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back at best. That is not relief; that is just rounding an error. Today the Government cut carbon tax on home heating oil and gas, and promised not to raise it again. Independent Ireland refused to go in with this Government because of that tax. I welcome … living alone gets absolutely nothing. Let us not forget the childless couple or the single man or woman who wants to leave their home to a niece or nephew. The niece or nephew will now pay three times more tax than a son or daughter would. Today

nothing to cut electricity costs and does not move to introduce energy credits, either. I welcome the reduction in carbon tax on home heating oil. The Tánaiste promised that it will not increase again in the lifetime of this Government. However, reading the small print, he made … tone-deaf budget. On housing, the Minister, Deputy Chambers announced in the Dáil that there would be money for schemes like starter home, help to buy and money for social housing supports. If I ask the young people and those who are looking to buy in County Mayo

greatest worry for people this winter is energy bills. Oil, gas, electricity, petrol, diesel and all fossil fuel energy costs have exploded. In truth, this Government is only helping some. Choices made this week last year are coming home to roost. Workers were left less able to absorb … cost of the weekly shop will escalate even more. However, we do not buy the line from the Government that VAT on home heating oil cannot go down to 9% to bring it in line with gas. The case can be made in Europe. The Government has been

movie from the fifties or sixties. That man was frightened to death to turn on the heating. He has to choose whether to heat his home today or eat tomorrow. That is not an exaggeration on my part. Every TD worth his or her salt is out talking … people who are most vulnerable when it comes to energy security. As I said, 500,000 households are in arrears. Home heating oil has gone up by 45%. The Minister of State, as defender of the Government, says that this is out of its control, that

meeting other essential costs. In a rural county like Kerry, where people rely heavily on their cars and on home heating oil, these increases are being felt particularly sharply. It is a very genuine frustration people are feeling and while there may be differences in approach, I believe … disproportionately impacting those who have no viable alternative, especially rural communities. Third, we need to accelerate investment in energy efficiency and home retrofitting so that people are less exposed to those price shocks in the first place. This is not about quick fixes or political point-scoring

ordinary families are talking about the cost-of-living crisis, filling cars with petrol or diesel, the increase in the cost of home heating oil and not being able to pay for their electricity or struggling to do so. People are counting every cent when they … support. I will ask my question again. Ordinary people out there might be watching this. They might not. They might be at home worrying like that lady I spoke to on Monday who is on the verge of panic attacks. Do you know what she said

cent cut on home heating oil is an absolute slap in the face for people as it is. The fact that the Government is going to take it back off them in a couple of weeks makes it worse. It is going to give a very meagre amount … that would make a real and meaningful difference in the lives of people who are worried that they will be cold in their homes. That should be a wake-up call for any Government but even the worst Government - the most out-of touch, tone-deaf Government - would

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

past number of weeks alone, it chose to hike up the extortionate rents, to hike up the price of petrol, diesel and home heating oil and to hike up the price of the local property tax. Nobody else did this. These were all Government decisions. As if families … this country in their droves. This Government is determined to mess things up for them in the here and now, right here at home. It is hell bent on ensuring that this country is no country for young people. All this is happening at a time

brink. Their first response was an insult and any benefit was wiped out almost immediately. There was no action on home heating oil and no meaningful support for households or rural communities. It did not come close to addressing the problem. Then what happened? They walked away … them. They refused to meet them. They threatened them. They threatened the Army on their own people. These are families struggling to heat their homes for God's sake and workers struggling to get to work. Farmers and rural communities are trying to keep going and this Government

heating in her home. This is not an isolated incident. A young woman wrote to me to tell me she had no home heating oil for two weeks because she could not afford it on top of medical and childcare expenses. She wrote … house is cold and a woman who is married to a fella who works every hour that God sends cannot afford heat in her home. There is something seriously wrong in this republic when people are left like that

large swathes of our economy and society. Its measures fell far short. What about the 750,000 households who are reliant on home heating oil? Their prices have skyrocketed by over 70% and the Government had and still has no answers for them. What about the hundreds … longer about tightening belts because, for many people, there is nothing left to cut. The reality is simple. People are struggling to heat their homes, face electricity bills they cannot afford and are paying more every week for fuel, groceries and the basics of daily life - none

budget for Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, retrofits and taken only €43 off the €1,500 cost of a home heating oil refill. The freezing of funding for active travel means that in real terms the Government has slashed budgets for walking and cycling measures. With this … their energy bills. The Labour Party had proposed all of these measures. Instead, struggling households will pay through the nose to heat their homes this winter and they will pay again when the Government's failure to decarbonise leaves them footing the bill for fines levied

