Home Heating Oil (Emergency Mineral Oil Tax Reduction) Bill 2026: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-22
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Thomas Gould (SF), Cork North-Central

I was speaking to a taxi driver today in Cork. He said that it recently cost him €74 to fill his taxi. This morning, it cost him €110. He asked me how they can survive. They cannot keep putting up the prices of taxis because it will price them out of the market but what will they do if they do not get help from this Government? Our Bill is here. We are trying to be constructive and help ordinary, hard-working people and families. I was down in Little Island recently and I met a man who was so angry. He has a couple of vans on the road and a couple of fellas working for him, making deliveries. He said he is working seven days a week. Do you know what he told me? He said he has four children between the ages of 11 and 23 and he has told them that the minute they are finished college or their apprenticeship they should get out of this country because there is no future here. That is not what I am saying; it is what people are saying on the streets. The Minister of State is shaking his head. I am telling him what these parents are telling me because they do not see a future here in this country with the cost of living, petrol, diesel, home heating oil, the highest electricity costs in Europe and the cost of gas and food. Everything has gone up. We are trying to provide solutions. We are trying to provide help. The Government comes in and blocks us every time.

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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