Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-03-19 ============================================================ Cian O'Callaghan (SD), Dublin Bay North The Government's hands-off approach to the energy crisis is callous and cruel. For weeks now, the Tánaiste has failed to intervene as prices have spiralled. When the Social Democrats asked the Tánaiste to act, he refused. Instead of there being support for people, the Tánaiste has been missing in action. Individuals, families and businesses do not have the luxury of sitting back and monitoring the situation. For them, the impact has been immediate and unavoidable. Petrol and diesel prices are soaring, home-heating oil has shot up by 80% and gas prices are rocketing. These are not abstract fluctuations on international markets. These are astronomical price increases that ordinary people are being forced to pay today and for many, they represent a tipping point. People were already struggling to pay sky-high energy costs before these latest price shocks. In December, nearly 320,000 households were in arrears on their electricity bills. That is hundreds of thousands of people all over the country who are already in crisis, for instance, elderly people sitting at home in freezing cold homes because their pensions simply do not stretch far enough, disabled people who are making choices between eating and heating, and parents of young children going into huge debt just to keep a roof over their heads. That was before Trump and Israel launched their illegal war on Iran causing carnage across the whole region and causing economic chaos across the globe. The Tánaiste has now said the Government is finalising an appropriate intervention to deal with those struggling with the surge in costs but we must wait until the next Cabinet meeting on Tuesday before that is signed off on. There is no clear indication yet of what those measures will be and exactly when they will be implemented. Where is the recognition of the huge pressure people all over the country are facing right now? Where is the urgency? The Tánaiste could act today, if he wanted to. The Tánaiste could clear the Dáil schedule and get this done, as he did when he had to appoint Ministers. The Tánaiste cleared the Dáil schedule to fill up his ranks. Will the Tánaiste not do it today on this? The Government may not have a plan to help people but the Social Democrats do. We need a targeted €400 energy credit, which can immediately be brought in and provided to 800,000 households who are struggling the most, and we need to cut excise duty to reduce prices and ensure the State is not profiting from this crisis. Can the Tánaiste tell people who are watching at home whether he will adopt our proposals and when exactly is he going to take action? --- 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/2026-03-19/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-19