Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

In the interest of fairness - and I appreciate the Deputy's elevation of my powers of influence - the reason energy prices have risen rapidly in this country and around the world is that the Strait of Hormuz is closed. That is not my fault. What I can do is look at the policy levers the Government can pursue and not just comment on what is going on in other parts of the world. Any objective analysis of the situation will show the Government has put in place - the Deputy can argue about the composition of the package, but not the quantum - one of the largest packages of support, if not the largest, in the European Union.
The package we put in place in Ireland, adjusted for head of population, is around eight times larger than the one of our nearest EU neighbours in France. Our friends in the UK have had to put in place a much smaller package and does the Deputy know what they had to do? They had to borrow for it and got charged nearly 5% on the market.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-10-01