Financial Resolution No.1: Mineral Oil Tax
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-24
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

-----that does not even come close to what is needed. And worse, the Government is now preparing to increase carbon tax on home heating oil in the space of four weeks while clawing back with one hand what it pretends to give with the other hand. Do not come in here and try to pretend that this is the Government simply helping the people because it is not. It is just going through the motions while more and more people suffer.
Let us be absolutely clear. The Minister can shake his head all he wants. It is not an issue of resources. There is a multi-billion euro budget surplus. The Government is taking in millions of euro as a result of the additional tax revenue from fuel prices that are soaring. The money is there. Do you know what is not there? It is political will from this Government. That is what is missing - to stand up for ordinary workers and families. When it comes to the crunch - and we all know this on this side of the House - Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael always make the same choices. Hoard the surplus, protect the banks and leave ordinary people to fend for themselves.
Tonight, we are putting forward an alternative. We are putting forward a different choice because Sinn Féin actually listens to people. It listens to the concerns that people have been telling us over the past four weeks.

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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