Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

We have increased the fuel allowance by €5. We have also extended it to more than 50,000 households, including people on the working family payment – the clue is in the name: the working family payment. Some 460,000 households will now benefit from the fuel allowance, more than a quarter of the households in the country. That is a practical measure that we took in the budget.

On top of that, to answer the Deputy's question directly, we have taken a very specific measure against the energy companies and price gouging by having a tax on the profits of energy companies which has yielded €271 million over a two-year period. We taxed the energy companies on their profits, but the Deputy left that out as well. On top of that, we reduced the PSO levy-----

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