Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are going to go for it now for the third time and let us see if we can make any progress on this, because the question is very simple. Did the Minister at any time in his correspondence with the Commissioner on 10 March seek flexibility or a reduction in regard to VAT as it applies to home heating oil?

Home heating oil is the source of energy that has gone through the roof most. It has increased by 127% in the past 12 months. It has more than doubled. A third of households in the State use home heating oil as the primary source of heating their homes, and that increases to two thirds in the west and north west. Two thirds of households on the Border use home heating oil as their primary source of heat, compared with 8% in Dublin. Some 69% of households in Dublin use gas compared with 4% in Border counties. We must look at the regional disparities here.

I am coming back to the Minister of State again. The Minister wrote on 10 March, but we already knew from December, because it was in draft form, that he would be able to reduce VAT on energy and on electricity and gas. The question relates to home heating oil. Did the Minister ask in that correspondence for flexibility on a reduction on home heating oil? If he did not, will the Minister now do the job he should have been doing for the past six months?

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