Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-16
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Before I begin to respond, I want to take a moment as well to express my sympathy to and solidarity with the Australian people and with our Jewish community here in Ireland as they come to terms with the horror and the grief of the mass shooting event at Bondi Beach on Sunday. Fifteen people, including a ten-year-old child and a Holocaust survivor, were cruelly murdered and more than 40 others injured for no other reason than their Jewish faith and identity as they gathered to celebrate Hanukkah. I am acutely conscious of the feelings of vulnerability and isolation that an event like this can cause among our own small Jewish community. I take this opportunity to send a very clear message from the Dáil, and as Head of Government, that our Jewish neighbours are an important and very valued part of our society and that there can be no place for antisemitism or antisemitic rhetoric in our State.
In respect of the issues Deputy McDonald raised, first, price review 6, which will facilitate investment of up to €18 billion in our energy grid, is essential and will copper-fasten and benefit every job and every potential future job in the country and will underpin the building of 300,000 houses and their connection to the grid and the electrification of the public transport system. It is a major decision by the Government. The Government has allocated €3.5 billion in equity to help to leverage and underpin the enormous investment that will occur from this. In many respects, this is a decisive moment in respect of the energy grid.
I acknowledge fully and understand the pressure people are under in respect of energy bills. Part of this announcement is the work of the national energy affordability task force, which was established by the Minister and which has already published its first report. Its task is to identify measures that will reduce electricity prices in the short term and permanently. Some of its measures were delivered under budget 2026. These include the decision to extend the reduction in VAT on electricity from 13% to 9% and significant work on the fuel allowance.
We included those on the working family payment. An extra 50,000 people will be paid the fuel allowance in March and that will be backdated to January. Of course, we increased the fuel allowance. An extra €140 will now be available for over 450,000 recipients between September and April. The €400 income tax disregard for households involved in energy microgeneration has been extended. There are also the budget measures more generally.
Retrofitting has grown significantly over the past number of years and is making a real difference to many houses. A deep retrofit can save over €1,100. Approximately 228,000 upgrades have happened now in terms of homeowners. Some €1.5 billion has been allocated for that. This year alone, another 64,500 home energy upgrades will happen, in addition to 14,300 local authority upgrades. We are progressing significant change in energy consumption within our households, more generally.
The affordability task force has to look at the more fundamental issue of the regulatory framework that governs energy prices in this country. That is a key objective of it, allied with European initiatives that will be required in terms of how energy is priced in the European market.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:28+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-16