Windfall Tax on the Excess Profits of Energy Companies: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

Ar an gcéad dul síos, gabhaim buíochas leis na Daonlathaithe Sóisialta as an rún a thabhairt os comhair na Dála. Gan dabht, is iad costais fuinnimh an brú is mó atá ar theaghlaigh sa lá atá inniu ann. An choicís seo amháin, ag tosú Dé Luain, beidh breis agus milliún teaghlach i ndiaidh a gcuid billí fuinnimh a fheiceáil ag dul in airde. Seachtain i ndiaidh na cáinaisnéise, beidh an faoiseamh beag a gheobhaidh siad slogtha ag costais fuinnimh atá ag dul i méid. Anois, agus muid ag díriú isteach ar an gheimhreadh, chímid an líon tithe nach bhfuil ábalta a gcuid billí fuinnimh a íoc ag dul in airde agus in airde. Chímid fosta an líon daoine atá ag streachailt chun solas agus teas a choinneáil ar siúl ina gcuid tithe ag dul in airde.
On Monday, in less than a week, more than a million households will begin to see yet another energy bill hike. A week after the budget, whatever little relief people are to get will be swallowed up by rising energy costs. We are heading into winter with record numbers of households unable to pay their electricity and gas bills. Record numbers are struggling to keep the lights on and the heat running. More than 300,000 households across the State are in arrears with their electricity bills. One in four gas customers cannot pay their bills. Those figures are only the tip of the iceberg. They do not include the families that are cutting back on groceries and other basics to cover these bills. They do not include the households on prepaid meters that are going without heat or running the credit until it runs out. Those people, who are sitting in cold homes, never show up in the official arrears data. Neither do families who cannot afford to fill their oil tanks before winter sets in. This crisis is everywhere. Every town, every village and every county is feeling it. If the Government refuses to restore energy credits in this budget, then things are only going to get worse. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents who support the Government were warned before last year's budget. The energy regulator told them that ending energy credits would push more households into arrears. They ignored those warnings and that is exactly what has happened since. Now, record numbers of people cannot pay their bills, exactly as predicted.
Trump's reckless war in Iran did not create this crisis but it has made it far more severe. Rising global energy prices make the Government's refusal to restore energy credits even more indefensible but that does not mean Ministers can get away with shrugging their shoulders and blaming events overseas. This is not just about geopolitics. It is about choices that are made right here in Ireland by this Government. It is about a system that leaves households exposed to soaring bills while energy companies rake in massive profits. Energy credits must be reinstated. They can be partly funded through a windfall tax on these excess profits. However, when I was debating this matter with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Simon Harris, last night, he once again turned his back on this common-sense solution.
This Government seems determined to let energy companies away with it and to let them cash in while workers, families and pensioners pay the price. The cost of extracting gas from the Corrib gas field has not increased overnight and yet we are still being charged more and more when that gas reaches the market. What is worse still is that we maintain a pricing system where the price of electricity generated from wind and solar is driven up by the price of gas. When gas prices rise, consumers pay more for all electricity. Energy companies are making a killing while households are getting absolutely hammered. Even yesterday, the EU Commissioner called the Government out on this when he said very clearly that, if this is to happen, it is to happen at the level of individual countries. The nonsense from the Government in hiding behind Europe on this issue needs to end. The Government can, should and must act.
This Government has choices. What it lacks is the power to intervene. The political will to put families and workers first is simply not there at Cabinet level. That is why this debate is important. That is what this debate comes down to. Whose side is the Government on? When families are choosing between heating their homes and putting food on the table, the answer cannot be to do nothing. When pensioners are afraid to switch on the heat and parents are worrying about the next bill to come through the door, the State has a responsibility to act, to restore the energy credits, to tax the excess profits, to cut the bills and to take a side. It must stop being on the side of the energy companies that are raking it in when ordinary decent Irish people are being hammered by these Bills. The Government must give households the support they desperately need. It must bring back the energy credits and tax the excess profits of these companies.

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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