Home Heating Oil (Emergency Mineral Oil Tax Reduction) Bill 2026: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-22
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Pa Daly (SF), Kerry

There is a sense of déjà vu around at the moment. There was some excuse, in March and April of this year, when the Government was off around the world and left nobody in charge and ignored the calls of the people to reduce the cost of home heating oil. Families in every corner of the country have continued to be squeezed since that time while the Government has sat on its hands and done nothing. Our proposal will remove carbon tax from home heating oil and cut the cost of a 1,000-litre fill by €183. It is a simple measure. At a time when oil prices have soared by over €700 and household budgets are under unbearable pressure, that is not only justified, but essential.
We have brought forward, as Deputy Doherty said, this proposal eight times and each of the eight times, it has been rejected and ignored by the Government. The Government keeps repeating ad nauseam it wants to help the people in the here and now, but again, it is sitting on its hands. This is the Government's chance. If the Minister of State has the courage of his convictions and if every TD who supports the Government has the courage of their convictions, they can stand with ordinary workers and families, or is the Government to turn its back on them yet again?
For seven months, this issue has been staring Government in the face. For seven months, workers, families, pensioners and people living in rural Ireland, in particular, have shouldered the burden alone, but for seven months, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the supporting Independent Ministers of State have refused to take meaningful action and reduce the costs. Older people are still worrying about when they can afford to turn on the heating. They are reducing the oil that they are buying, even only filling 5-gallon or 10-gallon drums to keep them going from day to day and from week to week. Families are cutting back on groceries to save for the delivery of oil. People are already struggling with rents, mortgages, childcare and rising energy bills, but look around for help from the Government, which has a record surplus, and there is nothing.
The cost of 1,000 litres of heating oil has risen from approximately €900 to over €1,600 in the space of a year, an increase of almost 75%. People are in crisis. What makes it even more outrageous is that, as the prices rise, the State is taking in record amounts of revenue through taxes such as VAT.
Families are paying more and the Government is collecting more while refusing to provide the relief people desperately need. Is the Government going to act?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-22