Tax Code
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

This is the problem. The Minister does not understand the scale of the crisis or the lived experience of many people across the State. Before we had a fuel crisis, 320,000 families could not pay their electricity bills. Families were pushed to the pin of the collar because of increases in grocery prices, rents and insurance and childcare costs that were like a second mortgage. A generation felt home ownership was outside of the reach because of Government policies. The fuel crisis, brought on by external factors, has tipped people over the edge. People expect the Government to respond.
I spoke to the Minister about an old woman to wear an extra jacket because she has no heating in her home. This is not an isolated incident. A young woman wrote to me to tell me she had no home heating oil for two weeks because she could not afford it on top of medical and childcare expenses. She wrote to me on the day the Government announced its latest package of half measures. She said for the first time in a long time she felt a sense of hope, like maybe the pressure might ease even slightly, but by the time she finished work and saw the news, that small glimmer of light was gone again. She said it is hard to describe how it feels. The Minister sits there and pats himself on the back. He said our budget surpluses have doubled. We have €4 billion extra that we never thought we would have, but an elderly woman has to put on a jacket because our house is cold and a woman who is married to a fella who works every hour that God sends cannot afford heat in her home. There is something seriously wrong in this republic when people are left like that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21