Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-14
============================================================

Peadar Tóibín (AON), Meath West

First of all, real income fell in 2021, 2022 and 2023. We are talking about a marginal recovery on those particular years. The Taoiseach talks about fuel allowances. The Government is giving money with one hand but picking the pockets of people with the other. The Government is taking more in fuel taxes than it is giving back in allowances. What we are talking about here is the working poor.
In the budget for this year, the Government increased income taxes on the squeezed middle. Property taxes will increase for homeowners this year. An Post, for example, is increasing the cost if its stamps. Rents and house prices are increasing significantly, not just because the Government will not deliver supply into the market, but also because its own rent cap policies have increased rents in recent times to over €2,000 a month on average. That is really important.
Look at the My Future Fund auto-enrolment scheme. It will start to bite this month for people who cannot afford their present situation. In terms of rip-off Ireland, will the Government reduce taxes on fuel and the cost of tolls?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-14