Air Pollution (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-28 ============================================================ Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare I thank the Senator for his considered position and the broad approach he is taking. However, our amending legislation is just addressing air pollution, not climate change. The measures here are not identified as being beneficial to the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. It is about improving the quality of the air that we breathe. It is about taking particulate matter out of circulation while still allowing the use of fossil fuels for heating homes. This is about improving the quality of fuels and reducing the particulate matter in the air that leads to 1,700 deaths. The stand-alone legislation dates back to 1987, and this amendment will remove from its provisions those who have been acting outside of the law. It is to give powers to the local authority to target the producers, the transportation and the sale and supply. That is all it is seeking to do. The Senator has identified other areas that I would share his concerns about, but they will be reflected in other instruments. The Senator and I might disagree about how far the Government has gone in relation to that, but it is an entirely separate matter. It would not have been prudent for us, because it would fall outside the remit of our Department if we started getting into those kinds of financial support. I want to reflect on something that I have heard a little bit here. The notion that rural Ireland is somehow at a massive disadvantage often emerges. There are some great positives to living in rural Ireland. There has been significant investment over recent years. The Senator only has to come and visit. Some people from rural Ireland spend their time beating up on rural Ireland, saying that they have not had support. Phenomenal investment has gone into rural Ireland. One can see it. One can see what is being done in villages and towns. There is still more to be done with infrastructure, and there are lots of potholes and road issues that have to be addressed, but we are getting there. The quality of life in rural Ireland is amazing. I am conscious that lots of people who use solid fuel do not do it from a fuel poverty perspective. They do it because it is a tradition. They do is because solid fuels are available to them. Due to the way their homes are heated and the styles of house they have, it makes sense. Fewer and fewer people are doing that. As new houses are being built and developed, they have different systems. I have never got overly exercised about trying to eliminate it from a climate change perspective. The practices are changing and there will be a lot less impact from the fossil fuels used in the heating of homes in rural Ireland over the next ten, 15, 20 or 30 years. It will be a practice that will not be at the same level and, therefore, will not have the same impact. The transition should be for people to make rather than enforced, which is why I have never believed that you target the household. That is why it is not in this legislation. The Government does not believe it either, nor should it. To give some context, the wider point in relation to the energy affordability piece is not necessarily connected here, but there is no doubt that if you remove a level of competition, prices tend to go only one way. The programme for Government acknowledges the pressure that high energy costs place on households and business and seeks to lower prices while accelerating the pace of the renewable development. The energy issue, including its cost, has an impact on every household, regardless of rural or urban or whether they are using solid fuels. As I said, people do not just use solid fuel because it is cheaper. It is just how they have always done it and it is a traditional thing. Addressing energy affordability is a priority for the Government. That is why we have established the national energy affordability task force. That task force, as the House knows, has already introduced its first report. The Government has implemented a range of measures from the report, including the extension of tax measures and targeted support through the increased rate of payment and expanded eligibility of the fuel allowance payment. In terms of support for vulnerable households, the Department of Social Protection provides direct support towards energy costs to qualifying low-income households through schemes such as the fuel allowance scheme and the household benefit package as well as through the additional needs payment as part of the supplementary welfare allowance, which is a very good scheme. It is aimed at identifying the particular characteristics of households that find themselves going through difficult periods of time. The fuel allowance currently supports about 420,000 households. The benefits package, which is specifically targeted at vulnerable cohorts such as the elderly, also provides much needed assistance to qualifying households with their energy costs. As Senators will know, there are about 551,000 households in receipt of that household benefits package and almost 540,000 in receipt of the electricity and gas element. Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, the Department of Social Protection may make additional needs payments to help to meet expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income, including people who face difficulties in meeting fuel bills. In 2025, there were over 2,300 additional needs payments made towards household bills and heating. Going beyond where the Bill is at to speak to Senator Andrews's wider point, there is already a recognition in the Government that energy affordability and energy poverty is an aspect of economic life for some. It is one that is being addressed and responded to. That is why we have tried to look at moving away from one-off payments and why in this and future budgets we are bringing in more targeted measures rather than the universality of what was done in the immediate aftermath of the energy crisis resulting from Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the impact that had on general supply lines of gas and oil and the way that had such a destabilising impact that pushed energy prices to where the Government had to intervene and react. That has largely stabilised in terms of both oil and gas generally, but they are still at an elevated level by comparison to where they were prior to the invasion. That is why we recognise that as being the new reality of the future. Therefore, the economic response of the State supports have to factor that in for the long term. That is why this year we moved away from the one-off payments. There is also the exceptional needs payment, which is always a backup for people who have issues particular to them. The Department of Social Protection is always mindful of that. I thank Senators for their contributions. I hope the Bill can now pass with their support and that we address this aspect of clean air. --- 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/seanad/2026-01-28/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-28