2026-04-14

We now move to financial resolutions from the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance. Before I call on the Tánaiste to open the debate, I wish to remind members that there are three separate motions being debated in this slot, namely those relating to Financial Resolutions Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive. The motions will be moved separately, debated together and decided by separate questions. I call on the Tánaiste to move the first motion and open the debate. The opening speaking slot is for ten minutes.

I move: (1) THAT for the purposes of the tax charged by virtue of section 95 of the Finance Act 1999 (No. 2 of 1999), that Act be amended, with effect as on and from 15 April 2026— (a) by the substitution of the following for Schedule 2 to that Act: "SCHEDULE 2 RATES OF MINERAL OIL TAX ", and (b) by the substitution of the following for Schedule 2A to that Act (as amended by section 27(2)(d) of the Finance Act 2020 (No. 26 of 2020)): "SCHEDULE 2A Carbon Charge ". (2) IT is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1927 (No. 7 of 1927). In accordance with what the Ceann Comhairle said, I will later move the other two financial resolutions. I will begin by outlining the detail of the most recent actions which have been taken by the Government to endeavour to support people through what is an extraordinarily challenging time and an extraordinary energy shock. These decisions that we are putting before the Dáil this evening will reduce the cost burden at the petrol pump, support those most at risk of energy poverty and assist key sectors that are critical to keeping our economy moving. Financial Resolution No. 1 provides for the extension of the excise rate reductions which were introduced in March and which are due to run until 31 July. It also introduces a further reduction in excise rates, bringing the overall level of excise reduction to 30 cent per litre for auto diesel, 25 cent per litre for petrol and 5.4 cent per litre for marked gas oil, MGO, in addition to the specific agricultural package that the Minister, Deputy Heydon, has brought in. All of these are on a VAT inclusive basis with the reduction in the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy pending further relief. Financial Resolution No. 1 defers the 1 May carbon tax increase on MGO, kerosene, heating oil and other relevant fuels until 14 October next. Financial Resolution No. 2 provides for the deferral for the planned 1 May increase on natural gas carbon tax, also until 14 October. Financial Resolution No. 3 provides for the delay of a planned 1 May increase on solid fuel carbon tax, also until 14 October. As we stated at the outset of our response to this fuel crisis, our initial package of measures in March was temporary and targeted. At the time, we also stated that it was a first step and that the Government would continue to monitor and review this situation on an ongoing basis and would respond further as required. There has been much engagement between then and now, and then and the Easter period with representative groups, including a lengthy meeting with the Minister for agriculture and I had with both the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, and Farm Contractors Ireland, and the significant engagement the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney and others had with the haulage sector. Sunday's announcement builds on the March measures to provide a comprehensive and far reaching package of support. It is objectively a comprehensive and significant package of support well in excess of what many other European countries have done per head of population. In March, as colleagues know, we legislated for excise rate reductions of 15 cent per litre for petrol, 20 cent per litre for auto diesel, and 3 cent per litre for MGO. In addition, the NORA levy was reduced by 2 cent per litre for liquid fuels such as auto diesel, petrol, MGO and kerosene. Further to this diesel rebate scheme, the maximum repayment for road haulage and bus passenger operators was also increased to a maximum of 12 cent per litre. Today's financial resolutions provide for a second layer of intervention that I will now outline. We will reduce excise on auto diesel by a further 10 cent, VAT inclusive. Taking the 2 cent NORA levy reduction into account, this brings the total reduction on diesel to 32 cent per litre, VAT inclusive. We are also reducing the excise on petrol by a further 10 cent. Inclusive of the 2 cent NORA levy reduction, this brings the total reduction on petrol to 27 cent per litre, VAT inclusive. We will also reduce the excise on MGO, or green diesel, by a further 2.4 cent, VAT inclusive. Talking the 2 cent NORA levy reduction into account this brings the total reduction on MGO, or green diesel, to 7.4 cent per litre. As I said, this needs to be read alongside the specific sectoral package of supports brought in for those who use and are dependent on green diesel. All of these reductions will run until 31 July. The estimated cost of these further excise reductions and the extension of the initial reductions until 31 July 2026 is of the order of €260 million. In addition, the Government has decided to defer the planned increase in carbon tax scheduled for 1 May until 14 October. This will provide further support to consumers of green diesel, kerosene, natural gas, solid fuels and other relevant non-propellant fuels. It has always been our policy to delay carbon tax increases on home heating fuels until 1 May each year. This allows for the passage of the winter heating season with the vast majority of fuel purchased between October and April, but in light of the extraordinary energy situation we feel it is now prudent to defer that planned May increase until later in the year. The estimated cost of this deferral is in the region of €22 million. In