Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-24
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I acknowledge that people are under a lot of pressure in terms of the impact of this crisis and the cost of energy as a result of this war. There is no question about that. The Government is limited in how comprehensively it can respond. Governments cannot compensate every single person in society. I am sure the Deputy would acknowledge that. We need a realistic assessment of this and a realistic discussion about it. However, we can try to protect those on the lowest incomes and to protect people in general by providing some supports to reduce the impact of this crisis. The reduction in excise duty does that. It does not address the issue totally, but at least it helps and takes a bit of pressure off people. We fully acknowledge that it does not deal with the scale of the increases in the cost of home heating oil or petrol. The focus on the fuel allowance does help with home heating oil, as does the reduction in the NORA levy. It should be remembered that there is a substantial household benefits package of €420 a year for electricity and gas. The supplementary welfare allowance is available for people in real need. The Minister for Social Protection has spoken to community welfare officers and to his Department to make sure they are responsive to anybody in need. We are looking towards the autumn budget and the development of mechanisms to connect what we do on fuel poverty allowances with arrears. We have to focus and work on developing a direct connection so that we can get those arrears down for people.
In terms of the renewable story, Ireland has been very fast in recent years. We are probably the fastest growing in terms of renewable energy. Spain and Portugal have a higher level of renewables. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they managed to get a separate agreement from the EU in respect of the structures governing energy prices on the Iberian Peninsula. There was a lot of discussion about that at the EU Council meeting last week. The Commission's assessment is that gas's connection to the defining of pricing levels is not easily broken. That is a challenge for Europe more generally because it is a key determinant of the overall price of energy.
The Deputy will know the four component parts. We have acted on one of those four component parts, namely, taxes and levies. The ECB spoke to the EU Council meeting, as did the chair of the Euro Summit, and they recommended, as per IMF advice, targeted, temporary and affordable measures. They warned that we do not know what is around the corner and therefore have to keep something in reserve in case things deteriorate even further over the next couple of months.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:03+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-24