Earlier today, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, brought 11 measures to Cabinet in relation to improving grants around solar, battery storage and the boiler scrappage scheme. The Deputy is right. I understand, as does he, that we have to help people in the here and now. Many people are looking for help in order to allow their families and businesses to make the transition. Sometimes, the gap in that regard can be too big to bridge. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is coming up with a lot of ideas that I think are going to…

I thank the Deputy very much. The Government is very conscious of the price increases in home heating oil. They are very real and significant. The conflict in the Middle East has severely impacted the cost of kerosene. We have taken some measures that have helped those most at risk of fuel poverty and the Deputy knows that. We extended the fuel allowance by a further four weeks. That resulted in additional payments to about 470,000 fuel allowance recipients, many of whom would use home heating oil. It meant a typic…

We should have an informed conversation about this. What the Deputy has said is true. There are things the Government can do and this House can do, and there are things we cannot do. I am going to be honest, as the Deputy has been honest, in saying whatever we do on the taxation side will not be enough - I am talking about the taxation on energy piece - to bring prices back to where they were last year. The Deputy is not seeking that and nor am I. There are things we can do to not make the situation worse and there…

The Deputy has described his job as he views it. It is of course his job to hold me to account in this House. It is also our job, every now and again, to try to work collaboratively on different issues. We will not agree on all of it and that is fine and healthy but we agree that we are living through a cost-of-living crisis, that the cost of kerosene and energy is very high, that we need to look at measures to try to assist people and that even when we do that there are global factors. Not everybody is equally aff…

I thank the Deputy. I will indeed. The first job of government is to not make anything worse so when there is a global energy crisis and real cost-of-living pressures we need to make sure we try to pull policy levers that are going to help and not chase inflation. The measures we have taken on energy already have had a positive impact on the economy. I am not saying petrol and diesel prices are not extraordinarily high, because they are. They are a lot lower than in other European countries, while still being very …

What we will see next week in the first instance is an ability to make sure we keep our country safe. When I came into this House, unemployment was around 15% and the IMF was in town and not just as visitors. We have all worked really hard to get our country back to a place of full employment where we are having discussions on how best to reduce tax and to increase public expenditure. We should never take that for granted so keeping the country safe at a time of huge global volatility is our first job as a Governme…

I fully agree with the Deputy. I know she sees it in Balbriggan and Skerries and across her constituency in Fingal. It is the Minister for children's intention to produce that road map. A lot of work is going into it because as the Deputy rightly says, there are lots of moving parts here. We have to address affordability, accessibility and how we support the workforce. We have made some good progress on that. We have also made decisions over the course of the past year to invest public money for the first time in c…

First, I join with the Deputy in welcoming residents of the Garvaghy Road to Dáil Éireann today. I am very much aware of the concerns of residents in the area. I am also very much aware of the very painful and traumatic history in relation to that community and what they endured. I want to assure the Deputy that Government officials are monitoring the situation closely. Like him, I am mindful of the role of the Parades Commission. Again I very much welcome the residents to Dáil Éireann today. I am extremely conscio…

The Deputy has been at this for a long time. A very long time, in fact. Let us not rewrite geopolitical history as to why energy prices have risen. It is not due to any decision taken in Dáil Éireann. It is because the Strait of Hormuz is closed. It is because there has been bombing of Iran.

Neither the Deputy nor I took a decision. Let us not blow up the egos of people in this House. There is a geopolitical energy shock going on. It is the greatest energy shock in the history of the globe, according to the International Energy Agency. This has nothing to do with energy credits in the last domestic budget.

May I answer the question?

I know the Deputy likes to blame me for everything but the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is a stretch.

That is what has happened with the global energy market. The Deputy asked whether the Government would use some of the surpluses to assist the people. We have the largest intervention in the European Union. It is eight times larger than the intervention in France.

That is one of the reasons, when we look at petrol and diesel prices across the European Union, that Ireland is not in the top ten. Help is on the way. There will be more help in 12 days.

I join Deputy Whitmore in welcoming our constituents from Blessington Educate Together National School. It is good to have them all here. There are a couple of points I want to respond to. I believe there is significant merit in a windfall energy tax. This is not just me commenting on it, as I chaired a meeting on it in Dublin Castle last week with all of my European counterparts. We have tasked the European Commission with doing a body of work and reporting back to the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, ECOFI…

I agree, and then I have a point of difference. I agree that there are lots of people out there who want to make the transition in their own lives and are still finding the gap too large. I was at the ploughing championships and met representatives of the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, in the IFA tent on this. Often, farmers are pitted against climate action but there are many farmers saying they want to put solar on their buildings and they need more support through the targeted agriculture modernisation scheme, …

I am slightly confused. On the one hand the Deputy is chastising me for talking about what might be in the budget and on the other he is asking me to give it all out today. Those two things are a little bit contradictory even for me to justify in my own mind. I certainly make no apology nor do I need any permission from the Opposition to talk directly to the people of Ireland about the Government's intentions and not allow those intentions to be misrepresented by the Opposition. I want the people of Ireland to know…

I have direct responsibility in government for taxation policy, excise tax, and the application of tax on carbon. Therefore, when I am asked a direct question, I answer it. The issue in relation to energy credits and energy supports in general is a matter for the broader Government to consider in the round. I genuinely believe, and I think the Deputy does deep down too, that people are less concerned about the modality by which we help people and more concerned about help. What I am saying very clearly to people is…

I thank Deputy O'Gorman very much. I understand that nobody welcomes a fare increase but we are making a choice here to continue the progress that we have made in public transport because a low fare is no good if there is not a bus. There are a hell of a lot of parts of this country where people are still waiting for bus routes, Local Link services, and where people want to see the roll-out of a better public transport network. I can understand why Deputy O'Gorman says it that it would only cost this to do that - w…

They are wrong.