Simon Harris: Extends Fuel Tax Cuts to October 2026

I want to begin today by being very clear about what this resolution means for the Irish people. The government has decided to extend the current temporary excise reductions on petrol and diesel from the 31st of August until the 31st of October 2026. The increases that were due to take effect next week will now not happen. Mineral oil tax will therefore remain reduced on a VAT-inclusive basis by 30 cent per litre for diesel and 25 cent per litre for petrol until the end of October. We're also extending the temporary reduction applying to marked gas, oil or green diesel. From November onwards, the current intention is that these temporary measures will be restored on a gradual and phased basis. But as we have done throughout this crisis, the government continues to monitor developments closely. We look at the international situation, we look at the global energy markets, we look at the price of the pumps and we take decisions based on the circumstances that actually exist at the time, not predictions that people endeavour to make many, many months in advance. The decision taken by government this week provides certainty for September, certainty for October. It provides breathing space for families and for businesses. And it ensures that rather than facing a cliff edge, any restoration of these measures can be managed carefully and responsibly. The estimated cost to the Exchequer from 1 September 2026 until the final restoration on 28 February 2027 is approximately €407 million. This is, by any measure, a significant intervention. And indeed, as colleagues know, it does not stand alone. Since March, government has temporarily reduced mineral oil tax on petrol, diesel and green diesel and has reduced the NORA levy to a nominal amount. Taken together, these measures have delivered savings or reductions to families and businesses of £0.32 per litre of diesel, £0.27 per litre of petrol and £0.74 per litre of green diesel. We increased the maximum repayment rate under the diesel rebate scheme from £0.05 to £0.12 per litre of qualifying fuel, supporting the road haulage and passenger transport sectors. We provided an additional €152 payment to fuel allowance recipients. We deferred the scheduled May increase in carbon tax, and we introduced targeted supports for highly affected sectors for road transport operators, farmers, farm contractors and fishers. We have also ensured that the enhanced maximum repayment rate under the diesel rebate scheme will now be extended until the end of this year. Taken together, this government will have provided more than €1.3 billion in supports over a 12-month period to assist households and businesses with increased energy costs arising from the conflict in the Middle East. This is about helping families who have been affected by events that are taking place thousands of kilometres from their home. It is about supporting businesses who are watching every single increased cost eat into their viability. It is about hauliers, farmers and other sectors that are essential to keeping our economy and parts of it moving. It is about recognising a basic reality. When circumstances change, responsible government must be capable of changing with them. Despite some easing in global prices in recent days, international energy markets remain exceptionally volatile. Nobody in this House will know with certainty where the price of oil will be in November. Nobody knows where it will be in January. Nobody knows what geopolitical development may affect markets next week, never mind next year. What government does have, though, is responsibility. A responsibility to respond to the circumstances in front of us, to use the best information available, to act at the right time and, above all, to act in the interests of the Irish people. That is why we have recalibrated our approach and we will remain nimble to respond into the future. That is responsible decision-making in an uncertain world and it is what this resolution today does. But we also have a responsibility to level with the people. No government, no government anywhere in the world can completely insulate their country from a global energy shock. No government can indefinitely use the tax system to cancel movements in international commodity markets. To suggest so is dishonest politics. And Ceann Comhairle, there is a much bigger issue here. We should not simply ask how we cushion Ireland from this particular energy shock. We should ask how we make Ireland less vulnerable for the next one. Because this is now the second major fossil fuel shock Ireland has experienced in the space of half a decade. That tells us something. Our dependence on imported fuels is not only an environmental vulnerability, it is a real economic vulnerability. That is why the green transition cannot be presented as something that is being done to households or done to businesses. It has to be something that works for households and works for businesses. Good climate policy is also good economic policy. That is why government will continue to support households and business make the transition. We need to make it easier and more affordable for households. We need to continue the rollout of home energy upgrades and retrofitting. We need to support people who want to move to electric vehicles and ensure the charging infrastructure keeps pace. We need to, as we are, invest in an electricity grid. And we need to accelerate the development of indigenous renewable energy. Because the prize here is much bigger than just meeting some sort of target. The prize here is, in Ireland, a country where households and businesses have greater control over their own energy costs. An Ireland where businesses have access to secure and competitively priced electricity. And an Ireland that is less exposed every time instability erupts in an oil producing region in the world. That work is well underway. The National Energy Affordability Taskforce is looking at energy costs around. Not simply what government can do during the immediate crisis, but at the structural changes that can reduce costs over the medium and longer term. Minister Dara O'Brien is leading that work on behalf of the government and it will continue to be a major focus of our work. Because our response must operate on two tracks. We have to help people through the crisis in front of us, but we have to reduce our exposure to the next crisis. These are not competing objectives. They are two parts of the same strategy. And I know amendments and arguments will be advanced today in relation to carbon tax. Let me deal with that directly. I support the carbon tax. The Programme for Government supports the carbon tax. I know many opposition parties support the carbon tax. Over the summer months, my own department published tax strategy papers which gives consideration to issues and options around carbon tax, as they do every year. This presents us with an opportunity to have an informed discussion in government and in the Oireachtas. But these are matters to be considered in the round and in the context of budgetary decisions. Today is not the budget. Today we have recalled Dáil Éireann for a very specific and immediate purpose. There were increases at the pump due to hit motorists next week. We have decided that that should not now happen. There was an immediate issue requiring an immediate decision and today we wish to take that decision. The budget will provide the appropriate opportunity to consider broader questions around affordability, taxation policies, fuel poverty and how we support households in the here and now with the real cost of living pressures that they face. That is the responsible way to make policy. Examine the evidence, understand the costs and the consequences and make decisions in the round. If the last six months have taught us anything, it is how rapidly the world can change. Oil prices can rise, they can fall, supply routes can be disrupted. We have seen enormous movements in energy markets over just a few short weeks. So locking the Irish taxpayer into decisions many months and possibly years in advance, regardless of what happens internationally, is not certainty, it is actually imprudence. We are providing certainty where we can do so responsibly. Certainty in September, certainty in October and a government that continues to keep all matters under review as well. That is the right way to make the right decision on the basis of the facts that exist at this point in time. It is what nimble government looks like, it is what agile government looks like and it is what responsible economic management looks like in a volatile world. So today we take a decision to give households, to give motorists, to give businesses some attempt at breathing space, to give some certainty, to avoid an abrupt increase of the pumps next week and to retain the flexibility as a government and as an Oireachtas to continue to respond as we see best on cost of living matters in the round, in the budget, in a few short weeks' time. But at the same time, we will not lose sight of the longer term answer. So our approach is clear. Breathing space now, certainty where we can provide it, but intensive work towards greater energy independence for the future. That is what this resolution is about and that is why I commend the resolution to the House. It is unusual enough, Kean-Cora, for the Dáil to be recalled during a period of recess, but it also happens to be recalled at a time where there is an esteemed member of our political press gallery covering proceedings in this chamber for the very final time. For more than four decades, Sene Maloney has held those of us in public life to account. Senin has always brought a great sense of wit and humour to his work, together with curiosity, determination and professionalism. So it just so happens, as I move this resolution today on behalf of government, I want to join with so many across the political divide in wishing you, Senin, and your family every happiness for a long, fulfilling and very well-deserved life.