Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

The energy crisis is fundamentally a global, external situation in terms of war in the Middle East, particularly the war in Iran and now the situation in Yemen with the Houthis gaining control of key ports and potentially a key waterway. It is compounding what has happened in respect of the Ukraine crisis and the massive increase in inflation and energy prices that arose from that.
In the first instance, the scale of the Government's response has been very significant, at about €1.4 billion to date. No windfall tax will come near that. Let us be very clear and straight about that. I think our last windfall tax, which was introduced during the Ukrainian crisis, might have brought in €200 million or more. I can get the precise figure for Deputy O'Callaghan. That is not without implications across the sector as well. There are a number of factors we have to take on board in respect of that.
The budget and the measures we have taken are and have been targeted in particular at low-income groups. The Parliamentary Budget Office, in its review, will say that even the measures taken in respect of diesel and petrol were proportionally better for lower income groups in our society. Add to that the changes we made to the fuel allowance and the child support payments, which were record increases, in the last budget. Furthermore, there was the expansion of the free fuel allowance in terms of the number of people who benefit from it. We have had energy supports through the Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, which have hit about 640,000 families in terms of getting their prices down long term because of installation of solar or various other retrofitting measures. That has been quite impactful and there will be more on that front.
In the forthcoming budget, the cost of living will be the central focus of the Government, particularly in terms of the income tax system and reducing the tax burden on people, the home heating situation and further supports for energy efficiency measures, retrofitting and so on. We will keep all taxation measures under review.
I accept that in times of crisis the supply chain, be it wholesale or retail, can inflate, or there can be price increases that are more the responsibility of the supply chain than the actual crisis itself.
Some work has been done on that in the UK. Our focus now, coming into the budget, is to have a range of supports to try to protect people. We will also look at childcare and the disability sector in terms of easing the burden. However, I think it has to be targeted and focused on those who are enduring the most of what is undoubtedly a significant hike in energy prices more generally.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16