terms of the overall carbon tax revenue allocated for expenditure in budget 2026, which was over €1.1 billion, this represents approximately 2% of the allocation. Because I genuinely believe in the carbon tax and the benefits it provides in terms of retrofitting and the move away from fossil fuels, and I note support from genuinely significant numbers of Members of the Opposition for the benefit of that as a policy, we intend the spend the same amount this year on these measures as was profiled and we will do that by running a smaller surplus. This is the first time the Government has postponed any carbon tax increase since the introduction of the carbon tax trajectory in 2020. It is genuinely not something we do lightly. As we have consistently stated, the carbon tax is an important part of our county's climate action strategy. The decision on this temporary postponement is not taken lightly, and the carbon tax trajectory does provide incentives to industry to decarbonise. It also assists in addressing energy poverty. It supports our farmers. That is a point which is often lost in the debate. A significant amount of carbon tax goes into supporting our farmers, as the Minister, Deputy Heydon, knows, and also helps with retrofitting our homes. Deferring the increase on a temporary basis does recognise a significant turbulence we see in energy markets which has led to extreme price increases in fuels, such as kerosene and MGO, and therefore it seems to be a prudent thing to do. It is not possible to offset all of the recent increases, which are driven by market factors, using the tax system, and we have got to be honest about that as well. That is why we also have to look at what supports we can provide outside of the taxation system. It is why we took the decision, for example, to expand the fuel allowance scheme, which provides assistance to not far off 500,000 households, in recognition that not everything can be done through taxation. If you believe in the importance of funding the retrofitting, farming and fuel poverty schemes, you will see that carbon tax does play an important role and that, therefore, we have looked at other ways of supporting people with home heating costs by means, for example, of the extension of the fuel allowance. In addition to the tax measures being discussed, the Government has also announced a comprehensive €100 million fuel subsidy support scheme to assist farmers, agricultural contractors and fishers facing unprecedented increases in fuel costs. Farmers and agricultural contractors will benefit from a support rate equivalent to approximately 20 cent per litre on MGO use on the basis of verified fuel consumption in 2025. This is in addition to the excise changes I have already announced. The funding will be distributed proportionately, a point that was strongly emphasised in our ongoing engagement with the representative groups of farmers and farm contractors. This targeted and practical support package does ensure those most exposed to these increases will receive meaningful assistance at the most critical time of the year. I appreciate the welcome that the IFA, the Irish national representative organisation for farmers, has given to this package. I thank it and the many other farming organisations for engaging over many hours at the weekend and prior to that and for their work. To support the haulage and coach sectors, the Government will be establishing a new road transporters support scheme, RTSS. This will be modelled on the licensed haulage support schemes of 2022 and 2023. Similar to the schemes that were deployed following Russia's brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine, it will be deployed to assist the sectors with the higher fuel prices. The RTSS will provide direct payments to the haulage and coach operators. Payments will be graduated with smaller businesses receiving a proportionately greater level of support. That is important. For coach operators that provide Local Link and school transport services, a separate support measure relating to the contractual arrangements of those operators will be introduced. I know there has been significant concern around the issue of school transport services. The combined cost per month of these supports to the transport sector is estimated at €40 million. I also want to thank the representatives bodies from that sector and the likes of the Irish Road Haulage Association and many others which extensively engaged over the weekend, and well in advance of the weekend too, for their constructive engagement. These further measures will also be in place for a defined period of time. As was the case in March, the Government reserves the option to adjust our approach as the circumstances globally evolve and as needs require. These supports are timely and necessary. In responding to the shock, objectively, the Irish Government has done more than most governments but this has only been possible because of the strength of public finances. That fiscal resilience has not happened by accident. It reflects decisions taken by this Government to rebuild fiscal buffers, focuses on strengthening the foundations of the economy and represents the really hard work and resilience of the Irish people and businesses the length and breadth of this country which we acknowledge today as well. The package announced on Sunday is a further significant response to the real pressures being felt across the country. It will directly help people impacted by the unprecedented global crisis in energy supply. We have always indicated we will keep the situation under review and act again if necessary. That remains the position of the Government but this is a significant response to real pressures being felt by Irish households and businesses. It is one of the most comprehensive support packages in the EU. I support the three resolutions.

