Fuel, Energy and Carbon Tax Relief: Motion [Private Members] Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23 ============================================================ Christopher O'Sullivan (FF), Cork South-West As the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, said earlier, I reiterate that the Government is moving a countermotion in respect of the Deputies' Private Members' motion. I fully appreciate the Deputies' concerns raised here this morning. As a Government, we do not control the wholesale price of oil but we have acted in a significant way to assist households and businesses with the real impacts of this energy crisis. As I have stated already, the Deputy's Private Members' motion does not fully reflect the considerable supports, which have been implemented by this Government. These are supports have been designed to share the burden of the conflict in the Middle East with households, farmers, agricultural contractors, hauliers, tradespeople and businesses. The motion also fails to take into account obligations set out in EU legislation in relation to fuel taxation, to which the Government must adhere, including Ireland's obligation in respect of the emissions trading system for buildings, road transport and additional sectors. The motion does not reflect that the reality of global commodity markets or recognise that the drivers of energy inflation are global in nature. Consequently, it is not possible for the State to fully absorb all of these costs. Government policy must be considered and measured. To date, this Government has delivered one of the largest support packages in the EU per capita . In doing so, we have deferred the 1 May carbon tax increase on home heating fuels; reduced excise duty on diesel, petrol and green diesel; enhanced the diesel rebate scheme for hauliers and passenger transport operators, mitigating price increases in these sectors and the associated knock-on effects they have on food and passenger transport prices. We have funded payments to road transport operates under the road transport support scheme. We have funded payments to farmers, farm contractors and the fishing sector under the fuel income support scheme. We have reduced the NORA levy. We also extended the winter heating season by four weeks, increasing the total yearly payment to €1,216. The Government recognises the exceptional pressure that rising fuel costs have placed on our farmers and farm contractors, and worked intensively with the representative stakeholder groups, with a view to providing adequate and targeted supports. The Government reduced the tax on MGO by 5.4 cent a litre, and the NORA levy by another 2 cent per litre. On top on that, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine implemented a comprehensive €100 million fuel income support scheme to assist farmers, agricultural contractors and the fishing sector facing unprecedented increases in fuel costs, which gave a support rate equivalent to approximately 20 cent per litre of green diesel. This Government has been doing its best for farmers and the agricultural sector. I have no doubt that it will continue to do so. As regards rural Ireland, I know better than most the impact that the fuel crisis is having on households in my constituency and others. I appreciate that people living in rural Ireland are twice as likely to use home heating oil as their main heating fuel. In fact, according to the latest CSO figures, around 26% of households in Ireland use it as their main heating fuel, which is around 500,000 households. This Government understands that these are disproportionately older, rural, and, in a lot of cases, lower income households. Many of these households would be eligible for the aforementioned fuel allowance. The Government is also very conscious of those who use home heating oil but do not qualify for that payment. That is why the upcoming budget will also deliver for middle-income families. The facts are that this Government has acted time and again to provide for households at risk of fuel poverty, and to ease the burden on all households impacted by the crisis. The upcoming budget will build on the work of budget 2026 to protect households from rising energy costs. Budget 2026 provided an extension until 2030 of the 9% VAT rate currently applied to gas and electricity bills. It provided for enhanced social protection payments, including an increase to the fuel allowance rate. As mentioned, there was an expansion in the fuel allowance eligibility rules, benefiting approximately 50,000 households. It provided the €400 income tax disregard for households involved in microgeneration, which was extended for a further three years to the end of 2028. While no Government can fully shield households from all the impacts of this crisis, this Government has acted to mitigate the impacts of the crisis time and again. We have acted to support households, farmers, agricultural contractors, hauliers, tradespeople and businesses. This Government will continue to take action in budget 2027. For the reasons stated earlier, I reiterate the Government's countermotion. --- 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