We are all aware of the cost-of-living crisis that people face. We are conscious that there has been a reduction in the level of excise for petrol and diesel, which is being extended now by the Finance Bill. We are also conscious that there is an EU energy tax directive that places limitations on what the State can do in terms of reducing excise duties. That being said, there is still further scope to reduce the level of excise and, therefore, reduce the cost of petrol by 15 cent and reduce the cost of diesel by another 12 cent. This would entail the suspension of the diesel rebate scheme but that would not be at a cost to hauliers because they would get the reduction directly at the fuel pumps, which is slightly greater than what they get under the rebate scheme. There has been no reduction whatsoever in terms of excise on home heating oil. As there is no limitation on home heating oil in the energy tax directive, we could remove excise from home heating oil by reducing it by €117 per 1,000 l fill.

The Minister will be very conscious that despite reducing excise on petrol and diesel, the price of both is still at a very high level. Many fuel pumps across the State have priced diesel at €2 or more per litre although over the last day the price may have dropped slightly. However, the price of diesel has increased by nearly 70% since January of last year and for the same period the price of petrol has increased by more than 40% even if one factors in reductions.

It is crazy what has happened to the price of home heating oil because it has increased by 145% since January of 2021. In my view the increase is a slight against rural communities in the main because the Government has continually increased the price of home heating oil. The Government recognised that measures had to be taken to combat gas prices and reduced the rate of VAT. Home heating oil is how two thirds of people in the west and north west heat their homes. People in my home county of Donegal predominantly use home heating oil to heat their homes. There is no gas, no gas pipelines and no gas infrastructure in County Donegal. Across the west, as much as 58% of people use home heating oil to heat their homes. Across the State the percentage of users is 37% but that percentage is skewed by Dublin because a smaller proportion of people use home heating oil in Dublin. Along the Border region, in the north west, 66% of homes use home heating oil. Even though a high percentage of people use home heating oil, there have been numerous increases in its price. Sinn Féin has debated this issue. We will continue to debate the situation and push the Government on the matter. As I said, the energy tax directive has no limitations to prevent us from going further so we can reduce the price of petrol by 15 cent. As there are no limitations we can reduce the price of home heating oil by another by €117 per 1,000 l fill. There are limitations on diesel and, therefore, the Government needs to suspend the diesel rebate scheme but that does not come at the cost as hauliers would benefit from a 12 cent reduction in price at the fuel pumps, which would allow us to reduce the price to the minimum rate allowable by the energy tax directive. I strongly argue that these rates apply until the end of February 2023 and that the matter is assessed at that point.