Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The price of home heating oil is the single largest increase on goods and services in this State in the past year. That is what is happening. With that information, the wise men and women in Government have said, "You know what we should do? We should increase it further on Sunday. Let us put another €20 on the cost of filling your tank on those hard-pressed workers and families." I am making the point that the Government has the ability under EU law, with no restrictions whatsoever, to reduce the cost of filling a tank by €118 by Sunday. We can do that on Sunday night. We can change direction. Instead of the Government putting it up, we can reduce that cost on a temporary basis. To do that until October would cost us €74 million, which is well affordable.

The second point is that no tax is hypothecated in this State under law. No tax is ring-fenced for any purpose. The Government should stop this nonsense that if a carbon tax on home heating oil is reduced to take the pressure off workers and families, we will somehow be penalised in respect of a just transition, or a retrofitting programme and so on, because it simply does not stack up. This is ideological. This is a Government that is completely out of touch, that has seen the largest price increase in energy in this State on a certain oil and has decided its response will be to increase the cost of that oil further. This is daft stuff and the Government needs to change direction.

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