Windfall Tax on the Excess Profits of Energy Companies: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30
============================================================

Pa Daly (SF), Kerry

I thank the Social Democrats for bringing this very important procedure before the House. At a time when Ireland has the highest energy bills in Europe and over 1 million households can expect high bills from tomorrow, and when energy arrears are at record highs and continue to rise month after month, it is indefensible that energy giants are making extraordinary profits while ordinary people are left behind. That is why we are supporting calls for the immediate introduction of a robust windfall tax. This debate comes down to one simple question: who should benefit from a crisis?
Families across the State have been hammered by soaring electricity and gas costs. People are cutting back on essentials and falling into debt. Meanwhile, energy companies continue to rake in profits on a scale that many ordinary people cannot even comprehend. These are windfall profits driven by war, international instability and global energy shocks. Profits are generated because families have no choice but to pay to heat their homes and do whatever it costs to keep their lights on.
Just two months after increasing prices for over 1 million households, the ESB announced profits of €636 million. What message is that sending to struggling families? When people are being told to tighten their belts, cut their spending and absorb even higher costs, they see these types of profits and executives receiving enormous pay increases while profits continue to soar. The most recent analysis of major oil companies found that the world's eight largest oil firms amassed $93 billion in profits during just three months of the recent conflict involving Iran. While families worry about paying their next bill, somebody else is counting record profits and that cannot be defended. A windfall tax is simply about fairness and justice. Companies making crisis profits should make a fair contribution back to society and that is just common sense.
Let us be very clear about another excuse the Government can no longer hide behind. We heard the Tánaiste suggest that any action on windfall taxes is better taken at European level, implying that Ireland should wait for Brussels before acting. However, even the European Commission has directly contradicted that position. Yesterday the climate Commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, said - I think was in response to one of Deputy Whitmore's questions - that taxation in this area remains a matter for individual member states and that member states can act if they so choose. He even when so far as to suggest that pursuing a common EU approach was not the best way forward due to legal complications and the need for consensus among member states. He made it clear that national governments already have the powers to introduce those matters themselves. In other words, Ireland does not need any permission from Brussels, we do not have to wait for any European-wide agreement and we do not need another excuse for delay.
He said that taxation is the prerogative of member states. The power exists, the legal authority exists, the precedent exists and countries across Europe have already demonstrated that these measures can be implemented. When the Government claims its hands are tied, that simply does not add up. The obstacle is the lack of political will. The truth is that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the supporting Independents can introduce a windfall tax if they so choose. They have the power to do so but the question is whether they are going to act. Why do they refuse to act while families are facing the highest electricity prices in the European Union, record energy arrears and another winter of rising bills? It is a Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael choice, and ordinary workers and families are paying the price for that choice every single day.
Sinn Féin would make a different choice. We would introduce a 75% windfall tax on excess profits and reintroduce energy credits to provide immediate support in the short term to households. We would reform the energy market to hold companies accountable and end the energy rip-off that consumers face. Every euro raised through that tax would be used to reduce bills, tackle arrears, support retrofitting programmes and help those trapped in energy poverty. It is an essential public good. As we approach another winter, families need action not excuses. The Government is asking households to absorb rising costs while allowing the corporations to keep extraordinary profits. It is not fairness, it is not leadership and it certainly is not inevitable. It is a choice that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have made. They should stop protecting the excess profits of the corporations, stop defending an energy system that is failing ordinary people and introduce a windfall tax without delay.

---

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