Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-29
============================================================

Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

-----and we need a political response that understands the seismic potential damage of this crisis. The Deputy is ignoring it and that is irresponsible and negligent. Anybody I meet, at European level or anywhere, is very concerned about not only the short-term impact but the medium- and long-term impacts to the world of this energy shock crisis. That is not overstating it - that is what people are saying.
We have allocated around €750 million on top of a budget last year that was substantial in terms of public expenditure, and I will deal with that in a second. We just announced one of the highest packages, so we are not ignoring anybody and we are not holding back. We have allocated one of the largest packages across the European Union to alleviate pressures that undoubtedly are on families. We decided strategically to look at the food production sector, so we can continue food production at some affordable prices and the haulage industry in terms of our export economy and also getting goods on shelves in an affordable way. Those packages are substantial by any yardstick.
Then the general reduction in excise duty of 32 cent on diesel and 27 cent on petrol is helping to alleviate pressures. However, the pressures are undoubtedly there, of that there is no doubt. What the Deputy wants to do is spend about €3 billion to €4 billion now.

---

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/2026-04-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-29