Home Heating Oil (Emergency Mineral Oil Tax Reduction) Bill 2026: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-22
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Carol Nolan (IND), Offaly

Tá áthas orm deis a fháil labhairt ar an mBille seo anocht. Tosóidh mé ar na rudaí atá sa Bhille. Before addressing the substance of the Bill, I want to make a simple point to the Government. If Ministers are unwilling to support this Bill because of the potential cost to the Exchequer, why are they equally unwilling to embrace measures which would cost the State absolutely nothing?
Why, for example, does the Government continue to maintain the ban on the commercial sale of turf? There would be no significant Exchequer cost involved in reversing that policy. In my county people were criminalised for cutting turf, as they were in surrounding counties, like Galway and Tipperary. It is simply wrong. Those of us who are practical suggested at the time - it was common sense - allowing people to continue to cut turf because many homes still depend on fossil fuels. That is fact and that is reality. This needs to be lifted and that policy needs to be reversed. It is disappointing to see that, despite continued and repeated concerns from rural communities, older people and those who still rely on traditional fuel sources such as turf, the Government has remained determined to restrict another means by which people heat their homes. This needs to be looked at and common sense needs to prevail here.
That speaks to a deeper issue as well. For many years now, successive Governments have pursued policies that have consistently made household energy more expensive, more regulated and more difficult to access. Whether it is carbon tax increases, restrictions on traditional fuels, rising energy levies, increasing network charges or new obligations that ultimately feed through into consumer bills, the direction of travel has always been the same. Ordinary households are expected to carry the burden at all times, which is simply wrong, as are working people, who are being taxed out of existence. Whether it be, as I said, the carbon tax increases or rising energy levies, it is unfair. It is tax after tax. It is difficult, therefore, to avoid the conclusion that this is not simply about revenue; it is about a long-running policy approach that regards higher energy costs as a legitimate tool for influencing household behaviour, regardless of the hardship that approach creates.
That is why today's debate really matters. At its core, this legislation recognises a reality that every Deputy here understands: hundreds of thousands of households continue to depend on home heating oil, particularly in rural Ireland. As I said, for those families home heating oil is not a luxury; it is a necessity. Then we have the reliance on fossil fuels, which is also a necessity. Many of these households have no realistic alternative available to them and they simply cannot replace an existing heating system overnight. They cannot undertake costly retrofit works at the drop of a hat and they cannot continue absorbing endless increases in energy costs without consequences for their household finances.
I am particularly concerned about the waiting lists for the warmer homes scheme, which is run by SEAI. Most elderly people are waiting two years. Something needs to be done about that to speed up that waiting list for anyone who is waiting to have their home insulated or wrapped.
The objective of reducing the tax burden on home heating oil deserves serious consideration here tonight. I have consistently argued that the Government must use every available lever to reduce energy costs. Following recent international instability and the impact on fuel markets, I called on the Government to implement mineral oil tax reductions similar to those introduced during the 2022 energy crisis. There exists a precedent here. I recently remarked that if Ministers were to fight energy suppliers with the same determination and vigour they display when confronting social media companies, families would be considerably better off. Unfortunately, many consumers feel they have been left largely at the mercy of rising energy costs while the Government continues to take a soft-touch approach.
I also have concerns about the proposed renewable heat obligation scheme. If compliance costs associated with that scheme ultimately end up on household bills, consumers will once again pay more without any certainty that meaningful additional benefits are being delivered.

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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