I have great empathy for the people and citizens right across the Middle East. This morning, I spoke to a mother whose daughter is in Abu Dhabi. For the past number of nights, she has been awoken from her sleep by missiles and bombs. She is located beside a US military base. What is happening is really frightening. It is devastating. Many Irish citizens are out in the Middle East and are really anxious and worried for their safety. Many of those individuals have registered with the Department or with the embassy in the UAE. I know there is frustration at the lack of information. While this is, of course, a time of great uncertainty, I ask the Minister of State to work with the embassy to make sure there are regular updates and that our Irish citizens abroad have the latest information. This database already exists. There is huge fear. That information will help and assist those individuals. The evacuation flights that have been organised are very welcome but €800 is a significant fee for many individuals. It is almost double what a chartered flight costs. The British Government is offering flights for about £350. I ask the Minister of State to look at that. This is really a crisis situation. These are vulnerable people identified by the embassy and they deserve every opportunity to get home in a reasonable fashion. I will also raise the very important issue of the cost of fuel. This crisis in the Middle East is going to cause devastation right across Ireland as a result of its impact on the cost of living. The price of home heating oil has increased by almost 50% in recent days. I have been speaking to hauliers and logistics companies and they have been telling me about increases of 10 cent and 20 cent per litre of fuel. It is an extraordinary cost. There is price gouging going on here and that must be examined. These prices shot up overnight despite the fact that the oil and the fuel in the pumps had been purchased prior to this crisis. This is an issue and it has happened before. This price gouging is not new. It must be investigated. We cannot allow opportunism in this situation. I welcome the fact the Taoiseach recently outlined that he is concerned about price gouging and has recommended that the CCPC take a look. However, what about the Government's price gouging? What about the fact the cost of fuel is rising year on year? It is excessive and wrong. We were the only party in this Chamber to vote against the climate action Bill and we did so because it locked Ireland into increasing carbon tax. Irrespective of this crisis and what is going to happen to the cost of fuel over the coming weeks, the Minister of State's Government has committed to increasing carbon tax. This is despite the fact we do not know what the cost of fuel is going to be. That is wrong. We have to give rural Ireland and the logistics companies a break. The truth is that we are an island country with a rural population, particularly along the west coast. Every single piece of food in our shops comes on the back of a lorry. Every item of clothing we wear comes on the back of a lorry. Literally everything a household needs comes on the back of a lorry. The Government's quest to drive up the cost of fuel directly correlates with the cost of living. We cannot afford this any more. The cost of living is rising very high and the cost of fuel is a significant and direct contributor to that. On behalf of all of the people across Ireland who are struggling to pay their bills, I urge the Minister of State to suspend carbon tax and to reduce the cost of fuel during this crisis. In the past decade, this Government has taken more than €35 billion in tax on fuel, and a significant portion of that comes from carbon tax. I come from a rural constituency where we do not have the necessary public transport. The Minister of State's Government decided to introduce a carbon tax, offering a stick to push people onto public transport, but those options are not available. As a result, people have to get in their cars and drive. It is wrong that the Government is driving up the cost of fuel without providing those alternatives. With regard to the tax take, the trajectory is extraordinary. I have gone through the data and we have submitted a number of parliamentary questions on this matter. The tax take on fuel continues to rise. Although there was a slight reduction during the Ukrainian situation, in monetary terms the rise is on a significant upward trajectory. Let us take carbon tax as an example. In 2019, the Government took in €360 million. Last year, in 2024, that figure rose to €920 million, and it is going to continue to rise for 2025 and 2026. Carbon tax levied on natural gas raised €64 million in 2020, rising to €125 million in 2024. That is a doubling of the tax take. I ask the Minister of State to suspend the increase in carbon tax that is going to come into play in May of this year, just a couple of months away. The tax burden on fuel must be reduced. Carbon tax must be suspended until this crisis is over. Commuters cannot afford it any longer. We have already had increases in tolls in recent years. There are many parts of Ireland where motorists are hit with a number of tolls on the way to work. Haulage companies cannot afford this. They tell me they cannot take the hit and will pass on this increase. Who will be disproportionately affected? The answer is consumers who are already struggling. There are so many people struggling. I have listened to the Government talk of its concerns about fuel, the cost of living and so on. It could do something today about this crisis. It could reduce the tax take on fuel. It is already the majority of the cost we pay for fuel. I talk to rural commuters all the time. They ask what alternative they have. If you are living in Ballyhaunis and working in Castlebar, living in Newport and working in Westport or living in Killala and working in Ballina, you do not have the option of getting a bus. Buses are simply not an option. You cannot get to work on time and get home to collect your kids. You have no alternative to the car. This is an act against the Irish people. This is wrong. We cannot continue to subject Irish people to increasing costs, irrespective of what that future cost will be. I spoke to another businessman, a man in the construction sector whose margins are really tight. The cost of construction is rising every week and this man has a number of vans and lorries on the road. He is massively concerned because he will have to pass that on to the consumer. In this case, the consumer is a prospective homeowner who cannot afford it either. That is the consequence of this. We have not even talked about electricity costs. They are the highest in Europe. That needs to be looked at. Consumers in Ireland pay significantly more per unit of energy than data centres. How is that fair? How is it the case that struggling families in Mayo, Donegal or Cork are paying more per unit of energy than data centres, and the highest in Europe? All of these things are driving the cost of doing business and driving inflation. I ask the Minister of State to reduce the cost of fuel during this crisis, to give our businesses and consumers a break and to try to keep down the cost of living in Ireland.

Sentiment score: -0.06