I move amendment No. 1: In paragraph (1)— (a) in subparagraph (a)— (i) by the substitution of the following for the row dated 15 April 2026: “ " and (ii) by the deletion of the rows dated 1 August 2026 to 1 May 2030, and (b) by the deletion of subparagraph (b).”. When I stood at the protests right across this State with the ordinary Irish people, I pledged to them I would have their back. I told them that I would fight their corner and I am not going to let them down. That is exactly what we are doing here today. We are the only party in the Dáil tabling an amendment to the Government's proposal that would actually reduce the cost of petrol and diesel and end the carbon tax on green diesel and the same on home heating oil. That is the type of leadership and action people at the protests - ordinary people the length and breadth of this State - have told me they are demanding and need. We are not going to accept half measures. We did not accept the half measures from the Government the last time. Simon Harris stood there and he sneered at me. He said we were on our own and isolated. Well, by God, Simon, you got your answer because the people of Ireland were right behind us and they were calling you and your party out for your inaction over and over again. They forced you into the situation where you are today, a place you did not want to be but you still ignore them, insult them, look down at them, sneer and jeer at them. That is what you are doing. You spoke for ten minutes earlier on and you spoke again but not once did you recognise the hardship facing ordinary Irish people across this State-----

I did.

If you did, you would understand that your measures simply do not go far enough. How could you stand up, understanding where people are at, and decide to say you are just doing nothing on home heating oil and you are just going to leave people to paddle their own canoe in relation to that issue? Simon, I stood in the homes of these people. They invited me in. They have shown me their tanks running dry. They told me they have had to put on an extra coat at night. I have been in homes where somebody opened their wallet at the start of the week and had €50 left. I talked to a plumber who was called out to a house because the plumbing system was airlocked because they ran out of oil. He could not charge them the call-out fee because the only thing that house had was a 25-litre drum because they could not afford any more. You decide to come in here with an insult to those individuals - a complete and utter abdication of your duties in saying you are doing nothing on home heating oil. It is absolutely disgraceful. If you listened, you would understood where people are at. Talk to the farmers. I spoke to a farmer - a late night call. Somebody who was in a desperate situation.

I represent farmers.

He and his father stood in a farming shed that evening in the middle of the protests. It was lambing season. The father is well beyond pension age but cannot retire because he cannot afford it. He said he and his son cannot even draw a wage from the farm now yet there is a 4 cent cut to green diesel - private jets get a 24 cent cut under Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Independents. It shows your priorities.

You are wrong.

You can yap all you want. Why do you not go and yap to the people? Why do you not go and talk to ordinary people?

It is 27.4 cent on a litre.

Talk to the fisherman who came to me.

You are misleading people.

You are the ones on the Government side who preach to this side. I am asking you to practice what you preach. Likewise with you, Deputy Doherty.

It works both ways.

It works in both directions. Let Deputy Doherty finish and I will say it to him as well. He needs to behave not just now but-----

Talk to the fishermen who will tell you that the diesel went up €10,000 in a fortnight. That boat is tied up; the crew is out of work because of inaction from your Government. We will not accept half measures and we will vote against this resolution for that purpose but also because you are asking us to lock in increases in carbon tax every year to 2030. That is what this resolution states. I say to every party that stood on the protest line and talked about carbon tax, by God do not be voting for it tonight because that is what you will vote for if you support this Government.

Five months into his tenure as Minister for Finance, the Tánaiste, is bringing forward a second batch of emergency financial resolutions just four weeks on from the initial €250 million package. On balance, we in the Labour Party support the decision to reduce excise duties on petrol and diesel but the Government is quickly running out of road on further reductions when the price shock from the disruption to oil supply is yet to fully hit. We know there are dangerous and volatile times on the way; this is far from over. All in, this Government has pledged nearly €800 million mostly in tax cuts and fuel subsidies. The only social spending measure to date is four extra weeks of fuel allowance. This is indicative of the priorities. The Government has managed to provide sectoral support in the shape of a €100 million package for the agrifood sector and even more for the haulage sector but until now - the Tánaiste put some details on the record - there have been few public details announced on the enhanced transport support scheme and how it will work but at a cost of €40 million a month, on top of the previous diesel rebate scheme and excise and levy cuts on fuel that will be absorbed almost immediately by price increases. All of this being said, it is PAYE workers across the country who are left wondering what is in this for them, when their discrete package of cost-of-living measures and supports will arrive. Where are the targeted energy credits we sought to design along with colleagues in the Social Democrats, whose party policy it also is? They are targeted energy credits for people earning under €80,000. We have been arguing for that for several years. Where is the right to remote work? It would greatly help to reduce the cost of the commute. Where is the plan to reduce grocery prices or introduce more transparency in a system dominated by international players? Where is the plan to cut the cost of public transport? The budget last year did next to nothing for working people other than keep the show on the road for the country. A point was made earlier by somebody else in this Chamber that you have managed to develop a budget with €9 billion of additional spending but the position of working people, people on low and middle incomes, is materially deteriorating. There was a budget last year that did nothing for working people. It is not news to the Tánaiste that I am saying this; I said it that day and the evidence is there. Instead, the Government committed to spending nearly €500 million this year and over €1 billion next year on VAT cuts for construction and an economically illiterate VAT cut for a hospitality sector that is adding jobs by the day. Any savings on the newbuilds the Tánaiste says he wishes to support in terms of the construction VAT cut are now gone with the increase in construction inflation. It will make no difference to the price of meals for the public in the context of the hospitality VAT cut or the wages of low-paid workers in a sector that is addicted to low pay. In the coming weeks, there may be a situation where the supply of fuels will be disrupted and further measures may be needed. The Government is also setting a dangerous precedent by delaying carbon duties used to fund measures to decarbonise our economy and support those who need help the most to decarbonise with their fuel needs. Other interventions like reducing the applicable VAT rate should have been considered instead. Four weeks ago when we were debating the first round of measures in the House, I asked the Tánaiste to speak to the European Commission on the prospect of reducing the VAT rate on home heating oil, for example, from 13.5% to 9%. In the meantime, over those four weeks, our socialist colleague in Spain, Pedro Sanchez, cut VAT on fuels from 21% to 10% and Poland cut VAT on fuels from 23% to 8%. The EU has expressed concern about these VAT cuts but the Commissioner has also advised governments to reduce excise instead. It is really a technical matter related to the VAT directives. We have seen in the past that the EU has moved to reduce VAT or have a zero VAT rate on a range of products over the years. At a time of crisis the EU simply cannot be allowed to tie itself up in bureaucratic knots while people are struggling. For the sake of the credibility of the EU, in the middle of a crisis facing every citizen, business and household in the European Union, it needs to act fast. It needs to show pragmatism and it needs to show flexibility. This is what the idea of a social Europe should be all about. There were other options available to the Government that should have been explored outside of reducing the carbon tax. Reducing the VAT rate on fuels on a temporary basis must be on the table if this crisis continues to escalate. On balance, we will support the reductions to excise but other options were available and would have been preferable rather than undermining the principle of carbon taxes and what they are ultimately trying to achieve. For far too many of the people I represent there is a permanence about this cost-of-living crisis. If the Government and everyone else in the House are serious about democracy and value the democratic culture and the State that my party and others helped to found and cultivate, they will not want to see ever again the kind of scenes we saw last week on our streets. Most working people I know and represent are no political allies of the extremist elements that set about the blockades last week but they are so worried about making ends meet, and so broken and despairing at the end of the week or the month, that they, against their better judgment and instincts, gave them a hearing. This is a challenge to the Government and it is a challenge to the Opposition also. Doing little for working people in the last budget has had political consequences. Workers saw the package on Sunday and they quickly concluded there was nothing in it for them. No tax indexation in the last budget means lower take-home pay this year than last year for anybody who might receive a pay increase of 2% to 3%. The Government turned its back on a modest statutory sick pay scheme. It has delayed the delivery of a real living wage. Any change we in the Labour Party propose on remote work or paid sick leave is shot down and dismissed simply as a cost to business. The working public sees this. Sunday's package was a sectoral carve out. Working people are getting more militant and so will the trade union movement. Stand over and promote good deals that give people back their dignity, or people who have seen what happened last week could end up taking their own legitimate grievances about their own standards of living in an altogether different direction, and nobody wants to see that. This House and the Government need to respond.

