Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

First of all, we will not be introducing a mini-budget. I will say at the outset that we have taken a strategic approach to this. The most fundamental approach we should take is an understanding of the impacts of this - not just the immediate impacts of this, but the medium-term impacts on our overall economic life in terms of the impact on jobs potentially, the impact on prices and so on. We have announced €750 million. There is general relief in terms of the reductions in excise duty on diesel and petrol, which benefits PAYE workers, all other workers and all workers and everybody who uses their car and so forth. There is a targeted approach in terms of families on low incomes and the extension, as we provided, of the fuel allowance, in terms of everything to do with food production, and also in terms of the broader haulage logistics supply industry, which is critical for all of us. That is being strategic. We are a small exporting island. We export 90% of what we produce, so it is essential that logistics regarding the supply chain and haulage are enabled and assisted for it to do its business in terms of the measures we are bringing in and that were approved by Government today but were announced, as the Deputy knows, as part of the €750 million package. They will mean a lot for hauliers. They will mean a lot for people who transport goods and services. It will also mean a lot for fishers, for example, who need support and help, farmers, contractors and the general public through the reduction in excise duties.
The Deputy must realise that, before the war, way back in February, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, announced a significant overhaul of the retrofitting schemes and an expansion of them, increased grants for attic and cavity wall insulation, an additional attic insulation top-up grant for first-time buyers, attic and cavity wall insulation, a second wall measure, a new grant for energy-efficient windows and doors, an expanded heat pump systems grant now totalling €12,500, and so on. The results of all that is that about 29,000 people have applied in the first quarter alone, which is a substantial increase on last year. There is very good feedback from the Minister's strategic approach to energy saving, insulation and so on, which has been quite significant over the last number of years in terms of the impact it has had on thousands of households across the country. I agree with the Deputy that this is one of the more effective ways to cushion people and help them to bear the brunt of what are very serious increases in energy costs arising out of the war and other events.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28