Energy Prices
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-18
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

The old adage of all politics being local is alive and well for the Christmas season in Kerry. The Government understands the importance of a functioning energy market. It is the role of the CRU to manage that. The Minister has sought that piece of work to be done and it will inform any decisions that have to be taken thereafter.
It is easy to say - although I am not accusing Deputy Daly alone of this - that we are heaping on additional charges for no reason. The carbon tax or carbon charge, from the time it was introduced, was a very clear indication by Government of the direction of travel for fossil fuels. It was about encouraging societies to move away the harmful impacts of fossil fuels. It gave certainty to the market place that if energy users continued to use fossil fuels as they were, the charges would increase over time. What I was clear on, from the perspective of the Opposition at the time, was that the Government would put in place a methodology to ensure that the taxes or charges collected would be ringfenced and used for what was referred to as a hypothecation fund. The funds would be used to assist those in greatest need and those who were challenged by the tax.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18