I want to start by saying to the Tánaiste that the Government has lost a Minister of State who said clearly that the leadership of the Government was not listening. When I was talking to the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach earlier during the confidence motion and reading out the experience of the cost-of-living crisis of a nurse who had worked for years for the HSE in this country, he and the Taoiseach were having a grand old chat rather than-----

That is not fair.

Well, it is true. A couple of people have been in contact with me and I want the Tánaiste to listen when I outline their experiences. A constituent who contacted me this morning said: Now what about the rest of the people Pensioners like myself Every time l go into the supermarket items are going up. I can't afford to buy meat anymore. Maybe you could ask Michael Martin to walk around the supermarket with me to see the price of food. This is her experience. For the first time in her life she is not able to buy the very basics in the supermarket. She wants to know what the Government is going to do to address the cost-of-living crisis for her and for people like her. I want to read the words of another nurse who, despite doing everything right, cannot keep her head above the water. I work on average 60 hours a week for the last 3 years. I haven't taken a week off in that time as I work agency shifts during my annual leave. My commute to work is 100km each way. I have €200 in my bank account to do me until the end of the month but will need €400 just to drive to work. I'm contemplating sleeping in my car between shifts just to save some money. I don't know what to do, me and my partner are very frugal. We only buy our meat from the 75% off section and freeze it, We don't eat out, We've cut our food portions smaller, We've agreed that when we run out of oil we won't be refilling it. I look online and see my fellow nurses living it up in Australia wondering if we made the right decision to stay and work in Ireland. These are real people who are massively struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. A full-time nurse, who has not taken holidays in three years as she uses her annual leave to do agency work, should not be in this situation regarding buying food, turning on the heating and meeting friends. For some time now, the Social Democrats have been putting forward proposals and asking the Government to implement them. We have been asking for a €400 energy credit for the 50% of households with lower incomes. This measure would help people who are really squeezed. Even before the current crisis, there were already 320,000 households in electricity bill arrears. Disabled people were up to €1,400 worse off after the budget. I really would ask the Government to look at these and at our proposals for rolling out solar panels. Every home, farm building and small business in the country should have them. Our proposals to double the grants for these should be taken on board. Ní foláir don Rialtas éisteacht. Ní foláir don Rialtas gníomhú. The Government must listen and the Government must act.

We voted no confidence in the Government today because from our perspective, from what we see and from what our constituents tell us, people are struggling and suffering. They are being devastated by a cost-of-living crisis. What we are being told about the reality of people's lives is that they cannot cover the basics. There are people in this country right now who are choosing whether or not to turn on the heating. I was in Artane in my constituency last week, talking to people at the doors. Elderly people told me they were looking at when they turned the heat on because they did not have enough money and they could not cover it. This is the reality. There are elderly people and disabled people, and I know the Tánaiste knows this. There are also young people who are trying to save for a deposit to buy a home. The cost of living is eroding their dreams even further. We have 320,000 people in arrears. We have families who are deciding whether they can afford to go to the GP this week. I call out the Government's failure to achieve its commitments on free GP care for children. It would be a measure that would help families. This is not all about short-term measures. There are fundamental changes needed in how we deliver public services and their affordability in transport and in childcare. These are all eating into people's weekly wages and their income. We have a fundamental problem in this country. Our cost of living is 34% higher than the EU average. There are many reasons for this and one of them, which the Government has acknowledged, is the price gouging and profit gouging that is going on. I call it cute hoor capitalism in Ireland. It goes on and we know it. People try to get as much as they can and they try to make as much as they can, and people feel it. They ask why prices are increasing so much. We need action from the Government to stabilise prices, and when people are price gouging, they should be fined properly. This is not happening enough because there is a gap between the amount by which wholesale gas, wholesale electricity and wholesale food costs are going up and what people are actually being forced to pay. The gas prices people are being charged have increased 100% since 2021. What we also need to talk about, and what was not mentioned enough at all last week, is inequality - the gap in respect of those children who are in poverty in this country. We have one in five children living in poverty. In some form, they are affected by poverty. We have, shamefully, almost 5,500 children living in homelessness. They are in a form of poverty. People cannot afford the rent. They cannot afford the house prices. The cost-of-living crisis is hitting them as well. We have an economy that is deeply unequal. I spoke before about how, in a way, we have two Irelands. We actually have many Irelands but there is a deep division between those who can afford this high-cost economy and those who cannot and who are really struggling. This Government is not doing enough for them and needs to structurally change our economy so people can afford to live in this country.

