Fuel, Energy and Carbon Tax Relief: Motion [Private Members] Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23 ============================================================ Ken O'Flynn (II), Cork North-Central I thank the Minister of State for his response. I am not sure who wrote it, but it appears to have been a civil servant who does not understand rural Ireland and has not walked in the Minister of State's constituency or in Cork North-Central, which is mine. The Minister of State talked the big talk about energy security, yet this Government and its predecessor, in which he also served, stopped exploration for oil and fossil fuels. He talked about energy security as a benefit for people who were struggling. There are 500,000 households in energy arrears in this State. That does not sound like energy security to me; it sounds like the highest level of debt we have seen in respect of gas and electricity bills. I bring a human story to the Minister of State's attention. I visited a gentleman the other day who was living in a cottage in Rathcooney. He had one bar lit on his fire and was wrapped in blankets. It reminded me of something one might see in a movie from the fifties or sixties. That man was frightened to death to turn on the heating. He has to choose whether to heat his home today or eat tomorrow. That is not an exaggeration on my part. Every TD worth his or her salt is out talking to people locally, listening to people at the till, talking to people struggling at the petrol pump and hearing from taxi drivers about how they might have to take their cars off the road. These are people's lived realities in this State at the moment. I have said it previously in the House and I say it again today that carbon tax punishes the people in this country on the lowest incomes and with the fewest choices. Government members talk about energy renewal and moving to solar, assuring us people will be grand. Where will people find €18,000 or €19,000 to put solar panels on their roof, for which they will get back a grant of €1,800 or so? A person would need a ball of money under the bed to be able to avail of some of these grants. They are quite useless to the people who are most vulnerable when it comes to energy security. As I said, 500,000 households are in arrears. Home heating oil has gone up by 45%. The Minister of State, as defender of the Government, says that this is out of its control, that it is the result of what is happening in the Middle East. Nobody denies what is happening with the conflict in the Middle East. However, if I drove my car onto a forecourt in Malta today, I would pay €1.21 for a litre of diesel. Malta is part of the European Union but it is able to keep its energy costs down. If I drive my car onto a forecourt in Ireland today, I will pay approximately €2.20 for a litre of diesel, which is the price I saw advertised on the Naas Road the other day. That is what we are looking at in this country. How can that price be sustained for the guy living in Youghal who has to drive to Cork city or Ringaskiddy because there is no bus or train service he can use? It is all well and good to say we must look at the models in other European countries and how they are doing so well for commuters and all the rest of it. The services are not there for people in this State. The Minister of State and his Government colleagues need to wake up on this issue. What about the guy in Mallow? There is a train service from Mallow to Cork but where is the orbital bus service in Mallow town to get him to the train? He still has to drive his car to the station. For many people in this country, the car is their only option to get to work. We continuously hear from the Government that it represents the people who get up early in the morning. In fact, it is the people who get up early who are suffering. They are suffering at the pump and the till. The Government is like Nero, fiddling with bits and pieces and giving out a reduction here and a couple of cent there while it watches Rome burn. We are constantly told we live in a wealthy country. The Minister for Finance cannot pass a microphone without telling everyone what a fantastic job he is doing and how people should be saving. There is nothing there to save. People are struggling in this economy and finding it harder than ever before. The State is not doing enough to protect them. We are not doing enough for the small business owner who is paying €5,000 to €8,000 every month in energy costs for refrigeration. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-23/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-23