I thank the Deputy for this timely question. The allocation of the carbon tax is a matter for the Minister for public expenditure and reform, who took questions just before this. There has been no change because of the pause in the increase in the allocation for 2026. That was published as part of the Revised Estimates Volume, REV, last December and approved by the Dáil on 26 March 2026. Within my Department's 2026 allocation, there are three areas that received funding from the carbon tax. First, in the residential community retrofit programme, the budget allocation is a record €641 million this year, including €558 million from the carbon tax. We are planning for this to support the home energy upgrades of 73,000 homes this year, including solar PV. The target includes 11,500 fully funded home energy upgrades under the warmer homes scheme, which we discussed yesterday at some length, for households at risk of energy poverty. A record of over €340 million of the budget has been provided for this year. There has been a significant investment and year-on-year growth in home energy upgrades. From 2019 to December 2025, about €1.7 billion was provided in support for homeowners. We have done about 244,000 homes under that, including almost 33,000 fully funded upgrades, particularly focusing on homes at risk of energy poverty through the warmer homes scheme. To answer the Deputy's question directly, the budget and allocation this year is not affected by not increasing the carbon tax this year. I will come back in on a couple of other areas that we are funding, such as the just transition fund and the green climate fund.

Sentiment score: 0.18

It is a good question. What we have tried to do regarding the support package of about €750 million is to make sure that it is balanced and targeted. We have done decreases in excise duty. We have also brought forward specific schemes of support for vital sectors. For example, the haulage sector has been provided €40 million per month for three months in targeted payments and there is €100 million for the agriculture scheme. That is to help with the fuel price spikes and increases we have seen because of the outbreak of the war in the Middle East. Specifically on the Deputy's question, I will defend the carbon tax. To be fair to the Deputy, colleagues in the Labour Party and other parties in the Opposition, with the exception of the main Opposition party, support the carbon tax because it brings forward specific ring-fenced funding in order that we can protect households and businesses against future shocks. This is a deferral of this increase. That is all it is. We will target resources in specific areas, reduce costs and certainly ensure there are no further increased costs because of Government tax in the middle of this year.

Sentiment score: 0.29

This is not a cancellation of an increase; it is a deferral. The cost is approximately €22 million in paused tax receipts. To put that in context, the overall investment from 2019 to now is over €2 billion. Our budget for this year, I assure the Deputy, is unaffected. We have also changed the retrofitting grants for households and seen a significant uptick in applications there. We want to bring forward a retrofit passport to make it more accessible, particularly to middle-income earners. We are seeing a significant increase in applications for heat pumps because we upped that grant to €12,500 - the cavity wall grants as well. We had a good debate on solar yesterday. The Social Democrats brought forward some ideas around that. I want to accelerate solar further. We did 33,000 solar installations last year and can do more this year. We want to target those who are at energy security risk or energy poverty risk. We will protect the carbon tax because it is a clear mechanism for us to be able to protect households and businesses into the future.

Sentiment score: 0.24

That is not what EirGrid said. We have to put the facts on the floor of the House. EirGrid is the transmission system operator responsible for managing our power system at all times. It is independent of me as Minister but I meet and engage with its representatives regularly in the exercise of their functions. They are accountable to the regulator, CRU. Fault ride through is what the Deputy is referring to. It is a growing grid stability and electricity security risk for energy system operators worldwide. We are not the only country looking to mitigate potential risks, regardless of how small they are. We saw what happened on the Iberian Peninsula and in Virginia in the United States. Every system operator is looking at its risks, regardless of how small. We are not in a situation whereby we are at risk of a blackout, I assure the Deputy. In line with EirGrid's licence obligations, it has been proactively managing this issue but, similar to other jurisdictions, believes additional measures are needed to ensure grid stability is not compromised in the short term. That is being looked at right across Europe. EirGrid has submitted new timebound requirements for large energy users to CRU for assessment and a decision. I have engaged directly with the sector as well. There has been a good collaborative approach. It is just risk mitigation. It is not that there is a risk of blackouts, as the Deputy said. Systems operators always have to look at what could happen in the future and look to mitigate risk. That is the appropriate and sensible thing to do. The sector has been collaborative and constructive in its approach. This is a short-term measure to mitigate small potential risks. It is the right thing to do. CRU will determine how the fault ride through and the new grid operation pertains to the application from EirGrid.