The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, was on the radio this morning and he was explaining why the Government has introduced this new package. He claimed, of course, that it has nothing to do with the protests or blockades; nobody believes that. Instead, he said it is because the measures that we introduced a number of weeks ago were wiped out by the international price of oil going up. How could he have known that this would happen? How could the Government have known? We warned the Government. We warned it in that debate that unless it introduced price controls, precisely that would happen. What will happen with the meagre 10 cent and nothing that has been given in terms of kerosene? What will happen to that? Quite likely, that will also be wiped out by an increase in the international price of oil. What is the alternative? The alternative is to have price controls to give people security and to stop profiteering and to let people know this is going to be the price. That is what we need to do. The Government has the power to do it. We have a Bill that we introduced two years ago to do it. People were on the streets over the past week demanding it. That has to be matched with universal measures like a €500 energy credit and measures to stop our reliance on fossil fuel immediately. We need to have free public transport. The force to do that is ordinary people. What the Parliament does, the streets can undo. That is what we have seen over the past week and that is what we need to see in the coming weeks to force meaningful action on costs of living to protect people.

In the six years I have been a TD and for much of the decade before that, there was a coalition in this House - a coalition that existed across Government and Opposition that supported the carbon tax. There was a coalition that recognised the arguments that a dedicated, predictable and increasing fund of money was necessary to fund the changes needed to transition our economy away from fossil fuels. There was a coalition, again, across Government and Opposition, that took difficult votes against populist amendments and spoke against populist motion and a coalition that recognised that sometimes, in this House, we need to genuinely look towards the long term and not just towards the next election. Today, with these financial resolutions, the Government has smashed that coalition. It has bowed to the pressure of populists. It has provided fodder for those who argue falsely that the carbon tax - a tax that only brings in 1% of our country's tax revenue - is the source of all ills. Now that the Government has demonstrated that the carbon tax is negotiable and that when pressure is applied, it will bend, how can we expect to see the next increase take place in October? The people who blocked public transport and who prevented workers from moving are watching. They know that the Government cracked in April and it will crack again in October. A Rubicon has been crossed today and the Government has lost the argument for us all.

While the measures that were introduced will bring some relief, they do not go far enough. There are too many left out, including families, commuters, taxi drivers, home help staff, public health nurses and people who depend on home heating oil. The majority of rural houses in County Laois depend on home heating oil. They are facing double whammies and triple whammies. Workers and families on a medium income who do not get fuel allowance have been left out. The price of diesel has gone up by 70 cent. Five EU states are calling for a windfall tax to be put on the wholesale price and for that tax to be used, namely, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Austria. Where is Ireland? Ireland needs to join that. Five large EU countries are calling for it. The Irish Government should join that and use that money to bring in reliefs for people. The backers of it say that it would make it possible to finance temporary reliefs for consumers and curb inflation and send a clear message to the profit-making companies that is what needs to happen. Ireland should back that. Greece brought in its own measure. It brought in a three-month limit on the profit margins, not on the cap. I understand the argument around the cap. It put a limit in terms of the profit margin people can have. It is 12 cent for retailers and 12 cent for wholesalers. The Government here should do the same thing.

I have a feeling that this is a very important week and a turning point in the life of this Government. Militant protests and blockades have taken place in the context of an ever-worsening cost-of-living crisis. People were threatened with repression. They got some repression as well, actually. Yet, a high level of the population supported those protests. Why does the Tánaiste think that is? Also, in opinion polls, people blamed the Government and they blamed Donald Trump and Netanyahu. By the way, the Tánaiste has never once condemned the illegal war on Iran and Lebanon that has fuelled this. I have not heard it. Verbal gymnastics have come from the Government to avoid apportioning blame. I believe that the resolutions the Tánaiste is proposing tonight will not cut any mustard. None of the issues is resolved even for the sector that protested never mind for the general population. The likelihood is that the cost-of-living crisis is going to get worse. We have psychopaths are running the population. We need workers and trade unions to step into the picture here.

