Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16 ============================================================ Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow I join with the Deputy in extending sympathies to the family, friends and community of Moya Brennan. She was a musical icon, a unique voice of extraordinary talent and somebody who played no small part in bringing Irish music to an international audience. May she rest in peace. I thank the Deputy for the question. This has been a very challenging period of time for the people of this country. The pressures that people are feeling are real. We are working constructively to endeavour, as best we can, to assist people at a time of huge global turmoil. There is sometimes an effort to divide society into different groups. Everybody will benefit from the energy package we have put in place. That is because, as the Deputy knows, when you take measures to reduce energy prices, that has a positive effect in moderating the likely increases in the rate of inflation. While there has quite rightly been much discussion on fuel this week, we hope the measures we have been putting in place will have a broader positive impact in suppressing, insofar as possible, what is likely to be a growing rate of inflation. That is passed through directly when it gets to the supermarket floor. That is the first thing I would say. I will get to kerosene in a moment but the second thing I will say is that this is not a small package by any fair or objective measure. I presume the Deputy would acknowledge that. It is a package of a total of €750 million in supports. It is either the largest or one of the largest packages in the European Union. I am holding up a table that proves that. This Government has taken action on behalf of the people of Ireland, introducing one of the very largest packages in the European Union. The details of the package are well known. There are reductions in the excise duty on petrol, diesel and green diesel. There is a package for farmers, farm contractors, agricultural contractors, hauliers, bus contractors, fishers and many important supply sectors of the Irish economy. The Deputy is also right that there is a real issue when it comes to the cost of home heating oil. On that much, we agree. However, we disagree on how to respond. We have taken steps to help people with home heating oil. We took a conscious decision to expand the fuel allowance season. The fuel allowance season was meant to be over by now. It was not meant to be available to people this month. It is worth €152 per household as a result of that extension. That is costing €71 million. The Deputy will know that the households that are most in need from a fuel poverty point of view get that. He will know such households in his own constituency. We all know them. They include many pensioners, carers, people with disabilities and, crucially, many low-income working people who are in receipt of the working family payment. About a quarter of all households in the country now receive that payment. I ask the Deputy to let people know that. This is a targeted measure. I am watching what is likely to happen in Northern Ireland today, which the Deputy's party will know well through its role in the Executive. The measures Sinn Féin is likely to bring in today with respect to home heating oil will also be targeted measures and not universal measures. On the second thing we have done, it is important to listen and we listened when people in this House said that we should suspend the increase in carbon tax on kerosene and green diesel. We support the carbon tax, as do most of the Opposition although Sinn Féin does not, because it plays a very important role in funding the climate transition and in supporting farmers, retrofitting and those in fuel poverty. We introduced that suspension. Sinn Féin's solutions are not as easy as the Deputy suggests. I looked at one of those solutions. We should all look at people's ideas and be willing to engage on them. I had my officials look at Sinn Féin's proposal to return the carbon tax to the 2023 rates and to backdate this reversal to 1 May. I have been told that Revenue does not hold records of any individual end-users. Therefore, any retrospective adjustment is unlikely to be possible and could result in the unjust enrichment of suppliers, substantial administrative burdens and unanticipated costs to the Exchequer. This is not a question of a lack of empathy but one of making sure that the solutions we come up with together are practical and workable. We have a large package of measures in place and we will continue to work our way through this challenging time. --- 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/2026-04-16/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-16