Sentiment score: 0.05

That is not the case. Industrial and economic growth is not in conflict with growth in housing output. In the past five years, we have delivered 135,000 new homes; last year, over 36,000 new homes. That is good and is what we need to do. In PR6, the grid investment programme that has been published and that is there for everyone to see, there are about 520 capital projects. As part of that, it states what this investment will support. It supports large energy user growth, housing growth and other industrial and economic growth. That is right and proper. In this discussion, data centres are treated by some as a negative. They underpin tens of thousands of jobs in this country. We are at the leading edge of new technologies and cloud technologies and should continue to be at the leading edge. That is why the grid investment programme and capital projects like the North-South interconnector are so critically important and we are going to get on and do those.

Sentiment score: 0.20

We need a plan-led approach to this and that is why we have published the large energy user action plan. The final decision has been given on that, which is very clear. It involves a planned approach to where and how we deploy electricity and energy resources to enable large energy users to grow and to enable us to continue to attract increases in domestic indigenous business and in foreign direct investment. That is critical. One is not in conflict with the other. The measures for which EirGrid has sought approval from CRU are appropriate and are risk-mitigation measures. Many other TSOs across Europe are doing the very same thing and it is right, proper and responsible that we do that. Housing growth and industrial growth are not in conflict. We need to continue to accelerate delivery of our grid investment programme, which we will do.

Sentiment score: 0.32

As Ministers and as TDs, we fully understand the pressures households and businesses are under due to the price increases because of the outbreak of the war in the Middle East. It is a global situation that every country is grappling with. By any fair assessment, the intervention that the Irish Government has made on behalf of its people amounts to multiples of the value of others made in the EU. It is about 7. 5 times greater, per capita, than that of Germany. It is the largest one that any state has actually made to support businesses and households. I refer to the reductions in excise on diesel, including agricultural and green diesel, and petrol, and also to the reduction to the National Oil Reserves Agency levy. All of these add up to a significant saving. People are still under pressure, absolutely. We get that, and that is why the measures we bring forward have to be targeted. One quarter of Irish households, or about 470,000, receive direct supports through fuel allowance payments. We have extended these for a further month. We increased the payment per week in the budget. We have increased that further in a time-bound manner, effectively by extending it for a further month. We are not going to be able to protect every sector from every price increase. Obviously, what we want to see is a de-escalation of the conflict and a return to normality. What it does speak to as well is the absolute need for us to continue to accelerate energy generation from renewable sources. On a positive note, we saw last month, in March, that 49% of our electricity was generated through renewables. We are continuing to accelerate the deployment of renewables to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel, which is a risk for this State and many others. We are dependent on other countries for the energy that we use. This conflict, in particular, means we need to accelerate the deployment of renewables further. I assume I will receive the support of the Opposition in doing that.

Sentiment score: 0.15

The Taoiseach has not been dismissive in any way, nor has the Government as a whole. Maybe the Deputy could explain why his party was the only one on the Opposition benches to vote against every excise reduction when the first round of packages was introduced, on 25 March? It did that again this week. It voted against the measures introduced by the Government in the Dáil by way of financial resolutions to reduce costs for households and businesses. Sinn Féin was the only Opposition party on 25 March to vote against the initial package, worth €250 million. I do not understand that. Sinn Féin is for abolishing the carbon tax. The carbon tax retrofits homes and businesses to protect them, reduce their energy use and make them more efficient. It is a good climate measure, but it is also a really good cost-saving measure. Sinn Féin has never explained where it would get the €660 million or so that we are going to invest this year to retrofit 73,000 homes, and also the carbon tax revenue that deals with the agri-climate environment scheme, other such schemes and business support grants. Where is that money coming from? Where would Sinn Féin get the money for a proposed further cut in excise to the tune of about €200 million?

Sentiment score: 0.23

It is not a fair assessment to say we have done nothing. Ours was the largest intervention that has been made in the EU. I simply asked the question of Sinn Féin, as the main Opposition party and the one that presents itself as the potential alternative Government after the next election, in 2029, where it would get the money from? How would it pay for the retrofitting of houses and businesses? How would it pay for solar grants and heat pump grants? How would it pay for all the things that ensure the 244,000 homes already retrofitted are protected from aspects of price increases because they are using renewable sources? It has just never been explained to me. It is important that Sinn Féin do that. I could go through all of the measures. Sinn Féin knows all the measures that we introduced, because it voted against them all. I really do not understand its position in this regard either. Sinn Féin was the only Opposition party to oppose decreases in costs to consumers, including households. It just does not stand up.

Sentiment score: 0.13