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

In terms of the overall energy situation, the Deputy is correct in saying that there is no necessity for home heating oil to increase, given that many people will have had that oil in stock and, indeed, much of that oil comes via Britain and Norway, not from the Middle East. That has been the source for quite a long time.
The Deputy has conflated a lot of issues. General revenue - all revenues, for example from energy or income tax - goes to fund social services in the State. If we were to eliminate all revenue on fuel, we would have a very significant hole in the sustainable budget, which would take services away from education, health and social protection. We are already being criticised for having too narrow a tax base in terms of fiscal sustainability over the next 20 to 30 years. The Deputy wants to narrow that tax base even more.
On the carbon tax, the bottom line is that every cent of that carbon tax is given back to people in terms of the fuel allowance and, in particular, the expansion of the fuel allowance to cover more people, including the working family payment cohort, with 50,000 people on top of all those on social protection.
The Deputy is now saying let us pull the rug from under the fuel poverty initiatives we have created and from under the retrofit industry-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-03/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-03