Pearse Doherty: Cut Fuel Duty Now or Leave Families Cold

Deputy Deputy-Secretary Dear Maighe, D'fhiasg an Coirleann, tonight at 7.45 the country will come to a standstill to cheer on the boys in green in Prague and I must say but it is wrong that so many people in the north who share the same passion the same identity may be unable to watch their national team free to air because it's geo-blocked and this is something that the government really needs to urgently address. I was a young lad when Donny Gall's own famous son Peggy Bonar made that save to set Ireland up for a victory in Italian 90 and that memory stays with me and let's hope the lads can do the business tonight and take us a step closer to our first World Cup in 24 years because I think the nation believes and the nation is right behind them. A thánaiste, a leoir gearchaim brosle aros comhse, ta do rialtas a ngé teáilí a ta breath ar óle chas a tí a agal ar leoir. Nghéan fhor mhor mhorach u an leointas fhoineaghs go bhfáil, caith se do linn leach le chasas agal le nairdse agus a nairdse agus réine do gheantae a gheannu ach u. Agus ní a phaiseu a bhí ó níos cent a ta ceadaí a chastaíon fíor thacairt óne chaisleí seo agus chastaíon sé anois. Rudd a gheannu diphar leoir a na phail réi leis an chén carban ar óle chas a tí. Thánaiste, let's talk about fairness because you spoke about fairness yesterday but where's the fairness for the 750,000 households relying on home heat and oil? The vast majority of them that don't get any fuel allowance, who've seen their costs to fill soar to eye-watering levels and your response? Two cent a litre, 20 cent reduction in the cost, 20 euro reduction in the cost of a fill and incredibly you're going to take back this measly 20 euro, back off them in a couple of weeks when you jack up the prices by increasing carbon tax. That's not fairness, it's insulting and people know it because let me tell you what this actually looks like, Thánaiste. A support worker contacted me, working constant overtime, trying to keep two children in college and one in school. She told me she's exhausted, burnt out and still can't get ahead. Electricity up, food up, fuel up and now she's sitting, she's sitting, Thánaiste, with no heat on, asking what is the point. I had another woman contact me in the last day, 67 years of age, she's still working. She told me that she only turns on the heat when her grandchildren visit. She is saving the last little oil she has for them. Now think about that for a second. People are denying themselves the basic heat in their own homes and that's the reality of your decisions, whether you like it or not. And Sinn Féin put a clear proposal to you this week. Remove excise duty and strip out carbon tax from home heat and oil. Real, immediate relief. But you refused. You dug in. So I ask you again, why? Why, when you know that these measures are not enough, did you choose to leave people short? Thánaiste, you should be bringing a financial resolution before the House today. We should be reducing excise duty on home heat and oil tonight and giving the maximum reduction on diesel that is possible and the same on petrol. And you need to recognise that you've made a serious, serious mistake. Because from today this place will not sit for 20 days. 20 days. And families are going to be left to fend for themselves. Left high and dry. Left trying to stretch whatever is left in the tank. Left making impossible choices. So my question to you again is simple. Will you act now? Will you do the right thing? Will you recognise the mistakes that you've made? Will you stop abandoning the 750,000 households that rely on home heat and oil to heat their homes? Will you bring the resolution and cut excise duty on that fuel? Or are you going to continue to abandon those households, to leave people to struggle, knowing full well that your measures don't come close to cutting it? Tony Smith. Thanks very much Lasky and Corlea. Let's start where we can agree in a rare moment of unity in this House. It seems it's working well. Which is working well? The football team. The football team. It could kind of bring us together. It has started off going well. I was thinking I might lean into that Lasky and Corlea, to start in a moment of harmony. Because I genuinely want to join all members in this House. I know people right across the country in supporting the Irish national team, the Irish soccer team tonight, as they take on Czechia this evening. At a time of real challenge in our country and in our world, of turmoil, of uncertainty, the Irish team have really lifted our spirits. And there is a real sense of belief from the youngest to the oldest person in this country that Ireland can do this. And I really want to wish our manager, Heimer, the entire team, the many thousands of fans who've travelled to Czechia to be there, and the many, many, many more, millions, who will tune in tonight. I want to wish everybody the very best. We are all behind our team. And in the truest possible sense of the phrase, come on you boys in green. Deputy Doherty, we've brought in this week one of the largest interventions of any EU member state based on our population to help people. To help people in the here and now. To help people at the petrol pump. To help people with the price of diesel. To help our hauliers. To help our coach operators. And to help those most at risk of fuel poverty, including those most at risk when it comes to things like the cost of their home heating oil. And you know that as well. And you know from as soon as next week, nearly 500,000 households in this country will benefit from the decision we took to increase the fuel allowance. And I want to provide clarity in this house today, because I don't know about your office, but I've certainly got queries from people wondering if they'd opted in to the lump sum payment to the fuel allowance. Do they have that opportunity to receive the four week extension in the same format, in the same lump sum? And they do. And that can be paid from next week too. So we have taken real practical measures. 