Fuel, Energy and Carbon Tax Relief: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Martin Kenny (SF), Sligo-Leitrim

I thank Independent Ireland for bringing forward this motion. I am disappointed the Government is once again negating its impact. We are seven months into this crisis and the situation is only getting worse, with diesel prices hitting more than €2.20 per litre at the forecourts. Home heating oil costs €1,600 for 1,000 litres and green diesel is almost €1.70 per litre for farmers. As workers and families suffer, the prices continue to rise at the pump and the Government is the only one winning, with record revenues coming from VAT.
Workers, families and farmers across rural Ireland are facing the brunt of this crisis. They need their cars to get to work, go to the shop or bring their children to school. Farmers need their tractors to spread slurry, move silage, feed livestock and much more. The majority of family homes in rural Ireland depend on home heating oil to heat their homes. The Government delays in addressing the cost-of-living crisis are adding to the pain and hardship families are going through. Thousands of families are in arrears on electricity bills and barely making ends meet.
Last night, Sinn Féin introduced legislation to remove carbon tax entirely from home heating oil, taking €183 off the cost of 1,000 litres. It was the eighth time Sinn Féin had brought forward legislation to cut the price of home heating oil and I call on all sides of the House, including the Government, to support it and give people a break.
The Minister for agriculture introduced a fuel support scheme for farmers, fishers and farm contractors with a budget of €100 million. He promised the budget would go to fuel support for farmers, farm contractors and fishers. In a reply to a recent parliamentary question, the Minister told me that more than €60 million allocated to that fuel support scheme had not been spent. This money should not be redirected to other areas. It should be allocated to, and spent on, fuel support.
The fuel support scheme was flawed. It was only a sticking plaster on a major crisis. The Minister should have reduced the price of green diesel at the pump and that is what should be done now. I call on the Government to use the €60 million to reduce the price of green diesel at the pump, which is what should have been done last April.
The cost of fertiliser has skyrocketed since the start of this crisis, which was brought on by the war in Iran. In the budget, the Government needs to provide €30 million to co-finance the EU fertiliser support scheme of €15 million. We should not take money from the fuel support scheme to co-finance fertiliser support. They are two separate issues affecting agriculture and the Minister should not use one pot of money to solve both problems. The Government needs to start putting workers and families first. It is time that half measures were over. We need to see real solutions to help farmers and workers to get through this crisis.
The reality is that much of this has been caused by the conflicts across Ukraine, Iran and Gaza and all these things. It is quite ironic that the EU puts rules in place for governments about what they can and cannot do on VAT and so on. It makes it difficult for governments to act appropriately in many of these situations, and the EU does not act appropriately in many of these situations. We need the Government to recognise that we will have huge problems if it does not act forcefully to ensure we help people out by bringing down prices for everyone across the board.

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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