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budget, while big developers once again get hundreds of millions in tax breaks. There is only a €43 cut in home heating oil despite a cost increase of €700. The fuel allowance is cut in real terms despite the prices of electricity and gas going … That would help workers and would not leave 1.5 million workers behind. We would cut energy costs by removing carbon tax from home heating oil. This would have saved people €183 on a full fill of home heating oil. We would reintroduce energy credits at a rate

would go further. We think price caps - and we have said this for some time - need to be imposed on home heating oil, petrol, diesel, electricity and gas. Our proposal is to bring the price of kerosene back to €1 per litre by imposing price controls that would … profiteering while ordinary people are suffering because they cannot pay their bills or, in the case of those who rely on home heating oil, experienced a 70% increase in the cost of heating their homes thanks to Donald Trump and the Israeli regime. The Government should not unload

also failed in relation to delivering on wind power and alternatives. We have a real problem, particularly when we are talking about home heating oil and the 700,000 households that have no choice but to use home heating oil. The carbon tax is not going to allow … lives tomorrow. There are many who are waiting because they have heard kites flown that something may be done in relation to home heating oil. It needs to be done now. It needs to be done straight away. Today, the Irish Cancer Society revealed that cancer patients

could to point out the challenges facing workers and families, with groceries, insurance costs, rents, mortgage costs, and petrol, diesel and home heating oil going up. Every time we raise these issues, the Government has to be dragged kicking and screaming to react. Even when it does react … have been saying to the Government for years now that the cost of home heating oil is extreme. It is far too high. For the 700,000 homes that depend on home heating oil, it is unbearable at the moment, with all the other costs, yet the Government

given the Government the solutions it could implement immediately. It could implement the legislation to cut the cost of petrol, diesel and home heating oil and it could scrap the carbon tax increases. It is breathtaking to hear Government Ministers insist the carbon tax increases on home heating … households on what supports they will bring to the table but they were quick to tell them the carbon tax increases on home heating oil, petrol and diesel all the way to 2030 will be going ahead. It is time for the Government to get real and listen

hope that it would help people. People were let down. They felt genuinely disappointed. A key example is in relation to home heating oil. In the run-up to the budget, it was promised that the Government would get the balance right on home heating oil. There … nothing in terms of the actual impact of the cost-of-living crisis. Since the start of the year, a fill of home heating oil has increased by €713 or 75%. Does the Minister feel that perhaps the Government did not get it right in finding a genuine

Families in south Kildare are struggling with their energy bills. We are heading into another difficult winter and families desperately need support. Home heating oil prices have skyrocketed in the past 12 months, rising by as much as 75% in some cases. A fill of 1,000 litres … working families by temporarily removing all excise duty on home heating oil. The price of 1,000 litres of oil could be reduced by €183. This is the eighth time Sinn Féin has brought forward proposals on home heating oil this year, yet the Government continues to bury

that point. We in Sinn Féin have brought forward legislation to reduce taxes on petrol, diesel and home heating oil. Cuts to taxes on diesel would have made up roughly of that, with green diesel, petrol and home heating oil cuts making up the majority of the rest … needs to lift the burden of people whose backs are against the wall with the rising cost of petrol, diesel and home heating oil

last night was meanness laid bare - too late, stingy, divorced from reality and frankly insulting. Over 750,000 households rely on home heating oil and they are being left behind. The cost of a fill has surged to between €1,600 and €1,800, depending on what … energy arrears and are struggling to heat their homes. There are cold snaps at the end of March and people rely on home heating oil for hot water, including people looking after older or unwell family members at home. It is not good enough for the Government

Irish economy. The Deputy is also right that there is a real issue when it comes to the cost of home heating oil. On that much, we agree. However, we disagree on how to respond. We have taken steps to help people with home heating oil. We took … will know well through its role in the Executive. The measures Sinn Féin is likely to bring in today with respect to home heating oil will also be targeted measures and not universal measures. On the second thing we have done, it is important to listen

County Donegal have watched in despair as the price of fuel at the pumps has continued to creep up. The cost of home heating oil has completely spiralled out of control. The price of fuel at the pumps has gone up so much that families are paying … down between €150 and €200 a month on the cost of transport alone. Since last month, however, the price of home heating oil has nearly doubled. On 28 February, 1,000 litres of heating oil in Donegal cost €940. Two days later, that price had risen

desperately fearful as they see the likely prospect of inflation spiralling again and as they see already, as I have said, home heating oil vastly increased in price. Here is what else the Taoiseach could be doing, because the Labour Party has proposed constructive solutions. The Government could … powers it has under the Consumer Protection Act 2007 to cap the price of home heating oil, as Labour has urged, instead of just saying it will keep matters under review. The Government could, of course, if it was a government that took climate action seriously, invest heavily

