Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have debated long and hard the impact of carbon taxes and the failure of the Minister to reach out to his colleagues in the European Commission to speak about the potential of reducing VAT. This has not happened, despite the fact I raised it with the Minister in September. Deputy Carroll MacNeill rightly points out the Minister brought forward a tax package. The largest part of that package, which she did not mention, cost €340 million and 80% of earners were left out of it. It was the most expensive part of the Minister's tax package and eight out of ten earners were left out of it. In fairness to the Deputy, they are not the people who are struggling the hardest. They may be struggling but 80% did not benefit from the €340 million package. They could have benefited from other measures that were a lot less costly. The issue is that gas prices are increasing time and again. They are likely to increase further given what is happening in eastern Europe. The Minister and the Government are planning to increase them further.

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