Quite frankly, we are considering the whole issue of energy in the round. We need to be truthful with people. I am not suggesting that the Deputy is not. We need to be truthful with people in relation to things like EU directives and how far we have gone. In fact, we have gone further, as the Deputy knows, than the EU directives and sought derogations in some cases already. We have also got to be honest with people, who rightly want us to be able to do a whole variety of things in the budget next week, that there i…

Where the Deputy and I have disagreed on this, and we have disagreed on a few points, is that the Government has taken the approach, which we actually think is the right approach, to be agile and nimble, locking in decisions for long periods, when, with the greatest of respect, the Deputy or I did not know what was going to happen the Strait of Hormuz and whether it was going to get better or worse. The Deputy and I did not know that. Locking in taxpayers' money actually takes away the ability to be agile or nimble…

The answer to the question is that all of these are matters for budget day next Tuesday. The Government will consider all of them. The Deputy would not expect, because he has been at this a while, any other answer from me-----

I look forward to engaging-----

I read Siobhán Fenton's book recently.

She gave a very good insight into how Deputy Doherty performs in this House. I think it is on page 154.

It is a good description. She says he is a nice man and just acts for the cameras.

I propose to take questions Nos. 121 and 122 together. I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for the question and for her ongoing engagement on this issue. This is a matter that I am determined to get done. I had a good discussion with the new Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK, John Healy, on the matter when he was in Dublin for the informal ECOFIN meeting. The two questions concern cross-Border working on the island of Ireland. I can inform Deputy Conway-Walsh that progressing and enhancing the all-island labour market …

I agree with that fully. While we are here talking, quite rightly, about an all-island economy and the better shared future we want to build, I am conscious of the very tense situation in the North tonight. With the Taoiseach, I engaged on that today with the Deputy's party leader and with Michelle O'Neill. We are all thinking tonight of a community in which people are feeling a sense of trauma and retraumatisation. Nobody ever wants to see us brought back to the previous time. It would be odd to have the conversat…

The Parades Commission got this extraordinarily wrong. I am very clear on that. There has been good engagement with the Deputy's party leader and with Michelle O'Neill in her capacity as party vice president. To be fair to everybody, the Taoiseach is extraordinarily engaged on this issue; of that there is absolutely no doubt. My colleague, the Minister for foreign affairs, is in the North this evening. We are engaging closely with the Deputy's party colleagues. I, too, had the opportunity to meet the Garvaghy Road …

I thank the Deputy for his question. The carbon tax has been a central pillar of Ireland's climate policy framework. It has provided a clear and credible long-term signal in terms of our work as a country to transition away from fossil fuels and move towards a low-carbon economy. Provision was introduced in the Finance Act 2020 to provide for annual increases in carbon tax rates up to May 2030. Carbon tax rates on petrol and auto-diesel are generally legislated to increase at budget time each year up to 2029, with …

I appreciate that when it comes its application, the carbon tax is not equally felt by all citizens. I take the point that the data shows that those living in rural Ireland are twice as likely to use home heating oil as a fuel source - as an example - as those living in larger towns and cities. According to the latest available CSO figures, around 26% of households in Ireland use it as their main heating fuel, so that is probably around half a million households. The Government understands that these are disproport…

We can have a difference of view on this. We have taken a number of measures to try to help people with energy and fuel supports. It is probably the largest in the European Union per capita . I agree with the Deputy on the point that not everybody is in a position to change their home heating oil tank. I think particularly of older people as well. It just simply might not work for people. Quite frankly, there is a difference between saying do not increase the taxes versus a complete abolition of the tax. We need to…

I thank Deputy Doherty and Deputy Gould, whom I know has a particular interest in this. The vacant homes tax was introduced in 2022. The tax is currently charged at seven times the base rate of local property tax. Following re-evaluation last year, in which all local property tax charges were increased by a small to moderate amount, vacant homes tax will scale accordingly. The tax operates on a self-assessment basis where the number of properties in scope and the amount of tax payable depends on the self-assessed r…

They are, yes.

I fully understand and agree that vacancy and dereliction are two different things, but the taxes are all aimed at the same purpose of making sure that we get homes back into use. A tax of vacant residential property is one policy tool to address vacancy but it is also a behavioural change tax. It is about making sure that people do not leave houses in vacancy. We would expect, when we bring in a tax, that behavioural change will start to take effect. I take the Deputy's point. He referenced the 70,000 figure while…

Revenue does a very good job of collecting taxation in this country. That is why there are often calls in this House for derelict properties to be handed over to Revenue, because Revenue has teeth. As the Deputy knows, Revenue has powers under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to address compliance or non-compliance with legislation. It has the power to require a chargeable person to file a vacant homes tax return. It has powers to make inquiries, raise and amend assessments and request a chargeable person to provid…

Across Government - and I know this is an issue the Deputy is passionate about - we recognise the significant financial pressures experienced by households, particularly the financial pressures being experienced by households in which there is a person with a disability, amid the heightened cost-of-living environment that obtains. In response, we have implemented a number of measures to try to help the most vulnerable. When this Government took office, we committed to a step change in the delivery of supports and s…

I thank the Deputy for his ongoing interest in and genuine expertise regarding the issue of renewables and plug-in solar, and for his correspondence. I continue to engage with colleagues across Government on that. We will keep in touch with the Deputy in respect of it. I also thank the Deputy for raising the Before We Die campaign. This is something we are discussing right across Government. The Taoiseach and I, along with relevant Ministers, intend to meet this group again shortly. The Taoiseach and I have already…

I am always in awe of the Deputy's ability to cover a lot in a question, but these are all serious issues. I do not mean to be flippant.