Fuel, Energy and Carbon Tax Relief: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Paul Murphy (PBP), Dublin South-West

I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1:
To delete all words from "notes that the Government:" to "will seek to address this as part of Budget 2027" and substitute the following:
"recognises that:
— working people, families, students, households and pensioners are facing renewed and significant increases in the cost of fuel and energy, as well as increases in public transport fares, adding further pressure to an already severe cost-of-living crisis; and
— the Government is directly contributing to this cost-of-living crisis by refusing to introduce price controls on fuel, energy or groceries, abolishing energy credits, enabling data centres to push up energy prices, gutting rent controls, underfunding retrofitting and solar panels for low- and middle-income households and imposing a regressive carbon tax;
calls on the Government to:
— impose strict price controls on fuel, energy and groceries and abolish standing charges for electricity and gas;
— stop the planned increases in public transport fares and introduce free public transport to incentivise public transport use;
— introduce a €500 energy credit in the Budget, to be funded by an energy levy on data centres;
— abolish the carbon tax and replace it with higher taxes on big business and the wealthy, including a new multimillionaire's tax on wealth, that will also fund a massive expansion of retrofitting grants and free, frequent and expanded public transport; and
— freeze and cut rents.".
This morning, I went to a briefing in the audiovisual room by the Irish Lung Fibrosis Association. There, we heard about the financial impact of suffering from lung fibrosis or pulmonary fibrosis. For some people, it is €5,000, which is a third of their State pension. It is no surprise that more than one in two said that as a result of having this disease and the cost of living crisis, there had been a moderate or severe impact on the financial situation of their family. There were also lots of very reasonable demands, which we of course support. To be honest, what struck me was how on earth, in 2026 in one of the richest countries in the world, with a massive budget surplus, we have the spectacle of groups of people who are suffering like that having to come in here to beg for small amounts of money in order to avoid being put in an even worse situation of poverty. That is a result of the political choices this Government has made in respect of particular groups, but also, in general, its choice not to protect people from the cost-of-living crisis.
I welcome some measures proposed in this motion, such as maintaining the excise cuts on petrol and diesel and not further increasing the carbon tax, but the truth is this motion does not go nearly far enough to protect people from this crisis. The crisis is getting worse and all the indications are it is going to continue to worsen. Why? Because of Trump's imperialist war on Iran, which continued with new threats last night. The Deputies in question obviously welcomed Donald Trump to Ireland. It is because of the Government's refusal to tackle the housing crisis or to stop the runaway growth of data centres from driving up energy prices, of which there is more and more evidence every single day. To really protect people, we need price caps not just on petrol and diesel, but also on electricity, gas, groceries and public transport fares. When prices keep rising, excise and VAT reductions are not enough. Even after the reductions, we are already back over €2 per litre of diesel, which is the level that prompted the fuel protests. Yesterday, we heard wholesale electricity prices are up 77%. We need price caps to give people security.
We also need to abolish the carbon tax. The Independent Ireland motion proposes scrapping the extra increases but the continuation of the carbon tax. We need to abolish the carbon tax entirely. People Before Profit has always said it is the big polluters who should pay, not ordinary people. All the evidence shows it is big business and the wealthy who have caused the climate crisis. Some 80% of emissions are coming from just 57 companies. Here in Ireland, it is big agrifood companies and big livestock farmers that are increasingly joined by big tech in terms of their data centres. They are the ones causing and profiting from the climate crisis.
However, we also need to get off our addiction to fossil fuels. We need to get people to switch to cleaner and cheaper renewable energy as quickly as possible and to use public transport or active travel. That cannot happen overnight, which is why we need price caps on fuel and energy. We need to massively increase the grants and pace of retrofitting and public transport roll-out. Every household that needs it should be getting free retrofitting and solar panels provided directly by the State. Instead of public transport fares going up, they should be going down and we should have free, green and frequent public transport.

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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