have-nots. This motion is about excise duty.”
“I understand. The timeframes have been so tight, given the chaotic way the Government brought this forward, despite the fact it had four weeks to deal with this issue of support for workers and families in the middle of what was already a cost-of-living crisis. It is important to remember that, before the fuel crisis was brought on by the attacks in Iran and the impacts of the attacks Iran has launched in the Middle East, we had a cost-of-living crisis. Many families and businesses were already pushed to the pin of their collar. The real challenges people are facing in terms of just meeting basic necessities have been well rehearsed. I have heard the Tánaiste talk at length about his new idea for a savings scheme and how the State can help people to save and all the rest of it.”
“I say to Government TDs and the Independent TDs who support the Government that they are going to have a choice within an hour. Are they going to stand up? Are they going to stand with Ministers? Are they are going to hide behind Deputy Simon Harris or are they going to do the right thing and stand up for workers, carers and small businesses, reduce the excise to the maximum amount and remove excise duty from home heating oil at this time of crisis?”
“Our amendment will deliver the maximum reduction on diesel, the same reduction on petrol and will remove completely excise duty for home heating oil - an oil that has nearly doubled in the space of four weeks and the Government plans to increase the tax on it in a couple of weeks' time. Real measures, immediate relief and action that matches the scale of this crisis because people cannot wait. They cannot take another hit. They should not be abandoned like this. Is the Government going to continue to insult people with half measures or is it going to finally act and deliver the support that they need? We on this side, in Sinn Féin, are going to stand with workers, carers, families, those with disabilities and small businesses tonight. We are not going back down. People deserve far better.”
“That is what is missing - to stand up for ordinary workers and families. When it comes to the crunch - and we all know this on this side of the House - Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael always make the same choices. Hoard the surplus, protect the banks and leave ordinary people to fend for themselves. Tonight, we are putting forward an alternative. We are putting forward a different choice because Sinn Féin actually listens to people. It listens to the concerns that people have been telling us over the past four weeks.”
“-----that does not even come close to what is needed. And worse, the Government is now preparing to increase carbon tax on home heating oil in the space of four weeks while clawing back with one hand what it pretends to give with the other hand. Do not come in here and try to pretend that this is the Government simply helping the people because it is not. It is just going through the motions while more and more people suffer. Let us be absolutely clear. The Minister can shake his head all he wants. It is not an issue of resources. There is a multi-billion euro budget surplus. The Government is taking in millions of euro as a result of the additional tax revenue from fuel prices that are soaring. The money is there. Do you know what is not there? It is political will from this Government.”
“I move amendment No 1: In Schedule 2, inserted by paragraph (1), by the substitution of the following for the rows dated 25 March 2026 and 1 May 2026: " 25 March 2026 €496.14 €584.18 €405.76 €453.15 €453.15 €0.00 €210.45 €134.50 €167.25 €103.66 €11.48 1 May 2026 €496.14 €584.18 €405.76 €453.15 €453.15 €0.00 €210.45 €134.50 €167.25 €103.66 €11.48 ".”
“-----clarity on what we are asking people to vote for. The proposal before us provides that all amendments will be disposed of and the only vote will be on the Government's proposal. The Government Chief Whip has just stated that there will be numerous votes after the 60-minute debate. I am looking for clarity. If the Government is accepting that there will be numerous votes on the amendments, I accept that.”
“The agenda that has been presented here is outrageous. The Government expects us to debate the major burning issue. The Government might think it is not an issue but for four weeks, people have been pushed to the pin of their collar. Diesel has gone up by 55 cent while the Government has delayed and dithered. When it now brings forward a motion that is a half-baked idea that does not go far enough, it says that it has to be dealt within 60 minutes. Crucially, the key issue is that the Government is afraid of the amendment that we will bring forward tonight. The Government will not even allow that amendment to be voted on, according to the agenda here. What is the Government afraid of? We will put down an amendment that will remove excise from home heating oil and reduce tax on diesel and petrol. Let us have a vote.”
