Departmental Reports Dail Éireann — 2026-03-24 ============================================================ Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth A constituent sent me a letter. It states: I am writing to you to highlight the serious and immediate impact that rising fuel prices are having on community nurses and their ability to provide essential healthcare services. Community nurses depend heavily on travel to reach patients in their homes, often covering large rural areas every day. Unfortunately, the current travel and mileage allowances no longer reflect the true cost of fuel. As prices continue to increase, the reimbursement provided does not cover the actual expenses incurred while carrying out our duties ... Ultimately, it may also affect the continuity and quality of care that patients receive in their own homes. I urge you to raise this issue with the Minister for Health and the Government and to support an urgent review of mileage and travel allowances for community healthcare staff so that they accurately reflect the real cost of fuel and travel. Community nurses play a critical role in keeping people out of hospital and supporting patients in their homes. It is essential that they are not financially penalised for carrying out this vital work. I restate what was said earlier, which was that an insufficient offering is on the table in relation to the reduction in the cost of fuel. This needs to be addressed. I get that the Government cannot do everything, but I am saying that there needs to be further action in relation to the cost of home heating oil because people are under severe pressure. That is before we talk about the cost-of-disability issues and the wider cost-of-living crisis. --- 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/2026-03-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:03+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-24