there. They are very important to our society and economy, as are construction contractors. To get back to Deputy Daly's question, home heating oil is an area where we have seen significant increases. We have stated already that, in particular, there is a reliance in rural Ireland … exclusively but the majority is in rural Ireland - on home heating oil. We are very aware of the substantial increases in that space. I, the Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach are working on proposals around that. We will work through that between now and the budget

price of diesel has been increased by 70 cent, is not sufficient and is not good enough. The people with kerosene or home heating oil are also very hurt by this. Two cent a litre for them is not enough either. I spoke twice last night … continue without being addressed. The cut of 3 cent was a proper insult, as well as the 2 cent cut to the home heating oil. Not everyone is getting the fuel allowance as many people who should get it are not getting it for one reason or another

cost the Government nothing but I am asking it, please, not to charge the people on the road and those depending on home heating oil. Do not charge them any more than they are being charged already. They are being charged enough taxes. I ask the Government … give it back by reducing the cost per litre at the pump and to get home heating oil in the door. I refer to people who are going to work in cars or picking up schoolchildren, or the people with lorries or trucks on the road going hard

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 … further four weeks. That resulted in additional payments to about 470,000 fuel allowance recipients, many of whom would use home heating oil. It meant a typical household receiving the fuel allowance, which is roughly a quarter of all households in the country, received €1,216 over

just not possible. It is time the Government started to stand with ordinary people, not with the elites. A fill of home heating oil is up over €250 in the past two weeks. No one can afford to fully refill a tank any more. Every week I hear … struggling, especially the elderly and those living with a disability - people with little to no alternative to heating their home with home heating oil. They are the people who do not have the thousands of euro they would need to carry out a retrofit. The motion we have

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

rising cost of home heating oil is a significant concern for households across Ireland. Heating oil is not a luxury, and when heating costs rise, low-income families, older people, those with disabilities and families with young children must decide how to divide their limited household income between … heating, food, electricity, transport, crèche facilities, mortgage or rent payments, and other essential expenses. The average cost of 1,000 litres of home heating oil in September 2025 was €909. In September 2026, it was €1,444, an increase of approximately 59% in one year. This is according

prices on home heating oil and other oil-based fuel products; — that the Government continues to monitor increased energy prices that are felt across Europe and the globe; — that the Government fully understands the pressures on households that have arisen due to rising home heating costs … increased the weekly payment; — the trajectory of the carbon tax has been altered to ease pressure on households, with the rate on home heating oil and gas reduced and paused for the lifetime of the Government; and — a series of new schemes have been developed to help people

families and heat their homes. What am I meant to say to them? The Government is taking 2 cent per litre of home heating oil. At the end of the day, it is frustrating. The Government is giving with one hand and when the carbon tax comes … circumstances because they are trying to meet the basic needs of a human being. Last month in Donegal, 1,000 litres of home heating oil cost €940 while today it costs €1,650, which is a difference of over €700 in 20 days. The Government solution

hitting households. The Government still has not taken necessary steps to make fuel affordable at the pumps and has done nothing on home heating oil despite it reaching the highest prices on record. This is the Government’s second attempt, and once again, it has come up short … measures. This month, it is just more of the same. Petrol and diesel are still on course to exceed record highs and home heating oil remains completely untouched. Across Waterford and the rest of the State, the reality is dark. Green diesel has nearly doubled in price

thousands of people in arrears and unable to pay their gas and electricity bills or crippled with the high price of home heating oil, fuel or diesel. Trump did that and the people who express support for him should be embarrassed by their support for that agenda … home heating oil and all the things that have spiked as a result of Trump's war for oil. It has also, more importantly, imposed death and destruction on the people of Palestine, the Middle East, Venezuela and so on. It is a war for oil which

Tánaiste says that he understands but this year he has not done anything on home heating oil. He has not reduced the excise duty or the carbon tax on that at a time when prices have increased massively. We all understand that prices have increased because … That needs to happen as a matter of urgency. The Government needs to completely remove the carbon tax from home heating oil to give households a break. Carbon tax increases need to be taken off the table. In the context of the prices we have at the moment

Government still has not taken the necessary steps to make fuel affordable at the pumps, and it did nothing on home heating oil. This is despite the fact that heating oil has hit the highest price on record. The last-minute proposed package does not go far enough … stand still. Sinn Féin brought forward legislation over a month ago to reduce the cost of petrol, diesel, green diesel and home heating oil. We called for the maximum reduction for everyone, directly at the pumps, but the Government opposed these common-sense measures. We needed an immediate