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

I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this motion. It is very important. We are now dealing with a cost-of-living crisis that has gone on for years. While it has been going on, we have had electricity companies profiteering and the country has been awash with money, but the people on the ground are suffering in a way that has never been seen before while the companies profit off their misery. One in seven households is now in electricity arrears. That figure is not going to come down. If anything, it is going to go up. It is very reflective of the homelessness crisis we have in this country, where it has become acceptable and is becoming more acceptable the deeper we come into this. Right now, families in this country are living in misery, afraid to switch on their electricity.
Dealing with this, I have seen first hand households impacted by defective concrete that are significantly worse off because they are trying to heat a house that costs 30% more because it is basically cracked. People cannot keep heat in them. They are in direct poverty as a result of failed Government policy. This continues.
In County Donegal alone, the cost of heating oil is 50% dearer than it was last year. Equally, the cost of electricity in one year in this country has gone up by nearly 76.9% compared with what it was last year. Energy companies are being allowed to profit from the misery of the public. Everybody goes into their constituencies and hears the stories and hears about the poverty. It is vital now that the Government starts to do something decent for once and addresses this issue because it is not going to get better but worse. People are suffering. The Government has a responsibility to look after these people.

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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