Fuel, Energy and Carbon Tax Relief: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Seamus Healy (IND), Tipperary South

Carbon tax is just another unfair tax heaped on families already reeling from a cost-of-living crisis and it must be abolished. It unfairly penalises working people rather than the big corporate polluters and drives families and vulnerable people deeper into fuel and energy poverty. The major polluters must be made to pay, including the big oil companies that are making obscene profits. The eight biggest companies have made $93 billion in profit in just three months.
Of course, most ordinary families will never benefit from the carbon tax. Retrofitting of council houses is almost non-existent. A recent report on local authorities shows that only 2,671 were retrofitted in 2025, 37 more than in 2024. Middle-income families already under huge financial pressure cannot raise the funds to cover the grant shortfall. This is called the green divide. Is it not contradictory that although we have a carbon tax, we continue to increase the cost of public transport, thereby forcing people back into their cars? A 15% increase was announced recently and there is more to come, as we were told at a recent Oireachtas meeting by the deputy chief executive of the National Transport Authority.
Petrol and diesel are essential rather than discretionary for hundreds of thousands of people, especially in rural Ireland where access to public transport is either very limited or non-existent. People in my constituency in south Tipperary have very limited public transport and therefore have no practical alternative to using a car. If you live in south Tipperary and work in Clonmel - in Abbott Vascular, Boston Scientific, Tipperary University Hospital, MSD, Medite, Tipperary County Council or any of the other businesses in the town - you must use a car. If you attend university in Clonmel, you must use a car. If you shop in Clonmel, you must use a car. If you attend college out of the county, in Waterford or Limerick, for example, you must use a car. Of course, farmers, agricultural contractors, haulage companies, small businesses and the self-employed have no alternative but to use petrol or diesel. The supports that are already in place must be retained and increased.

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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