Home Heating Oil (Emergency Mineral Oil Tax Reduction) Bill 2026: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-22
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Darren O'Rourke (SF), Meath East

We are now many months into this crisis and Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents have still not removed a single cent of excise or carbon tax from home heating oil. That is the reality facing workers, families and pensioners right across this State. The facts speak for themselves. The cost of home heating oil has soared by as much as 75% in the past year. A household ordering a 1,000 litre fill today is paying more than €1,600, compared with around €900 for the same amount a year ago. We are heading into winter and a record number of people cannot pay their energy bills. A total of 320,000 people cannot afford electricity, one in four cannot afford to pay their gas bill and hundreds of thousands more are racing every day just to keep up.
People have to be able to heat their homes and that means cutting prices. The emergency legislation we are debating this evening would remove all excise duty on home heating oil, removing the carbon tax entirely. This is the eighth time Sinn Féin has brought forward proposals to cut the price of home heating oil this year. At every opportunity, the Government has voted against them; six times against these very measures. The Government now indicates it may move on this in the budget. That U-turn is the direct result of sustained political pressure from Sinn Féin and others and growing public anger. However, we know what is likely to follow - there will be more half measures and tinkering around the edges. It is far too late for that. People cannot afford for the Government to wait any longer. Days and hours matter in these instances. The Government needs to put workers and families first and support the Sinn Féin legislation this evening.

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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