Home Heating Oil (Emergency Mineral Oil Tax Reduction) Bill 2026: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-22
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Paul Nicholas Gogarty (IND), Dublin Mid-West

The Home Heating Oil (Emergency Mineral Oil Tax Reduction) Bill 2026 targets the specific burden of the carbon tax on kerosene. Others have provided figures. I looked at a 500 litre fill, which is about 80.41 cent in carbon tax alone. When you add VAT of nearly 23%, you can see that the entire bill is made up of Government-mandated levies. In principle, I support the Bill in terms of the attempt to try to give hard-pressed people who have no other option a dig out. Whether it is a temporary reduction in carbon tax or a retention of the tax and some form of rebate, I do not think it necessarily matters once the money ends up helping people.
Carbon tax is an easy target for some sectors. It is the devil incarnate for some political groupings. Carbon tax, if done properly, represents an attempt to encourage those who can afford to do so to spend their money on cleaner, greener ways of living, thereby reducing the country's carbon emissions, which would have a knock-on effect for everyone. A just transition means that when you bring in money from carbon tax, you help the poorest in society. That has not always happened. For example, there are people in local authority houses who are waiting for them to be insulated. The roll-out of insulation works for such housing is absolutely abysmal. Some people are benefiting more from the way the carbon tax has been rolled out.
We have to have measures in terms of our EU and global climate obligations and in the context of they way climate change is manifesting, but we also have to look at the wars in Ukraine and Iran. Both have a lot to do with Trump, whether it is directly in terms of putting pressure on the Russians or specifically in relation to assisting Israel in targeting Iran but not getting anything out of it. I have said before that I have no grá for the regime in Iran, but Trump’s policies have caused mayhem everywhere and are hitting Irish people left, right and centre.
It is very hard for people to get by. That is why, one way or another, I hope the Minister of State will take on the spirit of the Bill and look at people, particularly those in rural areas. I live in an urban constituency, but I know that rural areas have a higher level of oil usage. People in such areas do not have access to natural gas and it is harder for them to get a one-stop shop in a semi-detached kind of setting. As a result, their bills tend to be higher and they do not necessarily get supports. It can cost €15,000 to €18,000 for a very basic retrofit, up to €80,000 if you are doing it properly and more if you are getting the whole house refurbished. It is not something you can just do and say, “My bills have gone up by an extra €2,000 that I do not have this year, so therefore I am going to get the house wrapped or put in solar”. It does not work that way. There is a middle ground in terms of rolling out loans that pay back. In other words, your energy bill stays the same and whereby, over ten to 15 years, you start to make a saving. We need more of that type of model as well as direct interventions in respect of local authority housing. Given the way Trump is going on and in view of the uncertainty globally, over the next six months we have to help people who are suffering. Reducing their cost of home heating oil is one way of doing so. That is why I support the thrust of this Bill.

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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