The protesters who were on the streets were there, by their own explanation, because their backs were up to the wall to the extent that they simply could not sustain the fuel price hikes they were enduring. That is on top of a cost-of-living crisis that is absolutely crushing people in terms of the cost of accommodation, energy price hikes, the cost of childcare and so on. It should be obvious to the Tánaiste that the Government has utterly failed to address that crisis. The demands that were made by those who were on the streets, which the Government is refusing to bow to, were for price controls. That is what they asked for. In fact, price controls they asked for on petrol, diesel, home heating oil and green diesel were almost exactly what we put in a Bill we brought into this House two years ago and that we brought in again a number of weeks ago almost word for word. They would actually bring down the cost of fuel, green diesel and home heating oil to levels that are affordable and where there would be certainty because all of the measly concessions the Government has given, which are totally inadequate, can be wiped out virtually overnight. Price controls are what is needed. I do not know why the Tánaiste set his face against it because when it comes to handouts, as we saw in the budget, they were given to big business on research and development tax credits or, for example, €1 billion last year in excise cuts to the aviation industry to a few very profitable airlines. How can it give it to the big corporate sector but it will not give it to ordinary people who are being crushed with the cost-of-living crisis?

The Government has created some omnishambles this week. It is incredible that within the space of a week, the Government has done both the country and itself enormous damage. In many years' time, when perspective returns to this, the Tánaiste will definitely rue the decisions the Government makes today. In future, the only advice I can give him is to always talk to people in relation to any of these difficulties. The problem stemmed from the inability of elected representatives to talk to people. One issue here that people are not discussing at all it is that high energy prices are bad for the economy. I do not think I have ever really heard any political party in this country make that statement baldly in the past number of years. They make the costs of production go up. They make their exports go up. They make it more difficult to trade internationally. They put pressure on jobs. They make the food on the shelves more expensive to pay for. They are the biggest addition to the rip-off Ireland in which so many people are living. In the high energy cost country we are living in at the moment is the issue of carbon tax. It is problematic because it increases tax two, three, four or five years ahead of time, irrespective of the economic situation that people, families and businesses are in. You can only tailor a tax on the basis of where the economy is at and where people's pockets are at. This particular tax ignores all of that and that is why it is so problematic. We were the only political party in Leinster House that voted against the introduction of the carbon tax in the first place. It is at the moment hurting families, teachers, older people and all the different elements of society that keep our society going. It is hurting them horrendously. There has been a postponement. The Government stated that such a postponement could never happen but it has. We now need a proper discussion about carbon taxes. Other European countries have carbon floors and other issues to ensure they nudge people towards non-fossil fuels in the future. This tax is a hammer in relation to people's behaviour. Carbon tax is, we are told, planned to achieve a price to move people away from carbon use. However, if the market has already achieved that price, carbon tax is just punitive. Carbon tax is, we are told, intended to change behaviours but people have no alternatives. They cannot take in the silage with an electric car. They cannot spread slurry with an electric car. The Government needs to ensure that people with no alternatives have a break that allows them to function.

It looks like my colleagues are not here so I will take their time until they arrive, if that is okay with the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I and others were looking at the financial resolutions. In respect of the carbon tax, it looks to me as if it will be ring-fenced over a certain period, going forward. It has now been put off. I have serious reservations. I would find it very difficult to vote for anything that would have that effect, if I can prove it. I am looking into it and if that is the case, I will not be supporting this resolution. The Government may say "Yes" tomorrow. Look at all the things it refuses, as such. There are other areas that have been forgotten about. People cannot fill their home-heating oil tanks this evening. The Government might say they can go to their local social welfare offices but many people fall between the cracks. They are telling me they are cold at home and are finding it very difficult. They do not have the funding to do that. Plant hire people are not going to get any relief from the recently announced package. The road builders and those in the building sector are saying to me that they have not got it. I have a letter here from the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Organisation, ICSA, representatives of which the Government shamefully locked outside the door the other day. They attended the same protest as I did in Dublin the other day and on that basis, they got booted out. That is not a way to do business. Our way of doing business is to try to talk to people. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, who I wish was still here but she is no longer, was wrong when she said that I blocked people. I went to Whitegate and never blocked anybody. I spoke to people and asked them to step down. I said that if there was a reasonable package, we should step down and work together. I went to Dublin and said the same thing. It was unfair to say that I blocked something but we all say things in the heat of the moment, and I accept that. In the past week, there was a lot of what they call "gaslighting", or whatever, and enflaming the situation. The Taoiseach made a serious mistake - he will not agree with me, as is his entitlement - instead of talking to people. Even if he could not talk to people, he could have easily found someone who would and got around this. There were ways around this. I found that on the first day of the protests in Dublin, the protestors were willing to talk but not on the third or fourth day. People got deeply entrenched and there was no point in trying to negotiate in a very difficult situation. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, did not help the situation by telling people to use bikes instead of cars. That is fine. He is thinking of a city environment. I would love to think that I could tell people to go to work on a bike in the morning but I cannot tell people to cycle 13 km to work in the morning. Some people where I live are driving 80 km or 90 km per day back and forth to work. They are finding it difficult. The Government is saying to us that the carers of our country are being blocked from going to work. They cannot afford to go to work and that is the bottom line. The Government cannot resolve everything. I said that at each protest. This is a war that is outside the Government's control. The Government said it had given the most. The bottom line is that it has already taken the most.

I ask the Deputy to conclude.

I will conclude on that, which is the point the Government needs to remember.