“I believe this is wrong. I ask the Government to reverse this decision, give hard-pressed families a break and scrap these exam fees.”
“Over the last 48 hours, parents of leaving certificate and junior certificate students received letters telling them that the Government was bringing back examination fees. That will be a bill of over €100 for many families across the State. I cannot believe the Government is sending these letters out in a week when families are under so much pressure. It was the wrong decision in the budget, and we called it out at the time, but it is a worse decision today. Working households cannot catch a breath with the constant price hikes. The last thing they need now is another bill landing in their door. Parents are watching every euro and working miracles to stretch household budgets. Things are really tight for folks. Now, the Government is going to force them to pay out over €100 for each child sitting their State exams.”
“Why will it not introduce the measures today for which people the length and breadth of this State are crying out? They are looking for action and leadership from Government and not more meetings, more delay and more dithering.”
“This is happening in real time and the Government dithers and thinks people can wait another week while it gets its act together. People cannot wait; they demand action now. There are solutions that can be put forward. The Government can reduce the taxes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil. It can do what we have set out in our legislation. This could happen right here right now. We could bring a financial resolution before the House and tonight we could cut the cost of petrol, diesel and home heating oil but the Government refuses to do that. The Tánaiste says the Government hears where people are at but it refuses to act. We have the resources to do this, so why does the Government delay while the price of home heating oil doubles? Why does it dither when people are under so much pressure?”
“While the Government dithers, the prices double and what the Tánaiste said is cold comfort to people on the street - people who are going cold at this point in time because they cannot afford to heat their homes. I have put the prices on the record. The Tánaiste talks about waiting another week, into the fourth week of this crisis, and about how the Government will come up with something and maybe reveal it all on Tuesday but people in the here and now are facing these prices. Diesel went up by 8 cent this morning and it is projected to go up by 12 cent tomorrow night. Home heating oil went up €100 this morning when it is already sky high. It has gone up by another €100 and is projected to go up another €120 tomorrow night.”
“Will it ask people to wait for another meeting, to wait for it to get its act together or to wait for another week and maybe it will do something on Tuesday, Wednesday or whenever?”
“The money is available. There is a multibillion euro surplus. If the banks were paying the 12.5% tax rate on the €3.6 billion in profits they generated last year that they should be paying instead of an effective rate of 1%, there would be even more resources available. Let us be honest about it. This is not about necessity; it is about political choice. The Government is all over the place on this issue. It is slow to act, reluctant to intervene and telling people to wait while their bills spiral. Will the Government act today to reduce the cost of petrol, diesel and home heating oil? Will it scrap the planned home heating oil increases? Will it support Sinn Féin's legislation or is it going to continue to send the same message as costs go out of control?”
“Wait while prices climb. Wait while families fall further behind. We know what delay means in real life. A pensioner told me he is sitting at home with no heating for a week because he cannot afford electricity and heat together; it is one or the other. Another family told us that they have just run out of oil but the price of a minimum order has gone from €280 to €600. Another person with arthritis is living in a damp, mouldy house and needs to keep warm but cannot afford to put on the heating. People are going cold in their own homes. Unbelievably, however, the Government will be pressing ahead with increasing the cost of home heating oil through higher carbon taxes in the next number of weeks. The Tánaiste should not come back with guff about these tax increases being necessary to fund retrofitting because that is simply not true.”
“Let us be clear, the Government has not acted. It has been forced onto the back foot by sustained pressure from Sinn Féin, including through the legislation we brought forward. Despite that, however, the Government has still done nothing. It could have acted at any point but it chose not to. Instead, it waited and dithered and people paid the price. Fuel prices are not standing still. They are skyrocketing. Today alone, the price of diesel has increased by 8 cent per litre and it is projected to rise by a further 12 cent tomorrow night before VAT is even applied. The cost of home heating oil has increased by €100 per fill today, with a projected increase of €120 expected tomorrow night. While costs surge again, what is the Government's message to ordinary people out there? The message is wait until Tuesday. Wait for another meeting.”
