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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 numerous … replies to parliamentary question saying over and over that there is excise duty on home heating oil in the form of carbon tax, and carbon tax is excise. We should really stop that stupid debate because this is legislation that deals with excise, a version of which

part of this legislation. It contains both excise cuts on fuels like petrol and diesel and the postponement of carbon taxes on home heating oil, green diesel and canister gas until October of this year. The excise cuts should have gone further on petrol, diesel and green diesel … their car. At the same time, the Government prioritised other areas. It cut private jet fuel by 17% while struggling to reduce home heating oil by a single cent. You could not make this up. The second component of this section is that the carbon tax is being

need to keep these things under review in the future. I will talk about another area I talked about during the campaign - home heating oil. Home heating oil is obviously not subject to excise duty but it still represents a significant cost. We have seen a significant increase … those who are reliant on home heating oil or kerosene across our country. We are closer to the next budget than we are to the last and it is important in that budget we ensure that if this conflict is still with us and if prices are still

pensioners who are unable to heat their homes. The whole issue of pensioners and people on low incomes who are reliant on home heating oil has not been properly addressed. The Government has failed to help renters who cannot make ends meet. Indeed, this Government has made … impact of this Finance Bill, which will cost half a billion euro, will soon be forgotten. Consider what has happened with home heating oil and the increases of 67% and almost 70% between February and March of this year. This has been the sharpest increase anywhere

half-measures, a package that does not meet the challenge of high fuel prices. Once this legislation is enacted petrol, diesel and home heating oil will continue to be unaffordable for hundreds of thousands of people and that is just not good enough. We know that … exist for many people. A pause in carbon tax increases is needed because rural people have no alternative to using home heating oil and travelling in petrol cars. It is incredibly unfair that these people continue to face artificially inflated energy prices that are pushing many of them

first place but it could certainly have done more to ensure people could get a break, particularly when it came to home heating oil. In my part of the country and, I am sure, in the Minister of State's area, the vast majority of people use home … loan and everything that is hitting them at all angles. Then, they suddenly found the price of fuel, home heating oil and everything else going through the roof. The Government did little to help them and they felt they were left alone. That is what brought people

very real pain that people on low-to-middle incomes are under in terms of the price increases. If you look at home-heating oil, for example, and people who do not avail of the fuel allowance increase because they are above those thresholds and cannot afford those … increases in home-heating oil, the Government does not seem to be acknowledging that. We have put forward proposals. A targeted energy credit of €400 would be a start to helping households in that situation. We have put forward proposals for investment now, which would mean a long

people in arrears with electricity. A quarter of people who get gas are in arrears. There are people who use home heating oil who cannot pay their bills. Some people have to use their savings and some have to borrow from the credit union or family but some … have to go cold because they do not have the money to put home heating oil in the tank. I know some of those people. The Minister of State might come in and say, "We are great boys

extra infliction on people at a difficult time. The one little bit of comfort that people have in their own homes is home heating oil. That never really reduced in price. People have been telling me that up until last weekend the heating was still on in their … State knows the weather we have. There are cold, bitter evenings and a lot of people have to turn on the home heating oil. My God, did they get any break? They got no break. These are hard-working people or maybe retired people who have given

just an issue for his Department, and requires a whole-of-government response. During the winter period, demand for and usage of home heating oil will increase in Galway and Mayo. We will have colder nights and people will stay in for longer. I certainly hope that there … place to engage with the Minister for Finance and other Ministers to ensure there will be a response should there be another home heating oil price shock. I acknowledge the medium and longer term view in relation to retrofitting, insulation and alternative sources, but we also have

whatever action we take. I think all who have spoken in this debate have mentioned that we know someone who cannot buy home heating oil. We know people who have cut back on their grocery bills. They cannot afford some of the prices being charged in supermarkets … that whole sector and walked away from it. The cost of fuel at the pumps needs to be addressed. The cost of home heating oil has to be addressed. The USC and tax bands need to be addressed. The USC was supposed to be temporary. I remember

marked gas oil, MGO, from an excise point of view. It also meant the deferral of the May carbon tax increase on home heating oil fuels and MGO, as well as a reduction in the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy. We have also had the diesel rebate

continuation of the reduction in VAT on electricity on gas. We saw during March and April significant increases in the price of home heating oil. Thankfully, that has now come back to a degree but it was certainly a shock to the budgets of many homeowners. While … Department, how can we prepare for such a shock, if it were to happen again in the coming winter, in terms of home heating kerosine prices

energy is the cause of all the trouble. People on the roads are buying petrol and diesel. People at home are buying home heating oil and gas to keep themselves warm. People are entitled - this generation is as entitled as any to stay warm. It is a fright … cost of energy. We have oil off of west Cork and gas off the Kerry coast. We are not being allowed to tap into either. If we bring it from the nearest point, the poor people at home will pay for it. It is time we copped

insert the following: “Report on impact of an energy credit 5.Within 3 months of the implementation of the new Mineral Oil Tax rates, the Minister shall produce a report on the impact of an energy credit of €400 for each household with an income … disabled people were up to €1,400 worse off as a result of the budget. This was before any recent increases in home heating oil or any other fuel costs. The Minister of State said that he agreed that there needed to be more support for those

heat their homes. They are often staying in bed rather than getting up because they cannot afford the gas or the home heating oil. I want to focus on the question of targeted energy credits. This is something that has been talked about in the House many times

know from the MESL report that home energy costs have risen by 24.9% in the last year and doubled since 2020. Home heating oil, included in the rural MESL basket, has risen by 72.4% in the last year. That is 186.8% compared to 2020. These are all really

only commitment that the Government has been able to give is that it will be increasing the carbon tax on home heating oil in October's budget. Households are struggling now. The Government has the tools available to support them. The Government must use them to ensure households

afford to top up their pay-as-you-go meters or reflect those who cannot afford to keep their homes warm with home heating oil because not one cent was reduced. The Government imposes a carbon tax on the people yet at the same time it stands aside

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

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

only guarantee the Irish people have is that carbon tax is going up to make petrol and diesel dearer, to make home heating oil dearer, to make the cost of gas dearer and to make the cost of a bag of coal dearer. The only guarantee people have

does not let the Government off the hook. This Government is instrumental in driving up the costs of gas, electricity, petrol, diesel, home heating oil, a bag of coal and a bale of briquettes. It has been doing this every year for the past six years

introduced unprecedented supports. We expanded the fuel allowance for an additional four weeks, which provided some comfort for those who use home heating oil. Notwithstanding the pressures that energy costs are putting on many families and recognising the scale of the intervention that has already been delivered

Government went on holidays for St. Patrick’s Day to get out of here while people were paying double for home heating oil and struggling to pay their bills

asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the total amount by which he proposes to raise the price of petrol, diesel and home heating oil through increases to the carbon tax, in each year until 2030. [47951/26