I will be supporting these resolutions. It is constructive to do so. I said in a contribution a few weeks ago that the Government was not acting fast enough, which was fair comment. It has responded this time, although some will say it has not responded sufficiently, and that is also fair comment. The Government might disagree. I agree with the Government about the overall picture. There is only a set amount of revenue. The pharmaceutical industry and IT windfall is not going to last forever so the Government needs a broad tax base, despite what is said by some of the self-appointed leaders. Some of the misogynistic, criminally convicted, rape-endorsing, tax-defaulting so-called appointed leaders are jumping on the backs of the ordinary people who have real concerns. They seem to think you can suddenly scrap the excise duty and the carbon tax, and everything is going to be hunky-dory and you are still going to have money to spend for vulnerable people where it is needed. I have been critical of the Government for the apartments tax break that could have gone to help people with disabilities and make their cost of living more manageable but it is within the confines of trying to be fiscally responsible. People are being hit by an international conflict caused by Trump and Netanyahu. It is not of the Government's creation. It is also restricted by certain EU regulations. However, I still think that in the short term, over the next six months, the Government must respond quicker and put in the measures that will bring prices back to the level they were. This issue may last for six or 12 months and the Government must be seen to respond. It won the confidence vote but still has a responsibility because people out there are hurting.

I am glad of the opportunity. It has been an awful time for the people of Ireland and it is not getting much better. Indeed, it has been an awful time for elected politicians, their families and workers. We were pegged around the place by friends and people of whom we thought a lot and people who thought a lot of us. We have been working for them for many years. I think it was what happened here on 24 March that kicked it off. There was a reduction of only 3 cent to help people with the cost of green diesel, which had gone up by 80 cent. There was only a reduction of 2 cent on kerosene, which had gone up by 80 cent, too. To throw petrol on the fire, some time around April Fool's Day, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, went to Ukraine and gave it €40 million. People started to go mad and they are mad. They are hard-living and hard-working people, including nurses and carers. It was a cross-section of the community. It was coming from every angle. That is the God's gospel truth. People are still very hurt. What I said that day was that however much more oil was costing, I knew it would have to be paid but the Government would have to forgo the extra taxes at the pump where people were paying for it. I said the Government should reduce it and not make work for itself with applications. The people were going to be in trouble filling out application forms, as they are with every other application. Many people are denied after going to the trouble of applying and the Government is giving them false hope. I said to the Government to give that money back at the pumps. People complain about all the money that is wasted. They are right to do so. A lot of money is being wasted. We went down for €1.9 billion of a loan for the Ukrainians to keep the war going. That was on top of the €125 million that was given to President Zelenskyy. People say to me that RTÉ, when it was in trouble, got €725 million from the Government.

The Deputy's time has expired.

The Government's response to all the people of Ireland who are in trouble is to provide €755 million.

Deputy Healy-Rae, your time is-----

RTÉ is only one organisation or one company. It is not fair what is happening, or what has happened, to our people.

I welcome these measures and recognise that they are not enough to cushion everybody in this country from the effects of the greatest global energy crisis we have ever seen. It is unrealistic to tell people that the Government is in a position to do that. Let us be honest with people. Deputy Collins and I were on the radio this morning talking about this and he said he did not block anyone. I am not saying he did, but he supported people who did. Let us be honest about it, because those blockades stopped people getting to work and hospital, and carers getting to elderly people. I do not really want to get involved in recriminations and playing the blame game. What is much more important is that we look at it through a lens of realism. Something has just been said about the Minister, Deputy McEntee, going to Ukraine and giving a certain amount of money. I have heard this from constituents as well. One person asked me in Dún Laoghaire yesterday why we are giving money to Ukraine and what Ukraine has ever done for us. That is to fundamentally misunderstand what it is to be part of a global community. If the shoe were on the other foot and we were in a bad place, it might not be Ukraine helping us, but there would be other countries, particularly in the European Union-----

Did they help us when we were in trouble starving in the Famine?

-----we would be calling on.

Deputy Healy-Rae, you have had your say.

They have helped us in the past. We have relied on them in the past.

Brexit.

When the economic crash came, we relied on the international community to keep us afloat and ensure Irish workers could put the country back where it was. Let us be honest about this. Being part of an international community is not only about taking and taking.

See after our own people first, please.

It is give and take. I am very proud of the work we have done as a country to help to provide for Ukraine. I have been there and seen what they have come through. The same argument could be made about Irish Aid and the work we do in much more under-developed countries, where children are starving. Is the Deputy saying we should take away their money as well?

Thank you.

Why does he not go over and join Donald Trump's USAID cuts as well?

I am saying enough is enough. We are not in the war with Russia.

Let us be realistic and honest and get on with the fact that these are resolutions that will do the people of Ireland good and that is why we should support them.