“Táimid i ngéarchéim costais bhreosla anois le trí seachtaine anuas agus ní a dhath déanta ag an Rialtas chun céim shoiléir a ghlacadh go fóill chun praghsanna a ísliú. Níl gníomh amháin déanta ag an Rialtas agus tá sé ag streachailt ón mbrú leanúnach ó Shinn Féin agus an reachtaíocht atá tugtha chun cinn againn. In ainneoin sin, níl a dhath déanta aige go fóill agus tá gnáthdhaoine ag fulaingt dá bharr. Inniu amháin, tá praghas díosal ardaithe 8 cent in aghaidh an lítear agus táthar ag meas go n-ardóidh sé 12 cent eile san oíche amárach. Tá méadú €100 tagtha ar an bpraghas chun umar a líonadh le hola teochta tí inniu agus táthar ag meas go n-ardóidh sé €120 breise amárach. We are now in the third week of the fuel crisis and the Government has still not taken a single concrete step to bring down prices.”
“Just to clarify, just so we are doing it procedurally because I did not hear it but I could have misheard him or not heard him. Can we get clarification that the Tánaiste actually moved the amendment?”
“The amendment has not been moved during the debate and you are only allowed to intervene once, under Standing Orders, a Chathaoirleach Gníomhach. The Standing Orders are very clear. The Member is only allowed to speak once and the debate has now concluded.”
“Today I talked to a forecourt owner. This is putting huge pressure on businesses also. They are buying diesel in for €2.13. This evening they were told what the prices are going to be tomorrow night and it is going up again, they will have to buy it in for €2.19. The Minister is going to delay and come up with something some time next week. It is simply unacceptable. People will have a decision now. I am glad the Government did not move their amendment so they will have a decision here now to actually support this motion and support this legislation.”
“The Government Deputies sit back in their ivory towers and say to people out there who cannot heat their homes that they have to wait another week, and the Government might come up with something. That is not good enough. It does not cut it. People want leadership. They want action. We have provided the solution, the plan and the legislation. What the Minister should be doing, and what a responsible Government, one that cares about people and that understands the cost-of-living pressures people are under, would be doing is standing here and saying "Folks, tonight we are taking action, cutting petrol and diesel costs and the cost of home heating oil." Those are the solutions we put forward. In the real world, things continue to move on while Ministers are dithering and delaying and dallying. People are having to pay these costs.”
“As Deputy Gould said, we are three weeks into this crisis and still the Government does not have a plan. We listen to the Tánaiste and he says we are going to do something. Something - nobody yet knows what he is going to do. I bet my bottom dollar that the Government will not cut taxes on home heating oil because it is wedded to this idea that it is carbon tax and therefore it is the Holy Grail. The Government wants to increase taxes on home heating oil. It is simply unjustifiable. You ask simple questions like how do we fund retrofit. We fund retrofit from the taxes that we take in as a State. There was €12.5 billion of a surplus last year. In one week, €38 million more has been taken in by this Government as a result of sky-high fuel costs.”
“The action they need is a cut in taxes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil. The Minister talked about how the price of kerosene has gone up really high and how it is putting pressure on families. He should be honest with people about what he is planning to do. He is planning to increase the cost. His cheerleaders in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are calling on him to increase carbon tax on 1 May, the legislation he has already passed. He should not give these crocodile tears that he feels for the old woman who has to fill up her tank and it is costing her €1,800, when he is sitting there saying we have to increase carbon tax in a couple of weeks. That is going to make it more expensive for people to heat their home and stay warm during this time of crisis. That is the reality of what the Government is doing.”
