The Tánaiste cannot seriously make up his own facts. He has twice said that it is a fact that the majority of tenancies are effectively subject to a no-fault eviction ban. That is not true and I think the Tánaiste knows that. This provision only applies to new tenancies and not existing tenancies. It also only applies to tenancies with large landlords. Please stop making stuff up. I know it is very difficult to defend the situation the Tánaiste finds himself in but a bit of truth and honesty would be welcome. The c…

I have seen what they said.

It is here in black and white.

So, it is not the fact.

The television licence is in big trouble, and it has had its day. Sales, as the Tánaiste knows, have collapsed. New figures show that fewer than 300,000 licences have been sold so far this year. When we consider that nearly 1 million licences were sold in 2022, we can see the scale of the problem. One-in-three households liable to pay has simply stopped paying the television licence. It is a staggering drop in the past four years, and the public are sick to their teeth of the raft of financial scandals at RTÉ, the …

What is the Tánaiste going to do about it? Will he answer the question?

Section 1 deals with the diesel rebate scheme. As I have said to the Minister of State and the Tánaiste, there are many issues with this scheme. One of the particular issues is cash flow. I have outlined previously to the House that the best way to support hauliers and transport operators was to provide the rebate at the pump. There would be no delay and operators would not have to wait for three months, meaning there would be no issue with cash flow. In addition, given the way the energy directive is formed, that …

I move amendment No. 1: In page 6, to delete lines 1 to 22 and substitute the following: " ". These amendments go to the core of the legislation. This legislation is flawed because it has left people under severe financial pressure in the middle of a really hard time for so many families across the State. Amendment No. 1 probably sums that up best. It would remove excise completely from home heating oil. It is folly but we hear from Government all the time that there is no excise tax on home heating oil despite num…

The Minister of State obviously came down here with his mind made up as well. That is fair enough, but maybe he would help me along the way. Will he convince me of why I should vote to increase the pressure on a neighbour of mine who heats their home with home-heating oil, who does not get fuel allowance, and whose incomes, because they have two incomes coming in, mean they cannot avail of the free retrofit? Why should I stand here and vote to make their life harder every year for the next four years when I know th…

I challenged the Minister of State to convince me as to why I should make my constituents' lives harder by agreeing to an increase in the price of petrol, diesel, gas and home heating oil every year for the next four years. He did not even try to convince me. These measures are based on a Government ideology or policy. It is the wrong one and, for that reason, I will be pressing amendment No. 1.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 6, to delete lines 56 to 67, and in page 7, to delete lines 1 to 5.

I move amendment No. 3: In page 7, to delete lines 20 to 24.

I move amendment No. 4: In page 8, to delete lines 1 to 6.

I welcome this amendment. I assume it refers to disposable income with regard to households. I believe €70,000 is a low figure, given the scale of the energy crisis and , in particular, how far it has reached with nearly 320,000 households unable to pay their electricity bills and one in four unable to pay their gas bills. Two earners on quite low wages of €35,000 each would not be eligible for that support. I know plenty of people on what would be a low income of €35,000 each and who would really struggle, so that…

The Minister of State does not sit at the Cabinet table but the 15 Ministers who sat around the Cabinet table last October and made a decision to withdraw energy credits made a decision to leave people with disabilities €1,400 worse off. At a time when they knew that prices were going to continue to go up, and at a time when they knew that so many families were under pressure, what did they think was going to happen? What was going to happen is what we have seen materialise in front of our eyes, which is that more …

I need to put a few home truths on the record here because the Minister of State cannot get away with that. He cannot continue to come in here and say that carbon tax revenue is all going to fund X, Y and Z. Does he seriously think the Comptroller and Auditor General is lying, or does he just want to ignore what the Comptroller and Auditor General has said in his reports? Let us have an honest conversation about this topic. The Comptroller and Auditor General has said very clearly that hundreds of millions of euro …

The Minister of State started talking about a couple of million here and a couple of million there. I have called him out in relation to what he is saying over and over again about the revenue being reinvested. I am asking him, and challenging him here in the Dáil, either to stand over what he is saying or call out the Comptroller and Auditor General. You cannot have it both ways. Who is telling the fibs here? The Minister of State is saying that carbon tax is completely reinvested and the Comptroller and Auditor G…

I am finished. I appreciate that.

Léiríonn na figiúirí is déanaí ón CRU pictiúr thar a bheith gruama den bhrú atá ar theaghlaigh ar fud an Stáit. Don chéad uair riamh anois, tá níos mó ná 500,000 cuntas fuinnimh teaghlaigh i riaráistí. Níl na teaghlaigh a dhéanann iad féin a dhícheangal mar nach bhfuil siad ábalta íoc as méadar íoc-mar-a-úsáidtear san áireamh sna figiúirí sin. I gcás go leor seandaoine, iad siúd atá ina gcónaí leo féin agus teaghlaigh le páistí óga, bíonn iarmhairtí tubaisteacha acu maidir le sláinte, ar fholláine agus ar chaighdeá…

The Minister and his Government withdrew energy credits in last year's budget. That is why we are seeing what is happening now. We have record numbers of families across this State who cannot pay their electricity or gas bills. That is on the Government. We are paying the highest electricity costs in Europe and the electricity companies have just told us they are going to jack up prices again. In less than three weeks 1.2 million families across the State are going to face near double-digit increases in electricity…