Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This energy price crisis has been with us now for the guts of a year. The Government has taken a series of responses. In October last, through the budget we increased the fuel allowance, the qualified child allowance, the working family payment and the living allowance, targeted to those most at risk of fuel poverty. Three weeks ago, we went further with the €500 million package in terms of the €200 credit which will help people with their bills. It will not cover the full increase, but it will help this month. We introduced a 20% reduction in public transport fares, which commenced yesterday and is only the first in a series of fare reductions. We also increased again the fuel allowance and are helping with school transport and other costs. Again, that will not cover the full cost of what is happening.

Since then, a war has started on our Continent. Our first thought is in regard to how we can help and address that on the humanitarian side. The underlying root-cause behind some of this is our reliance on imported fossil fuel. The fact that so much money is going from Europe to Russia every day is the fundamental problem that we have to address. We went further yesterday with a cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel. In doing that, we said that it would not cover the full cost and that this is a market which is incredibly volatile, beyond precedent. On Tuesday, the wholesale market for diesel in Ireland increased by 22 cent. Yesterday, it decreased by a similar amount. It is yoyoing. It is dramatic. We cannot be exactly certain where it is going to go or where this war will go. We will have to manage it. It will serve nobody if we panic or have a panicked response. We have to be methodical and to keep responding in the same way as we did to Covid by being flexible and quick.

The Government would love to go further, of course we would. The first thing we must do - the Canadian ambassador will know this - is stand for the rule of law. This conflict is ultimately between the rule of international law and democratic constitutional legal systems and those who take a different view of how the world should be run. The rule of law protects us. The rule of law gives us strength, European law especially, in this country. What we did we did within the European law. That was correct. The law may change. Today at the European Council the Taoiseach will be, I am sure, looking to see what more we can do, what further flexibilities and protections and help we can provide, but we will always do it within European law.

On home heating oil, we had a discussion on it three weeks ago. The Deputy and I have different views. The tax on home heating oil is largely carbon tax. That is the form of excise, levied at 8.5 cent per litre, as the Deputy said.

Is Sinn Féin saying we should remove that and get rid of all the carbon tax revenue? As I said three weeks ago, the problem I have with that is that this would, in turn, remove the money we use to give the 100% grants to people's homes to help them cut their bills. That is the choice we must think about. The Sinn Féin policy has been that we should retain the carbon tax but not apply the further increases, but if we do not apply the increase, on the average full fill it might give people an average of 5 cent per day. Five cents per day is not going to protect people or cover the full costs. We must look at other means and measures, and we will. This means efficiency measures as well as price reductions. Ultimately, more than anything else, we must switch from foreign fuels to using our own. I am sure this is something Sinn Féin would surely support. We must switch from oil to wind. In that way we could provide security for our people and cut their bills. That is the change we need to make.

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