“This is a responsible course of action from this party. The Minister talked about back-of-envelope stuff. No harm to the Minister but that was Fianna Fáil's job, the last time you wrecked the economy, yourselves down in the Galway tent with the back of the envelopes with the bankers and the developers. We know all the lectures in relation to that. This legislation is detailed. It is presentable. The key thing about it is that it is the solution. It is the plan that people are looking for. People cannot wait any longer for the Government to get its act together. I am glad the Ministers have all returned from St. Patrick's Day festivals but while they were away, people here were seriously struggling. This is the problem here. They left without providing the support that was required. People are demanding action right now.”
“Cuirim deireadh leis an díospóireacht faoin rún atá curtha chun tosaigh agus bogtha agam ar chostais peitril agus díosail. I listened to the Minister and the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, and their colleagues. Some of them have not even read the legislation and did not inform themselves of what we were debating before they came in and started asking stupid questions. The Minister will be able to see the legislation and see the fact that it is for six months and allows the Minister to review that period, to extend it or to increase the length of time. He will see in the legislation that it provides flexibility for the Minister also to increase or decrease the supports depending on the situation in terms of wholesale fuel costs or the cost-of-living crisis that people are suffering from.”
“-----to say, "Do you know something? We will act." Let us do it tonight. Let us reduce petrol, diesel and home heating oil because the legislation is before the House. The Tánaiste should withdraw that comment.”
“People still have to put money in their pockets and fill their cars and the heating oil is running out in so many homes. Now is the time for action and leadership. The Government should be standing up and saying it has heard the Irish people and it will reduce taxes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil because that is what the legislation would do. This is the leadership the people of this State are crying out for.”
“People are demanding that the Government take action and cut the taxes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil. This is exactly what my legislation would do. As I left Donegal this morning, I saw petrol stations having to charge €2.17 for a litre of diesel. On the way up, I saw station after station charging €2.10 and €2.05. These are all prices above €2. The Tánaiste knows as well as I do, if he has his feet on the ground and knows what is happening, that many of these stations have been told there is a planned increase tomorrow night of 8 cent on a litre of diesel but the Government still refuses to act. We had Ministers in here saying they were monitoring the situation and that there would not be a knee-jerk reaction and blah de blah de blah.”
“Imagine just for a second what these people felt like when they heard the Taoiseach double down on plans to increase the taxes on home heating oil at a time when the price has nearly doubled in two weeks. This is also the plan in Fine Gael. They have told me, because I have spoken to them, that they feel disbelief that the Government could be so out of touch and they feel anger that it cares so little. It is not lost on people when these prices go up that the money ends up flowing into the State. Up to 65% of the price of every litre of petrol is taxes and levies the State collects. It was estimated that in a single week, €38 million was brought in through VAT as a result of these sky-high fuel prices alone, yet the Government refuses to act and stands by.”
“They do not have the luxury that the Government has of waiting and seeing. They are looking at a Government that is refusing to act and stand up for them. At the start of last week, we called on the Government to bring in emergency measures to help these people but it fell on deaf ears. We are not going to give up because we need to see action and we need to see taxes cut on petrol, diesel and home heating oil, and that should be happening tonight. Ministers were too busy packing their bags for Paddy's day. There were not even bothered with the fear that was gripping people in their constituencies. They are not listening to families who are worried about how they are going to fill the car or older people and elderly people whose heating oil is running out or running low and who cannot afford the refill.”
“Where in God's name does the Tánaiste expect people to find €1,800 for a refill? That is the reality people are facing. People are getting hit right now. This is why I introduced emergency legislation today to cut the price at the pumps and the price of home heating oil. People cannot wait any longer for the Government, which is dithering and delaying. They need to see action and they need to see a Government, but this one is nowhere to be seen. The idea that the Government is somehow monitoring the situation boils people's blood. It means nothing to somebody who is out of home heating oil today. It means nothing to the elderly person in a cold house tonight, afraid to turn on the heating. It means nothing to the parent who has to travel and commute to work and is finding it tough to put petrol or diesel in the car.”