Táim buíoch as an deis labhairt ar an mBille seo. The Bill follows on from the financial resolutions that were passed through these Houses and came into effect in March and again in April in relation to the fuel crisis. Section 1, as the Minister of State said, relates to the increase in the diesel rebate scheme. I have raised this issue on many occasions with the Minister of State and the senior Minister, given the fact that many hauliers have issues accessing the scheme. On top of that, as the Tánaiste accepted when I put it to him previously, even the people who can access the scheme face severe cash flow issues and have to wait up to three months before they get the rebate. Despite the acceptance of this fact and the genuine issue that hauliers were facing, we still see no action to address it. Sinn Féin argued in this House over and over again for a completely different approach. Because of how the EU energy directive is designed, when the diesel rebate scheme is increased, the space for the Government to reduce excise for the wider general public is reduced. However, there is a way in which the wider public, hauliers and transport operators can benefit at the same time. If the Government makes the cut directly at the pump, hauliers get the benefit, and they get it immediately without having to wait for three months. Everybody else also benefits - every commuter and every person who fills up their car with petrol or diesel - and it avoids the cash flow issues that the rebate scheme has ingrained within it. Section 2 is probably the most substantive part of this legislation. It contains both excise cuts on fuels like petrol and diesel and the postponement of carbon taxes on home heating oil, green diesel and canister gas until October of this year. The excise cuts should have gone further on petrol, diesel and green diesel. We know people are still spending over €100 to fill their tanks. If they live in rural Ireland, have a long commute or drive as part of their work, they are getting crucified by those prices over and over again. We have heard from carers, home help workers and ordinary people who simply cannot afford to put fuel in their car. At the same time, the Government prioritised other areas. It cut private jet fuel by 17% while struggling to reduce home heating oil by a single cent. You could not make this up. The second component of this section is that the carbon tax is being postponed until the autumn. That was one of the most frustrating elements of the Government's response to the crisis. The Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, specifically ruled out taking this basic step over and over again. At a time of huge pressure and crisis, he stood and proudly said that he and his Government were going to put taxes on people in the middle of the crisis. His immediate reaction to the fuel crisis was to dig his heels in and refuse to consider postponing a carbon tax increase. Think of that from the perspective of someone who was sitting at home with an empty tank in a cold house. They had just seen the price of home heating oil almost double, and the Taoiseach was not only refusing - indeed, he still refuses - to cut a single cent of excise duty from home heating oil, but his reaction was also to heap more tax and more pressure on that same family. It is no wonder that anger boiled over and, by God, anger did boil over. Section 3 does the same for the carbon tax on natural gas. There is no access to natural gas in Donegal. As with the rail network and the motorway network, my constituency is cut off from the gas network. However, for many people across the State, heating their homes and water with gas has become completely unaffordable. One in four households is unable to pay the gas bill. That is a shocking indictment of Government failure, and it does not even count all of the people on pay-as-you-go meters and those working every hour that God sends and just managing to keep their heads above water. Section 4 deals with the postponement of carbon tax on solid fuels, such as coal, briquettes and turf. These are fuels that heat the coldest homes in the country. It is what people turn to when they cannot afford a refill of oil. The Government is now proposing to lump more tax on home heating oil, coal and natural gas in October. When the days are getting shorter and far colder, the response of this Government will be to push up taxes on home heating oil, coal and natural gas. You could not make it up. This legislation also recommits to increasing the carbon tax every single year until 2030. The Government nowhere in legislation says that it will improve the healthcare outcomes for people until 2030, or make an investment every year. It does not say that with regard to tax changes that would allow people to keep more money in their pockets but, by God, when it comes to carbon tax, the Government is not found wanting. It has no problem saying that not only is it going to increase it in October, but it is going to do the same to you in 2027, the same to you in 2028, the same to you in 2029 and the same to you again in 2030. This Government knows one thing about the future, which is that it is going to put additional pressure on ordinary people. It is striking that what we are talking about here is additional taxes on people, some of whom are already struggling to meet their needs. Sinn Féin opposes increasing carbon taxes. They are unfair, and they do nothing for the climate or the environment where alternatives do not exist or are unaffordable. It is a tax on people trying to heat their homes or to get from A to B. The kicker is that the more the Government fails in delivering affordable green electricity and public transport, the more it collects on carbon tax because people have no option. It is a regressive tax, plain and simple. We are in the middle of a cost-of-living challenge for so many people. People are getting hammered by costs. This started long before the attacks on Iran that sent the energy markets into chaos. It has been unrelenting for years. Real wages have stagnated as prices