Energy and Fuel Costs: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-29 ============================================================ Lorraine Clifford-Lee (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach I too welcome this debate, which might be the first of many debates will have on energy over the coming years because, of course, it is one of the frontiers of our geopolitical landscape and something we will be dealing with for many years to come. We all live in the real world. We know that people are under pressure. We know that fuel poverty is a real thing. Many people are looking towards the winter with great trepidation. The Strait of Hormuz is central to all of this. The Government is very aware of it and very concerned over the ongoing conflict. The diplomatic efforts that we partake in at every level are the key to unlocking this. We have had unprecedented success with our diplomatic efforts in recent years. I think particularly of the visit of President Trump a few weeks ago. Many parties in this House and the other Chamber want this Government to boycott any visit of an American president. It was a coup to actually have such time and have a positive engagement with the president because that soft power is something that we can utilise hopefully to bring about some positive change in the global sphere. We are well known for our peace efforts. The Government should take a greater role in trying to solve the current Middle East conflict. Of course this is not the only conflict. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has had a devastating impact on fuel security right across Europe. The Government very swiftly dealt with that when that incursion happened. However, we are where we are. We are in a position to offer significant support and we have offered significant support over the past number of months in particular because of the prudent management of our economy, because of setting up rainy day funds, because of setting up of all sorts of schemes and being able to manage our way through this process. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is actively monitoring the evolving geopolitical situation and its implications. It is a moveable feast and every day we can see the price of oil and diesel going up. There is only so much that the Government can do but the Minister has set up a cross-governmental national energy affordability task force chaired by his Department. It continues to work at pace to assess the implications of the Iran conflict on energy affordability in Ireland and to identify appropriate short-, medium- and long-term responses. This is key to delivering the appropriate responses in the budget next week. I am in the same boat as most people in this Chamber. We are just reading the reports we are not privy to what is going on. However, I know fuel affordability is to the forefront of the Minister, Deputy Chamber's, mind and the Taoiseach's mind, particularly the cost of home heating oil used mainly in older and less energy-efficient homes. Older homeowners might not be in a position to upgrade their homes as many people have done in recent years. I was particularly heartened to see the boiler scrappage scheme announced yesterday. I look forward to that having a real impact on the ground because, as I said, older people might not necessarily be able to afford the full cost of upgrading their system and decarbonise their home heating. Border security, fuel security and food security are to be the central themes for the next number of years. My colleague Senator Boyhan touched on the food security aspect, something I have spoken about time and time again. North County Dublin where I live has a huge tradition of horticulture. For example, we produce 47% of the potato output in country. Across all the fields and in protected horticultural produce, they are very energy-efficient. However, we need to support our farmers and particularly our farmers in Dublin, if I may be parochial, because of the huge food output that we have. They are coming under a lot of pressure from a fuel point of view. Productive land is being taken over for solar farms and for housing. Because we are in the greater Dublin area, it is very hard for them to remain productive. However, for our security purposes we need to have adequate supports in place for the horticulture industry and perhaps that comes from EU funds. We need be thinking about this on an EU basis. Because we export a huge portion of our agricultural produce to the EU, Ireland is key to keeping Europe food secure. I know the Minister of State will take that back given his own work within the Department of foreign affairs. I know all of these larger geopolitical issues are in his considerations. The Government has done a lot. As has already been mentioned, 25% of households are now in receipt of the fuel allowance which is really significant. An extra 470,000 households are receiving this financial support which is really significant. The extension of the period for receipt of the fuel allowance has also meant that people have more money in their pocket. We need to constantly look at what we are doing. It is an evolving situation. We need to decarbonise and need to secure our own needs so we are not as vulnerable to these types of shocks in the future. As I said, this is one of the frontiers that unfortunately we will be dealing with. The more aware we all become of the need to be energy secure, the more work we can do in these Houses. --- 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/seanad/2026-09-29/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-29