Mineral Oil Tax: Financial Resolution Dail Éireann — 2026-08-28 ============================================================ John Clendennen (FG), Offaly I welcome the decision that is being taken here today. It is very much practical and necessary to bring the Dáil back during the summer recess. The Government had committed to monitoring and reviewing the cost of fuel and it has listened and responded to these ever-changing circumstances. In the past 120 days, we have seen fuel prices gradually fall but also rise sharply because of international volatility. The last thing motorists need is a spike in prices next week. I think €2 per litre is very much that tipping point at the forecourts. The European Commission recognises that Ireland’s rate per litre is below the European average but that is lost in this Chamber, just as the €1 billion of support that has already been received is lost in this Chamber. We need to ensure that constituencies like my constituency of Offaly, where driving a car is not an optional extra but something people rely on, are supported. Despite the good progress that has been made, we have not got to the stage of investing in every high road and by-road with the likes of Local Link. This support is a necessity. It is something we need. I ask the Tánaiste to continue to support it as required while we see such volatility. I would also like him to ensure we talk about more than just fuel over the coming weeks and months. There is a cost-of-living crisis. We need to support families, workers, farmers, businesses and hauliers when it comes to childcare, the back-to-school supports we have already introduced, and targeted energy and fuel bills. This should be done not just by supporting subsidies but also by ensuring we invest in the future through the likes of retrofit schemes, which are considered best in class in the EU. We see almost €1 billion per year of investment by the likes of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, to ensure we are making those investments. I encourage the Tánaiste to look at investing appropriately in onshore and offshore renewable energy to ensure we are building energy independence, we are less reliant on international markets and we are moving towards reducing our need for fossil fuels. I very much welcome this important initiative. We are giving certainty to people over the coming weeks. I ask the Tánaiste to consider some means of dynamic pricing so that rather than having to debate this every couple of months here in the Chamber, when prices rise we see the supports, but when we see them fall those supports are reduced. In the last 90 days, we have seen as much of a reduction as we have seen an increase. --- 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/2026-08-28/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:52+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-08-28