Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At the outset, I want to say once again that the Government appreciates that the cost of living is very high, that inflation remains high and that prices are still rising. We understand that the high cost of living is hurting people and families and making it very hard for a lot of businesses to operate in the State. This is driven largely by factors outside our control. Of course we would like to see energy prices being much lower but we are a price taker when it comes to electricity, gas, petrol and diesel, which are almost all imported from abroad. Prices have been driven up internationally by a number of factors, not least the war in Ukraine. We are acting to help. There was €600 taken off people's bills in the form of the electricity energy credit, with €200 still to come off people's bills in March and April. The 9% VAT rate is the lowest VAT rate we have ever had on electricity and gas and it was announced yesterday that we are going to extend it until the end of October. We have reduced the excise on both petrol and diesel. It was due to go up at the end of the month but we have announced now that it will not even start going up until June. We also announced yesterday that we would improve the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, so more businesses will qualify, that they would qualify for more financial support and that it would be backdated to September. As somebody who represents a rural constituency, I know the Deputy will welcome the fact that there will now be a new grant scheme for businesses that are not on the gas network and use liquefied petroleum gas or kerosene instead. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, is putting that scheme together as we speak. There will be a debate on this and a vote in the Dáil. The vote will be to extend the 9% VAT until the end of October and not to put up the cost of petrol and diesel at the end of this month. I hope the Deputy will vote with the Government on that.

See this speech in context