Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We all know what the Government spends it on, but driving people into penury is not the answer. While the Minister will not acknowledge it, it is not complicated to calculate the amount of tax the Government takes for each litre of petrol and diesel. It is as simple as that.

Will the Minister to confirm to the Dáil today whether the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector, the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, which he mentioned, and the excise cut for petrol and diesel will be extended beyond the end of February? That is a simple question. People need certainty. The 260,000 people employed in the hospitality sector and their employers need certainty.

The Minister referred to a slow uptake of the TBESS; it is confined to electricity. I have been contacted by people using oil or gas other than town gas and could not get the TBESS. The Government is making it tricky. The Minister is making it sound as if people did not need or want it. These are the games he is playing with people's lives.

The public deserves a government that will provide certainty. It appears we will not get certainty and rather it will be day after day and issue after issue. People need clarity and certainty that they will be able to heat their homes and go to work. Industry, farms and everybody else who depends on these measures need to know they will continue and they will have certainty.

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