Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-02-10 ============================================================ Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central Ní aontaím leis an Teachta in aon chor. Tá an-chuid déanta ag an Rialtas ó thaobh na gcostas maireachtála de. Bhí an-chuid laistigh den bhuiséad a bhí againn i mí Dheireadh Fómhair, go háirithe dóibh siúd ar ioncam íseal agus an-chuid cabhair tugtha againn tríd leas sóisialach chun daoine a chosaint agus cóir agus tacaíocht a thabhairt do dhaoine. I do not accept the Deputy's overall presentation of the Government's response to what are significant pressures on the people in respect of the cost of living. Of course, that began a number of years ago, particularly coming out of Covid and the war in Ukraine in terms of energy prices. We have now moved from a situation where inflation was 10% to a point where it is significantly below that at 2.6%. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we were looking at 10%. That came down to 5% in 2023, 2.7% in December 2025 and 2.6% in January. That is the overall inflation rate. In terms of energy, I still disagree with the Deputy that we should retain universal energy credits. I find it difficult to comprehend that a party that comes from where it claims it comes from would argue that millionaires and people on very sizeable incomes should get energy credits and particularly when, in terms of the totality of the cost-of-living payments we had been making in the worst of times during and post-Covid and in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Deputy is saying we keep that €2 billion or €3 billion going on top of the expenditure we have already increased by about 8%. If we took the Deputy's budget proposals, they would add 2.5% to the cost of living at a time when she is complaining about the cost of living. She has form on this. Her last episode in terms of energy policy was a Liz Truss moment and I can recall that. Now she is saying we should keep energy credits. Employment is very strong. The best protection people have in terms of meeting inflation and cost-of-living pressures are high-quality and good-quality jobs, and making the fuel allowance available to those on lower incomes or those on the working family payment which is what we did in the budget. We increased social protection payments by about €10 per week and made a very big increase in child support payments. Children aged 12 years and over get an extra €16, bringing it to about €78 per week for families in that situation while those with children aged under 12 get an extra €8, bringing it to €58 per week. These were substantial targeted measures for those on the lowest incomes. I would have thought the Deputy would have favoured that approach yet she wants millionaires and the very well-off to get the benefits from the budget allocation. The fuel allowance now covers 26% of households - up from 23%. This is a targeted and intelligent way of allocating resources to those who need them most. We have extended the reduced 9% VAT rate on gas and electricity until the end of 2030. That is a five-to-six-year measure. Home energy upgrades have been hugely invested in, with approximately €558 million allocated. Microgeneration income tax exemption is well provided for. These are embedded measures which will have a medium to longer term impact. It is better to put money into measures that are there for the long haul, as opposed to the Deputy’s never-ending short-term knee-jerk reactions to every issue that arises. --- 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/2026-02-10/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-10