Tax Code Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29 ============================================================ Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow I fully and factually have to accept that the price of diesel and petrol has risen further since the Dáil was recalled. That is a statement of fact and there is an onus on all of us in this House to work in a constructive fashion in terms of more proposals and ideas that we can consider together. Faced with the sudden rise in global energy prices, we have taken a number of actions. We have taken actions that did reduce the price as to what it otherwise would have been at the pumps. We have provided targeted assistance for vulnerable households. We have introduced financial support for critical sectors with acute exposure to high fuel prices. We also have to continue, and we saw more measures today from the Minister Climate, Energy and the Environment, Deputy O’Brien, in relation to vital long-term investment to try to help people who are genuinely trying to transition but need support in terms of that, whether it is replacing the boiler or putting solar panels on the house. We have seen over €1.3 billion in measures targeted at households, farmers, agricultural contractors, hauliers, and businesses. The Government has delivered one of the largest, if not the largest, support packages in the EU per capita . As we finalise the budget for next week, we are extremely conscious of the pressure that people are under when it comes to energy costs and energy prices. We are actively endeavouring to advance a number of issues to provide assistance and certainty to people when it comes to energy, including on excise, and I have already signalled this. We have got to be honest with people, and I think the Deputy accepts this, that there is no government in the world that can absorb all of the impact of the global energy shock. We have already temporarily reduced the mineral oil tax applying to petrol, auto diesel and marked gas oil, MGO. Inclusive of the reduction in the NORA levy, these changes save consumers and businesses 27 cent per litre of petrol, 32 cent per litre of auto diesel and 7.4 cent per litre of MGO. It is perhaps because of those reasons that when I attended a meeting of the budgetary oversight committee last week, I was able to print out an article from the Euronews website that showed while diesel and petrol prices are still very high in Ireland, we were not featuring in the top ten in the European Union for petrol or diesel as of last week. I need to check them again this week. I am just making the point that the interventions are making a difference. I have been very clear. We are not going to be a position to restore those excise measures in November as previously outlined, and we will be bringing forward more proposals to provide certainty for the winter in next month’s budget. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-29