Search the record

call for a joint EU windfall tax, the funds from which could be used to ease pressure on consumers in the face of high energy prices. They also say it would send a clear message to those companies making a profit from the consequences of war. Ireland

there will be no windfall tax at a European level. That is the wrong position - I absolutely agree on that - but in this Parliament, the Minister, as the Minister for Finance, can bring one in if he wants. He can tax the excess profits. We are talking

even more firmly than Margaret Thatcher's Government across the water. We handed over this precious resource to the private sector, which has profited from it ever since. That is how we got from the point where we had the cheapest electricity, publicly owned, to the most expensive … attempts to get those costs down by engaging with the energy companies. Is it any wonder the Government will not even consider a windfall tax? A windfall tax would give the Government the resources to bring back the energy credits. The Government has them anyway but it would

ECOFIN meeting following pressure from other Ministers. I am sorry, but the Government was dragged kicking and screaming to even discuss a windfall tax at that appropriate forum. One of the other things I picked up from the language in the Minister of State's statement … experiencing, and that is the urgency the Government is failing to deal with. Electricity companies can take the hit. We are seeing record profits. ESB pre-tax profits were €445.6 million for the first half of 2026. There are huge price rises, with energy costs per household

Households struggle to pay bills. There are higher energy costs and a carbon tax. It is an injustice. At a time when exceptional profits arise from extraordinary market conditions rather than increasing productivity or investment, it is reasonable that the State provides some kind of fair contribution … father and many other farmers planted apples in the sixties. In October, or a day or two before, there would be a large windfall of apples. We picked the windfalls the day after as young boys and girls and brought a trailer of apples to Clonmel to make

They are paying through higher energy bills, rents, bank fees, insurance premiums and food costs. During the cost-of-living crisis, profiteering and price gouging are going on and we have seen an absolute failure of the Government to tackle that. There are other things the Government could … energy costs. We in the Social Democrats believe there should be a targeted €400 energy credit. We could pay for that by a windfall tax on the energy companies. It is extremely frustrating that European leaders wrote to Simon Harris, the Tánaiste, to put this on the table

bills. That tells us everything we need to know. It is absolutely scandalous that at the top of the chain we see supernatural profits. That is, in part, due to market design. The price of electricity is not set by the cost of making electricity. Rather … same sky-high price, even though the cost of wind and sun did not change and has not changed. That is the windfall we speak of. That is why we need to move to address it. It is no longer good enough to blame the European Union

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 … 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

privatise it. Other reasons have been given and I accept there are other factors, but one is that because it is privatised, profit-making actions are taken by the companies generating electricity. We need to get into our heads that this has happened. Mortgages … game. We need to look at those households that have an income under €75,000 a year. The Government should bring in a windfall tax on the large energy companies. There are good examples across Europe of where that is happening. We need to reverse the VAT cuts

over this Bill. Workers get €200 of a tax cut in the year but if you are an investor who made a profit of €1 million this year, you get a tax cut of €20,000 in this Bill. Vulture funds are dancing at this Bill. They … bills, there is no sign of energy credits being introduced again by this Government. There is also no sign of the windfall tax Sinn Féin and others are demanding to make sure the very companies that are ripping off those same customers are actually taxed properly. The priorities

have them all here. There are a couple of points I want to respond to. I believe there is significant merit in a windfall energy tax. This is not just me commenting on it, as I chaired a meeting on it in Dublin Castle last week with … start of the Ukraine situation after the brutal, illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine. There are some companies that are benefiting very significantly from profits, not because they are enterprising or innovative, but just because the Strait of Hormuz is shut. Therefore, there is a compelling case. Working

Bill has nothing to do with security of tenure, renters or balancing the rights of renters and landlords. It is about giving a windfall to institutional investors in this country, namely large corporate landlords. That is what it is about. The Government has bought in - hook, line … investors. They are willingly making policy and laws to screw renters and the younger generation so that the institutional investors can make more profit. The Government is happy to stand over that. I mentioned earlier the disconnect from the human misery this Bill is going to bring about

relevant post Covid - the advisory council, the so-called watchdog, has being urging extra-special caution. It warns that the corporate tax receipts windfall could dry up at any time and should not be factored into economic deliberations. Before this budget, it stated: Given that the economy … reduction in VAT for the hospitality sector, and while the small café benefits, so, too, does the larger entity that is making massive profits. Ronald McDonald gets the tax breaks while the McDonald family members living in Clondalkin, Lucan, Palmerstown and so on struggle to keep up with

large energy corporations the Government is refusing to tax properly. It is not just the normal taxation, they are making super profits, extraordinary profits that they could never have envisaged, and the Government is refusing to ask them to play their part, to do their … will bring a level of fairness into this debate. Instead of saying the EU has ruled out an EU-wide energy windfall tax, which is what has happened, or saying the Government agrees with this motion, it will support it and it will bring in a national windfall

economy, which clearly they are, let us be consistent. Investing in people is every bit as economically transformative as investing in profits. A report a couple of years ago by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul calculated the cost of poverty to this State to be about … prison spaces but cannot find the courage to fund early intervention programmes for young people at risk; a Government that celebrates corporate windfalls but ignores the social collapse happening in plain sight in our capital city. There is almost nothing in this budget that deals with early intervention

Deputy Healy-Rae have kicked them to the curb. In the months leading up to this budget, we have seen eye-watering profits for major energy companies while they hike their prices for consumers. The Government was perfectly happy to issue blanket energy credits in recent budgets … multinational companies and the billions of euro in taxes they contribute. That level of reliance on what has often been described as windfall taxes also generates an insecurity and instability for many. What the Labour Party, as a constructive party of opposition with a proud record on workers