Leaders’ Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24 ============================================================ Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow First, I join with the Deputy in welcoming residents of the Garvaghy Road to Dáil Éireann today. I am very much aware of the concerns of residents in the area. I am also very much aware of the very painful and traumatic history in relation to that community and what they endured. I want to assure the Deputy that Government officials are monitoring the situation closely. Like him, I am mindful of the role of the Parades Commission. Again I very much welcome the residents to Dáil Éireann today. I am extremely conscious, as is the Government, of the pressure that people are under when it comes to energy costs and energy prices. I want to say to people in this country that help is on the way through the budget in 12 days' time. There are a number of issues that we are actively endeavouring to advance to provide assistance and certainty to people when it comes to energy, while also being honest with people that there is no government in the world that can absorb all of the impact of a global energy shock. There simply is not, and it would be untrue to suggest that there is, but there are things we can do and things we will do. The first is providing certainty in relation to excise for the winter period. I heard Deputy Doherty earlier this morning on a radio programme. Beyond weeks, certainty for the winter period on excise is something that we can and will provide. Second, looking at the issue of carbon taxation in terms of how it applies to certain products, the Deputy will recall that my officials did a piece of work in the summer through the Tax Strategy Group, and they published a paper in July, I think, which looked at the idea of different products and how they could potentially be considered in the context of carbon tax. I am particularly concerned by the home heating situation and the gas situation, which the Deputy referenced. Similarly, we have to be honest with people on this. There is a limitation to how much you can do on that without bringing yourself into a challenge with the European system, and we do not want to tip that balance wrong, but this is certainly something we are going to actively look at. Third, there are decisions we can make in terms of parts of our society and sectors within our economy that are most at risk of fuel poverty or most dependent on fuel. I am thinking of lower income households and those who qualify for the fuel allowance. The fuel allowance season will start on Monday, with more than a quarter of households in the country, 500,000 households, benefiting from that. I am also thinking of our farmers and hauliers, who are particularly dependent on fuel, and our supply chains are dependent on them. Fourth, we need to help households and businesses with the actions that they are already trying to take to reduce their electricity and energy bills. Whether it is through solar panels or retrofitting, we know households and businesses are doing things in the here and now, and we need to make it that bit easier for them to do that. Deputy Doherty will have heard the Minister for energy talk about his plans for a scrappage scheme for boilers, and there has been a significant and widespread welcome for that from experts this morning. In addition to this, the budget will need to be viewed in the round. There are certain measures we can take on the energy side. There will be a temporary package of measures in relation to energy, and the Deputy made some suggestions on that this morning. The composition of that is for the Government to decide in the days ahead. I would also say to people that they will need to look at the budget in the round. Families and businesses do not view things in the kind of Government Department or agency silos that this place sometimes discusses. They view this in terms of what it means for their families. If we can reduce the income tax burden and look at the challenges and costs that families face around childcare and the like, that too can help. In 12 days' time, the budget will be delivered. Energy will be a big part of the Government’s budgetary package but a cost-of-living theme will be weaving through all of the various levers at the disposal of the Government across a range of areas. --- 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/2026-09-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-24