Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-03-05 ============================================================ Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow I thank the Deputy. The Government has been working round the clock on the very serious situation in the Gulf and the Middle East. We have been working on it from a whole range of aspects, including the economic aspect, which I will get to now in relation to the question. The first and most important thing we have been doing in the here and now is working to protect Irish citizens abroad and to get them home. I welcome the fact, as we meet today, that we are now seeing hundreds of Irish citizens arrive safely back in Dublin. We have seen some commercial flights resume activity. We have plans in relation to chartered flights. Across the House, I know everybody welcomes that work. I thank the Minister, Deputy McEntee, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and officials on the ground who have been working really hard in what has been a very stressful and anxious time. There is absolutely no doubt that the conflict in the Middle East and the Gulf is going to have an economic impact. It is going to have a potential inflationary impact. It is going to have an impact in on commodity prices, including oil and gas. It is also important to say that the scale of that impact will depend on the length and the depth of the conflict that is under way. My Department, at my request, is currently carrying out a macroeconomic analysis in terms of what we believe the impact to be on a whole variety of indicators. We will publish that in our spring forecast at the end of this month. The Minister, Deputy Burke, has been extraordinarily proactive this week. He has done exactly what a responsible Minister would do in formally communicating with the body that has responsibility for consumer protection and competition. The Government's view that we have been receiving, as it sounds like the Deputy has as well, many reports across the country as what many people are referring to as price-gouging. People are putting up the price and causing panic and fear for people, quite frankly. I have seen the text messages telling someone to get the fill of oil now or it is going to go up. That sort of behaviour is causing real concern as well. The Minister has worked with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, which has said it will open an urgent investigation into the concerns. I note the Deputy has been asking people to contact him with any concerns that they have. I encourage him and every other Deputy to please pass on all of that information to the CCPC. I also encourage all our citizens to use the helpline to pass on any information as well. There are laws in this country, which must be upheld. The CCPC has a range of powers to investigate and prosecute where there are breaches of law. It can impose fines of up to €10 million in certain circumstances, or 10% of a company's turnover. There is a confidential whistleblowing service as well in relation to any suspected cartel behaviour too. The Minister is meeting the industry representatives tomorrow, which I had presumed the Deputy will welcome. Meeting the industry representatives and suppliers is an important thing to do. The Minister will discuss with them the sharp increases that we have seen in recent days. They will be asked to explain how their pricing structure has changed so drastically so quickly. That is an important thing to do. We keep everything under review in terms of assisting. As the Taoiseach and I have both consistently said, we are monitoring this situation extremely closely. On Monday, I will meet with European counterparts at the Eurogroup. The issue of energy affordability is specifically on the agenda. It is important that we continue to monitor everything and keep everything under review. It is also important to say that real action is being taken in the here and now to help people with energy costs. Next week, 50,000 more households will qualify for the fuel allowance. That will be backdated to 1 January. That means up to 50,000 households will receive the fuel allowance for the first time. They will receive up to €380 in a lump sum payment, as well as them being entitled to it going forward. That is progress and real action. We continue to monitor the situation to keep everything actively under review. I have to be honest too. I do not doubt the Deputy's bona fides or anyone's bona fides on this. We are a couple of days into a conflict here. We cannot do anything that is knee-jerk. Something that might seem like the right idea today could indeed be the wrong recipe next week or the week after. We are monitoring this, we are working on this and we will act where required. --- 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/2026-03-05/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:44+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-05