This is a global energy crisis we are facing and we need to see it in those terms. Showing solidarity to those who are victims of war right now is a good thing. While I support these measures, the challenge has been that many of those who are out on the protest - and I know a lot of them - are hard-working and decent people and this was seen in many ways as being the last straw. I genuinely feel that in the last budget we did not do enough for workers. We did not index link the tax bands, though that is something we should always do. We should always make work pay. It is of concern to me when I hear employers talking about the fact that people are reluctant to work more than 19 hours because they will lose certain benefits. The challenge we saw is because a lot of workers, particularly in my constituency, commute. The Tánaiste will know many of them. An estimated 6,500 people commute from my constituency to work and college every day. Not alone did they not see sufficient benefits - there were some in the budget, but they were not sufficient - but once fuel prices increased, it became a significant problem for them. What we have to do in the context of the coming budget, and in prioritising resources, is to look after those who work hard and contribute to the community as well as to protect the vulnerable with our disability strategy and looking after older people. It also requires, from an energy security point of view as well as an environmental one, that we move much more quickly on our investment in renewables. It is absolutely essential for wind and solar energy and indeed that we see the clearing house. That is happening at Government level, but it has to be a top priority that we start to see offshore wind being developed to a far greater extent. This is one of the concerns. People are not afraid of contributing to the State if they can see their money is being spent well, but I worry that we are seeing a situation where public expenditure is getting out of control in many cases and people are not seeing sufficient return on their investment. We are fortunate the economy is so strong that we are able to deliver this package, which cannot be done anywhere else in Europe, but we may not always have that luxury.

Thank you, Deputy. I call the Minister, Deputy Heydon.

In responding to the debate, I thank Deputies for raising the points they did. I will go through some of them. Deputy Doherty started off with a fascination with ordinary people. I am not sure who the extraordinary people are who he is not talking about. There are only ordinary people. They are all ordinary people. Somehow he has a monopoly on understanding what ordinary people have to go through and do not. He talked about standing in the farmers' kitchen and understanding how much pressure they were under and about the fishers and how much pressure they were under. One thing struck me. In his discussions with them, did he point out to the farmer the €100 million package that is being delivered this week or the 7.4 cent cut on excise this week that Sinn Féin seems opposed to that is there to help? Did he explain to the fisher about the €5 million per month of support there will be from March to July as part of the package that has been agreed and that there is no mineral oil tax on fuel for fishers because the State heavily subsidises mineral oil because we value what fishers do? No, he did not, because what he prefers to do as an Opposition spokesperson, as Sinn Féin wants, is to keep everyone whipped up, keep telling them there is a bogeyman over there and someone to blame. It is great to see Deputy Doherty back in the House. I was just highlighting how he misled the Dáil when he said a 4 cent cut will not wash for farmers when the cut on green diesel for farmers is 27.4 cent, comprising the 7.4 cent we are agreeing in these motions and the subsidy of 20 cent per litre on green diesel there will be in the coming months. The Government has the back of farmers, fishers and foresters and we will support them. Deputy Nash raised that there is nothing here for the ordinary worker and Deputy Cian O'Callaghan talked about individual workers he deals with and the constituents who have come to him and the real impact on people's lives. One of the workers he referenced could not afford meat.

She is a pensioner.

It was a pensioner who could not afford meat as part of her diet. The Deputy specifically mentioned food on a number of occasions. If we do not intervene with the support of our €100 million package for the agrifood sector, it will have a direct impact on the cost of inflation. Energy is the biggest driver of inflation. Food inflation will absolutely have an impact on workers, so telling workers that these measures will not help them is not true. The measures supporting farmers and our package to support hauliers with a €140 million intervention to reduce the cost of logistics services that bring the food from farm to fork directly benefit everyone.

I did not say it would not help anyone.

I am making the point. I am not attacking. I am making the point that the interventions the Government has brought in, and the packages beyond the excise measures we are voting on here, will directly support all people in their lives and will help to avoid the cost-of-living crisis that impacts on everyone. Things do not happen in isolation. Deputy Hearne talked about people not being able to cover the basics. It is the same point with where people are struck there. Deputy Tóibín talked about the inability to talk to people and to listen. I have been engaging with the farmer representative bodies, the fishers and others for weeks on developing schemes. There are constraints and this is the challenge for the Government. We have to explain the constraints around the energy directive, how it needs to work around state aid rules with the EU and how that takes time. We were not in a position to do more on green diesel in the first intervention, but it has taken me time here to explain that, as it would in an interview. I cannot make a short, snappy TikTok video, which I suspect was the intention of Deputy Doherty when he was here earlier putting on the record that the intervention on green diesel was only 4 cent, wherever he got that figure from.

The excise duty is 4 cent.

He might correct the record.

Deputies.

It is in your table.

Deputy Collins talked about frustration. Yesterday on "Morning Ireland" he spoke to farmers at a volatile time. I absolutely accept how angry people have been and how many people have felt the challenge of the energy shock. After a volatile week when our country has been in a bad place, we all have responsibility. Everyone in this House has a mandate and was elected to help people. That is what we are here for. I do not question the mandate at all, but I do question why someone, after such a volatile weekend when a serious package had been agreed by the Cabinet on the Sunday evening, which Deputy Collins was well aware of, would go on "Morning Ireland" on Monday morning and try to tell people it is only 2.4 cent per litre on green diesel and try to keep the protest going and to make people who are upset and hurting more upset and hurting. That does not say compassion to me. No one in this House has a monopoly on compassion. The Opposition talks about ordinary people as though we do not. It is clear what they are doing. The use of language matters, as a colleague said earlier.

Do not be a numpty all your life. It is in your table

From that perspective, these interventions matter and that is why we oppose the amendment put forward by Sinn Féin.

As we are about to reach the 60 minutes, I will put the question on amendment No. 1 to Financial Resolution No. 1.