Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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As the mover of the amendment, I will finish on this point. The amendment is very clear. It is about reducing to zero mineral oil tax on home heating oil until the end of October in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. The Minister talked about measures he is taking. I am not taking away from him on that but, on top of that, the Government also reduced the cost for households, regardless of their income or how many millions they earn a year, of heating their homes if they use gas. In my constituency, however, the Government has decided to increase, regardless of how poor households are, the cost of heating their homes. There is a fundamental issue of equality. The fact the Government thinks it can get away with ignoring 37% of households, with no direct measure to support them in reducing the cost of heating their homes and, indeed, bringing forward a measure to increase that cost in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, is scandalous. It is not appropriate, fair or equitable. It is on that basis we brought forward this amendment. It is the recognition of all that, including recognition of the equality of it, the cost-of-living crisis and that these households, in the main, are in some of the most deprived constituencies, when it comes to poverty indicators.