Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-25
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

That is the logical conclusion of their position. No attempt this morning is going to change that fact. We put forward measures last evening by resolution to reduce the cost of petrol and diesel, and Sinn Féin opposed it and voted against it. That was the wrong thing to do. It sums up their approach. In Northern Ireland, they cannot make up their minds. Two Sinn Féin Ministers are in charge of this area. There is an absolute absence of any decision-making, an absence of any clarity. They cannot make up their minds on how to allocate the money to help people in Northern Ireland. It is pathetic, absolutely pathetic, and they blame somebody else, of course, which they always do.
The bottom line is that there is a war which is having enormous implications for energy supply. It is well documented. No government in the world can compensate every single person in society as a result of that war. All of the advice is that you target the resources you are allocating to a crisis of this kind, and that they are temporary measures. It is also to keep in mind that things could get worse over the next number of months, and that we need to hold in reserve our resources, both for the budget for next year and for making sure we maintain investment in services like education and health, but that we do our best now to ease the pressure on people. Extending the fuel allowance by four weeks enables us to reduce the pressure on working families, and up to 470,000 families will benefit from that extension over four weeks of the fuel allowance. Most people will also benefit from the reduction in diesel and petrol that Sinn Féin voted against and opposed, and people will benefit from the NORA levy also. In the broader area, of course, in the last budget, we increased way above inflation the social protection measures, pensions and the household benefits package - quite substantially.
Deputy McDonald keeps talking about carbon tax. God knows, over the last number of years, it has been incredibly difficult to find out where Sinn Féin stands on carbon tax. Every year, when we do a budget, Sinn Féin does its alternative budget. What is in its alternative budget? All the revenue from carbon tax. So, when it suits Sinn Féin for performative and demonstrative purposes, such as this crisis, it suddenly wheels out its supposed opposition to the carbon tax. However, when it comes to the budget next October, it will have a budget alternative to ours, and it will include carbon tax revenue. It is so hypocritical about it. That is the damage that it would do. Carbon tax is essential to guarantee ring-fenced funding for the retrofitting of homes, the warmer homes initiative and the retrofitting of local authority housing, all of which will help working people to permanently reduce their bills into the future.
This year alone, €173 million will be allocated out of that fund to farmers on environmental farming schemes under the ACRES programme, which is 60% funded by the Government.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-25