better safety net for struggling families. We know low-income households spend a larger proportion of their income on energy, home heating oil, petrol and diesel, but this cut in excise will only be the same for them as for everyone else. Already, more than 500,000 households … need to see is a plan for targeted energy credits, as the Labour Party has sought. We need to see targeted support for home energy upgrades, to give people a real chance at the green transition the Tánaiste spoke of. We need to see real commitments to ramp

there is always money available at the top. Today, petrol costs almost €1.98 a litre, diesel is over €2.14 a litre and home heating oil is around €1.49 a litre. Families feel those costs every day. When they walk into the supermarket, the basics costs more and more … essentials have all become expensive. Working families, factory workers, farmers, fishermen, hauliers and pensioners are counting every euro before they fill the car, heat the house or buy the groceries yet while ordinary people are struggling with the cost of living, the Government signs

particularly rural ones, regularly talking about the unfairness of carbon tax and the lunacy of increasing the price of petrol, diesel and home heating oil at a time when people are at the pin of their collar. My fundamental difficulty with carbon tax is that it does … they have a hospital or health appointment or if they want to go to watch their local football team play in game, usually home or away. They have no choice. What is the alternative? It may be to purchase an electric car, but most of the people

Netanyahu’s warmongering, and the retaliation by Iran and Hezbollah, we are seeing costs being driven even further through the roof. Home heating oil, notoriously, has jumped 40% in a matter of days. One woman, who emailed me to raise her concerns, had to revise her email before … alone in living that hardship. Let us not even start on housing costs. Unaffordable and unavailable, last month the median price for a home in Dublin broke €500,000 and the Government's new rental rules mean an amnesty on rent hikes and an incentive to evict. There

households receive direct supports relating to fuel. The extension of the temporary excise cuts in 2027 and cuts to carbon tax on home heating oil and gas will help to ease the pressures on households and businesses facing higher costs as a result of the volatility of those … transition to a heat pump or renewable heat system. Grants of up to €9,000 are available for solar PV and battery systems for eligible households with fully funded battery and solar available under the warmer homes scheme and the medically vulnerable scheme. These are all effective immediately

cost-of-living crisis and mounting inflation." The question we ask here tonight is if this is fair? As we heard, home heating oil is the most expensive it has been in a generation. Petrol and diesel are on course to exceed the highest prices on record. Ordinary … just transition that was promised? Why are data centres that are sucking the national grid dry not being forced to introduce district heating systems? That is something that could be done. It would not cost the State anything. It is happening in one of the data centres

heart we haven't the price of a meal out when we have our bills paid. Winter is upon us and we have oil heating, it isn't going on we have an open fire but that just purposes the living room, but at least we have … They are the absolute facts, so we will do everything we can to force the Government to abolish carbon tax on home heating oil; to reduce the cost of petrol and diesel; abolish the USC on the first €40,000; to tackle the soaring cost of energy, insurance

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 … 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

only ratcheted up over the summer. Electricity prices are soaring. Nearly 330,000 households are now behind on their electricity bills. Home heating oil is nearly 50% more expensive than it was last year. Families are facing into one of the most expensive times of year. The back … systems are failing children. There is tragedy on our roads. The majority of young people now believe they will never own their own home. Families all over the country are still scrambling for school or bus places for their children. The healthcare staffing crisis is spiralling

increase in their electricity bills, a €140 annual increase to their gas bills and 322,000 households in arrears. The cost of home heating oil is up 60% in the past year. For so many people who are really struggling, this budget simply did not come near addressing … heating is not covering the costs. It is, of course, because the Government has failed to deliver on matters such as retrofitting. Fundamentally, when we look at local authorities, the area for which the Government is responsible, only 2,671 local authority homes were retrofitted

about the effect this is having on them, about how anxiety-inducing a trip to the petrol station has become and about how heating bills feel like a looming threat. For so many households, the cost of getting to work or bringing the kids to school … investigation by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, is clear. Within hours of this war beginning, we saw prices soar for home heating oil and at the petrol pump despite the fact that, as we know, fuel stocks are bought well in advance. The fuels being supplied

carbon tax increase of 2 cent per litre, Ireland is set to become the most expensive country in the EU for diesel. Home heating oil will go up €20 per fill. Car diesel will go up €1.48 per fill. Petrol will go up €1.25 per fill. Gas will … over 16,000 people homeless and more than 5,000 of these are children. This budget does not help them get a home. During the election, this Government promised that the cost would be down by €200 per month per child. Where is that promise today? Aside from