Energy Prices
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal East

The Taoiseach has not been dismissive in any way, nor has the Government as a whole. Maybe the Deputy could explain why his party was the only one on the Opposition benches to vote against every excise reduction when the first round of packages was introduced, on 25 March? It did that again this week. It voted against the measures introduced by the Government in the Dáil by way of financial resolutions to reduce costs for households and businesses. Sinn Féin was the only Opposition party on 25 March to vote against the initial package, worth €250 million. I do not understand that.
Sinn Féin is for abolishing the carbon tax. The carbon tax retrofits homes and businesses to protect them, reduce their energy use and make them more efficient. It is a good climate measure, but it is also a really good cost-saving measure. Sinn Féin has never explained where it would get the €660 million or so that we are going to invest this year to retrofit 73,000 homes, and also the carbon tax revenue that deals with the agri-climate environment scheme, other such schemes and business support grants. Where is that money coming from? Where would Sinn Féin get the money for a proposed further cut in excise to the tune of about €200 million?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-16