have continued to go up. That was the reality for people up and down this country when the price of fuel spiked in early March, when Ministers were more concerned with their St. Patrick's Day trips than taking action to protect the Irish people. It was sustained pressure from Sinn Féin, including legislation that I brought before this House on 10 March, that dragged the Government into acting. It took three and a half weeks of mounting pressure on the Government to force it to finally do something. Not only was it late in coming, but its initial response was a disgrace and barely scratched the surface of what was needed. It was the catalyst that drove people onto the streets in their thousands in the fuel protests. We only have to look at it through the eyes of those at the sharpest end. Farmers and farm contractors were watching the price of green diesel almost doubling. What was the Government’s response? It was to cut the cost by 3 cent when the price went up from 90 cent to €1.60. That was the response of the Government after it had increased by 80 cent. People were gobsmacked, and that anger began to build as the reality bit home. Businesses were going to go under and jobs were on the line, but this Government did not seem to care. That is what the 3 cent cut in the price of green diesel meant to so many. The message went out loud and clear that you were on your own. That was the message from this Government. That message demanded a response and, by God, did this Government get that response in the form of the fuel protests. All the disruption, all the tension and all the loss of income could have been avoided if the Government had listened. Instead, it decided to threaten the protesters and to stoke up tensions further. The protests might have been spearheaded by farmers, farm contractors and hauliers, but their demands were much broader than just their own sector. That is why they garnered support right across Irish society, despite the disruption that comes along with protests. They want direct cuts at the pumps that would help everyone. They called for excise duty cuts to home heating oil. That is why and how the protests tapped into the wider anger at the cost-of-living crisis, an anger that comes from feeling that it is just one thing after another. When we are talking about fuel costs, it is part of a wider picture. Right now there are many homes that have not had home heating oil since March. People are still feeling that they are getting absolutely hammered by the cost of petrol and diesel. Green diesel is far too expensive at the pumps. That is where we are at right now. The Government can pat itself on the back all it likes but that anger has not gone away. The problem is that the legislation the Minister of State has brought forward today, the Finance Bill, will be enacted next month, in July. At the end of that month, what is going to happen? According to this Finance Bill that the Government is asking us to vote for, the price of diesel will go up by 32 cent and the price of petrol by 27 cent. What planet is the Government living on? People need support. The idea that this House will be in recess, that Ministers will be on holiday and that these prices will go up on 1 August is simply not acceptable. Nobody can predict, with certainty, oil prices in the future but the public deserves to know that there is a plan in place. The Houses of the Oireachtas will need to pass legislation to allow for an extension. These Houses are set to rise for the summer in mid-July. That leaves the Government with just a matter of weeks to bring forward any financial motions that are needed. Despite that looming cliff edge, everyone is being left in the dark. If prices stay at the current levels, then there needs to be an extension. Prices cannot be allowed to go up by 32 cent, as provided for in this legislation. What is the Government's answer to this? It has been mute on this issue so far. If that decision has not been made, then the Government should, at the very least, be able to tell the people when the decision will be made. I will finish with one other cost-of-living issue. People shopping online are about to be hit with an additional €3 charge per item in parcels originating outside the European Union, including from Britain, as new EU custom rules come into effect next month, on 1 July. Many people simply do not know what they are about to be hit with. Shoppers beware is the message here. Somebody who buys three products from Amazon in Britain or from British online retail store, for example, like a pen, a notebook and a keyring, will have to pay an additional €9 on customs, with VAT added on top of that €9. At a time when people are under serious pressure from the cost of living, the last thing they need is another unexpected charge. Ireland is uniquely exposed because of online shopping and how it is integrated with Britain. For many households, buying everyday items online has become a normal part of life. The concerns that were raised this week by An Post and others cannot be ignored. If these changes are going to result in additional costs, delays and disruption for people, then the Government needs to act. Nobody argues against the need to ensure that products entering the EU meet proper standards but let us be clear, these measures were intended to tackle high-volume, low quality imports, not to leave ordinary people facing extra charges every time they shop online. The Government should be pressing for these changes to be stopped and reworked to ensure that people are protected. We need to see leadership on this because people cannot be left paying the price for these new rules. It will cause chaos and the fraudsters will have a field day. More importantly, people are going to be out a serious amount of money in their pockets as a result of this.

Sentiment score: -0.09

The Government went beyond the directive. Maybe the Minister of State does not know it.

Sentiment score: 0.00

How does the Minister of State know he did not?

Sentiment score: 0.00

He was cleaning up your mess.

Sentiment score: -0.36