Windfall Tax on the Excess Profits of Energy Companies: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30
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Daniel Ennis (SD), Dublin Central

I thank my colleague, Deputy Whitmore, for all her work on this to date. We are about to face into another winter where families will once again have to make incredibly difficult decisions about what they can afford. They will have to decide whether to heat their homes, put enough food on the table, cover school costs or pay electricity bills. For far too many people, it will come down to a stark choice between whether to heat or eat. All the while, energy companies are seeing profits soar and CEOs are seeing enormous pay increases. In the first half of this year alone, as Deputy Whitmore mentioned, ESB Networks made €445 million in pre-tax profits. That is incredible. That is why we are proposing the windfall tax on excess energy profits, with the money raised used to fund a €400 energy credit for low-to-middle income households. These are households that are being squeezed the hardest by the cost-of-living crisis that we are all experiencing. They are hit with price increase after price increase right across the board, while energy companies continue to record these massive profits. We know the scale of the pressure people are under. One in every eight households is in arrears on its electricity bills, and we know this burden is particularly acute in low- and middle-income communities, such as those in my constituency of Dublin Central.
There is something fundamentally unfair about families struggling to keep on top of their bills while energy companies make enormous profits and CEOs see increases in their pay. Emergency supports alone are not enough, however. We also need to focus on bringing energy costs down permanently, which the Government has not focused on. For far too long, the Government has moved from one crisis to another without addressing the underlying problems. A failure to plan for energy price shocks means those with the least ability to absorb higher costs end up paying the higher price.
The Government has already recognised the principle behind what we are proposing. In 2023, it legislated for a windfall tax due to the war in Ukraine. If the principle was right then, why is it wrong now? Why should families facing another difficult winter be asked to shoulder the cost while extraordinary profits in the energy sector are left untouched? While it is true that the Government cannot control every international event that causes energy prices to rise, it absolutely can decide who carries the burden when those prices rise. Allowing households to absorb those higher bills while extraordinary profits go untouched is not inevitable; it is a political choice made by the Government.
The energy crisis and the wider cost-of-living crisis are squeezing families from every direction. I see that in my constituency where some of the most deprived areas in the whole country are located. I deal with awful cases every single day, including those involving elderly people staring into another winter having to decide whether to heat or eat.
The €400 energy credit targeted at low-to-middle income households would make a real and immediate difference to people who are struggling. Our proposal is straightforward: take a portion of the extraordinary profits generated during this energy crisis and put money back in the pockets of the people and households that have been hit the hardest. More fundamentally, a windfall tax is about fairness. It ensures the burden of an energy crisis does not continuously fall on ordinary households while exceptional profits are made elsewhere. Families should not have to choose between heating their homes, feeding their children or paying their bills. They should not be asked to do this while energy companies are recording extraordinary profits.

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Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-30