I fully and factually have to accept that the price of diesel and petrol has risen further since the Dáil was recalled. That is a statement of fact and there is an onus on all of us in this House to work in a constructive fashion in terms of more proposals and ideas that we can consider together.
Faced with the sudden rise in global energy prices, we have taken a number of actions. We have taken actions that did red…
TDs / Simon Harris
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questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
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566,201 as a minister, 8 as a TD
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Debates they spoke in most
Plus 2,685 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Wicklow 29 November 2024 to now
- office Taoiseach 29 November 2024 to 22 January 2025
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
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Quite frankly, we are considering the whole issue of energy in the round. We need to be truthful with people. I am not suggesting that the Deputy is not. We need to be truthful with people in relation to things like EU directives and how far we have gone. In fact, we have gone further, as the Deputy knows, than the EU directives and sought derogations in some cases already. We have also got to be honest with people, …
Where the Deputy and I have disagreed on this, and we have disagreed on a few points, is that the Government has taken the approach, which we actually think is the right approach, to be agile and nimble, locking in decisions for long periods, when, with the greatest of respect, the Deputy or I did not know what was going to happen the Strait of Hormuz and whether it was going to get better or worse. The Deputy and I …
The answer to the question is that all of these are matters for budget day next Tuesday. The Government will consider all of them. The Deputy would not expect, because he has been at this a while, any other answer from me-----
I look forward to engaging-----
I read Siobhán Fenton's book recently.
She gave a very good insight into how Deputy Doherty performs in this House. I think it is on page 154.
It is a good description. She says he is a nice man and just acts for the cameras.
I propose to take questions Nos. 121 and 122 together.
I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for the question and for her ongoing engagement on this issue. This is a matter that I am determined to get done. I had a good discussion with the new Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK, John Healy, on the matter when he was in Dublin for the informal ECOFIN meeting. The two questions concern cross-Border working on the island of I…
I agree with that fully. While we are here talking, quite rightly, about an all-island economy and the better shared future we want to build, I am conscious of the very tense situation in the North tonight. With the Taoiseach, I engaged on that today with the Deputy's party leader and with Michelle O'Neill. We are all thinking tonight of a community in which people are feeling a sense of trauma and retraumatisation. …
The Parades Commission got this extraordinarily wrong. I am very clear on that. There has been good engagement with the Deputy's party leader and with Michelle O'Neill in her capacity as party vice president. To be fair to everybody, the Taoiseach is extraordinarily engaged on this issue; of that there is absolutely no doubt. My colleague, the Minister for foreign affairs, is in the North this evening. We are engagin…
I thank the Deputy for his question. The carbon tax has been a central pillar of Ireland's climate policy framework. It has provided a clear and credible long-term signal in terms of our work as a country to transition away from fossil fuels and move towards a low-carbon economy.
Provision was introduced in the Finance Act 2020 to provide for annual increases in carbon tax rates up to May 2030. Carbon tax rates on p…
I appreciate that when it comes its application, the carbon tax is not equally felt by all citizens. I take the point that the data shows that those living in rural Ireland are twice as likely to use home heating oil as a fuel source - as an example - as those living in larger towns and cities. According to the latest available CSO figures, around 26% of households in Ireland use it as their main heating fuel, so tha…
We can have a difference of view on this. We have taken a number of measures to try to help people with energy and fuel supports. It is probably the largest in the European Union per capita. I agree with the Deputy on the point that not everybody is in a position to change their home heating oil tank. I think particularly of older people as well. It just simply might not work for people. Quite frankly, there is a dif…
I thank Deputy Doherty and Deputy Gould, whom I know has a particular interest in this. The vacant homes tax was introduced in 2022. The tax is currently charged at seven times the base rate of local property tax. Following re-evaluation last year, in which all local property tax charges were increased by a small to moderate amount, vacant homes tax will scale accordingly. The tax operates on a self-assessment basis …
They are, yes.
I fully understand and agree that vacancy and dereliction are two different things, but the taxes are all aimed at the same purpose of making sure that we get homes back into use. A tax of vacant residential property is one policy tool to address vacancy but it is also a behavioural change tax. It is about making sure that people do not leave houses in vacancy. We would expect, when we bring in a tax, that behavioura…
Revenue does a very good job of collecting taxation in this country. That is why there are often calls in this House for derelict properties to be handed over to Revenue, because Revenue has teeth. As the Deputy knows, Revenue has powers under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to address compliance or non-compliance with legislation. It has the power to require a chargeable person to file a vacant homes tax return. It…
Across Government - and I know this is an issue the Deputy is passionate about - we recognise the significant financial pressures experienced by households, particularly the financial pressures being experienced by households in which there is a person with a disability, amid the heightened cost-of-living environment that obtains. In response, we have implemented a number of measures to try to help the most vulnerabl…
I thank the Deputy for his ongoing interest in and genuine expertise regarding the issue of renewables and plug-in solar, and for his correspondence. I continue to engage with colleagues across Government on that. We will keep in touch with the Deputy in respect of it.
I also thank the Deputy for raising the Before We Die campaign. This is something we are discussing right across Government. The Taoiseach and I, alo…
I am always in awe of the Deputy's ability to cover a lot in a question, but these are all serious issues. I do not mean to be flippant.
Earlier today, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, brought 11 measures to Cabinet in relation to improving grants around solar, battery storage and the boiler scrappage scheme. The Deputy is right. I understand, as does he, that we have to help people in the here and now. Many people are looking for help in order to allow their families and businesses to make the transition. Sometimes, the gap in that regard can be too big…
I thank the Deputy very much. The Government is very conscious of the price increases in home heating oil. They are very real and significant. The conflict in the Middle East has severely impacted the cost of kerosene. We have taken some measures that have helped those most at risk of fuel poverty and the Deputy knows that. We extended the fuel allowance by a further four weeks. That resulted in additional payments t…
We should have an informed conversation about this. What the Deputy has said is true. There are things the Government can do and this House can do, and there are things we cannot do. I am going to be honest, as the Deputy has been honest, in saying whatever we do on the taxation side will not be enough - I am talking about the taxation on energy piece - to bring prices back to where they were last year. The Deputy is…
The Deputy has described his job as he views it. It is of course his job to hold me to account in this House. It is also our job, every now and again, to try to work collaboratively on different issues. We will not agree on all of it and that is fine and healthy but we agree that we are living through a cost-of-living crisis, that the cost of kerosene and energy is very high, that we need to look at measures to try t…