70 million euro worth of additional fuel allowance, which I think everybody in this house supports. It's a measure that's targeted. It's a measure that helps those most at need. It helps many working families, by the way, because we've extended it to the working family payment. It helps many pensioners, many older people, many people with a disability, many carers. And it factually helps those most in need of assistance with the cost of fuel. And I think extending that into the summer period, considering the level of volatility now and fuel, is the right thing to do. We also, though, took the practical measures to help everybody. The more universal measures in terms of excise. I think there was general widespread support for that in this house too. You didn't vote for it at the end. You had a different set of proposals from everybody else in the opposition, pretty much every other political party in the opposition. But they might have different ideas and they might have wanted to do different packages. When push came to shove, they still pressed the tall button in favour of cutting excise on petrol and diesel. You were too partisan and too involved in performative politics, so much for the united opposition. You were left on your own when the rest of the opposition said, maybe just on this one occasion we'll take off our party jersey and actually vote with the government because this package of measures will help people in some way. And I thank people who constructively engaged on that. There clearly is a constructive opposition in this house and then there is Sinn Féin. I also want to say, in relation to the carbon tax, there was a document published on Budget Day in relation to the use of carbon tax funds. And you're at this a long time, Piers. You're 16 years at this, in fact, as the longest serving opposition spokesperson of finance in the history of our state. The carbon tax allocation clearly goes to those most in need. And it clearly shows that it is helping people most at risk. It's helping people when it comes to fuel allowance. It's helping people with the living alone allowance. It's helping people in our farming communities. It's helping with the transition in terms of EV grants, EV infrastructure. It's helping in terms of the peak lands rehabilitation. And it is progressive and helps those most in need as well. You oppose it. I think you're nearly on your own. You might have a few others, but of the main opposition parties, I think you're on your own in opposing the carbon tax as well. So there's actually, it's no longer opposition versus government. It's most parties in this house against Sinn Féin when it comes to policy rationale here. Because you cannot resist this kind of populist tendency to just oppose everything for the sake of opposing everything. There are real challenges. We may well need to intervene again, Lasky and Córda, but the package we put in place was the right package for the right moment and will remain nimble and agile in any further interventions that are needed. More spin, more deflection from the Minister. And nonsense what you say. Everybody knows what happened. We've led on this issue. We've led on this issue. We put forward an amendment that would have seen the maximum reduction for people in terms of diesel. That would have seen the same reduction for petrol. And that would have seen excise duty completely removed from home heat and oil. A cost that has nearly doubled in four weeks. And what did you do? What did your colleagues in Fianna Ghael do? And the independent Laskies that support you? You voted it down. You left 750,000 families in the lurch. That's what you did. You abandoned them. And I put it to you directly. What do you say to the individual, the majority of them who do not get fuel allowance? What do you say to that woman who was talking to me, who is sitting in her home that can't put on the heat? What do you say to her? What do you say to the woman that I spoke about last night in the Dáil, who was wrapped in a blanket with a disabled son, who was afraid to turn on the heat? You abandoned those people. And I'm saying to you that we can do the right thing now. You can recognise that you've made a mistake. Bring a financial resolution forward, as Sinn Féin have proposed. Cut excise duty to the maximum amount on home heat and oil. And give people real support at this time of crisis. That's what you should be doing. That's leadership. And that's what we will continue to fight for on behalf of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people right across the state. I hope when you meet somebody at risk of fuel poverty and you bring these cases into the Dáil, I hope as well as just reading them out in the Dáil, I hope you help these people get the financial assistance that our system provides in terms of fuel allowance. And I'd like to see the data, and please send it to me, Deputy, where you believe the majority of people in this country at risk of fuel poverty do not receive any assistance from the state in terms of the fuel costs. Because the fuel allowance... He doesn't need your help. The fuel allowance is paid to almost 500,000 households. 500,000 households. Now, there are people who do not qualify for fuel allowance. And I say to the people who do not qualify for fuel allowance that this government is taking a number of interventions to help. Not just the NORA levy, but also petrol and diesel measures too. And I also say to those people, Deputy Doherty, I also say that we stand ready to intervene further, but we must remain nimble and agile. Did you hear the Central Bank this morning? Have you read the Central Bank's report? If this conflict goes on for a prolonged period of time, we may need to intervene further. Now, you've talked about mistakes. You've made three this week. You've made three this week. Firstly, you said that the state was taking in 38 million euro a week extra in taxes. We're not. Well, look, after 16 years of being opposition spokespersons in finance, presumably you don't just take... Presumably you don't just take... Presumably you actually know the facts. We've not taken in 38 million euro a week. First mistake. Secondly, you've called on us to remove excise and home heating oil. There isn't excise and home heating oil, Piers. There isn't. And thirdly, you said your proposals would cost 100 million a month. They wouldn't. One week, three mistakes. We need to actually engage constructively. Many people across here are trying to operate constructively. But actually what's happened this week is Sinn Féin have been left isolated, not just by the government parties, but also by the opposition parties, because you're engaging in populist, performative politics at a time of serious national challenge. Please grow up.