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

I thank Deputy Michael Collins and Independent Ireland for giving us this opportunity to talk about these important issues. The carbon tax has to be got rid of.
Fuel is dear enough. The purpose it was brought in for in the first place does not exist now.
I want to talk about people in Kerry who use heating oil or kerosene. The cost of it has cone up from 90 cent to €1.68 this week. People just cannot afford that. They will only be able to purchase far less than what they need to keep themselves warm for the winter. It is the same with green diesel. Some people were not included in the packages given out in May. The agricultural contractors and farmers were given packages at that time to help them to reduce the cost of the green diesel. Many of them could not draw it down because they had infringements for spreading slurry outside of the time. Maybe some of them were not up to date with Revenue. They were not eligible. That is why the Government has some money left over. I am asking the Minister of State to check with the people who were refused and give it to them forthwith.
Another sector was left out completely. The Taoiseach was sitting where the Minister of State is now and said construction vehicles would be included. He said that sometime around 5 May. That has not happened. The construction sector has not been included at all. I raised with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, last week, and he said that he was beginning to work on it now. I asked who the Minister in charge was. He did not know. He was not the Minister in charge. The Minister, Deputy Heydon, is not the Minister in charge of it. Is any Minister responsible to help the people with construction vehicles, whether it is diggers, rollers, cranes, or teleporters? They are all the different vehicles that use green diesel to keep them rolling in the construction and civil sector. They do maintenance along our roads, repair our water breaks and all those things. Quarries were meant to have been included. Those people did not get a bob. The Tánaiste said that they were going to be covered. He said it to the media around that time. If a person does not have their word, they have nothing at all. The Taoiseach said in this Chamber that construction vehicles would be covered. They are not. It has gone from 90 cent up to €1.68 since. How long will it be before these vehicles grind to a halt? A lot of these contractors have entered into fixed contracts.

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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