I move amendment No. 1 to Recommendation No. 1: To delete the text of subsection (2) and substitute the following: “(2) Section 99A of the Finance Act 1999 is further amended, with effect as on and from 1 July 2026, by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3): “(3) Where— (a) gas oil has been purchased on or after 1 January 2020 and before 1 January 2026, subject to a maximum repayment rate of €75.00 per 1,000 litres, the amount to be repaid per 1,000 litres of gas oil under subsection (2) is determined— (i) when P is less than or equal to €1,070, by the formula— A = (P - 1,000) x 0.3, or (ii) when P is greater than €1,070, by the formula— A = 21 + [(P - 1,070) x 0.6], or (b) gas oil has been purchased on or after 1 January 2026, subject to a maximum repayment rate of €120.00 per 1,000 litres, the amount to be repaid per 1,000 litres of gas oil under subsection (2) is determined— (i) when P is less than or equal to €1,070, by the formula— A = (P - 1,000) x 0.3, (ii) when P is greater than €1,070 and less than or equal to €1,150, by the formula— A = 21 + [(P - 1,070) x 0.675], or (iii) when P is greater than €1,150, by the formula— A is the amount to be repaid per 1,000 litres, and P is an estimate of the average price (exclusive of value-added tax) in euro per 1,000 litres of gas oil purchased by qualifying road transport operators during the repayment period, as determined in accordance with subsection (4).”.”. This is tied to the latter amendment and I will speak further at length on that. Recommendation No. 1 deals with the diesel rebate scheme, which operates within a window that closes on 1 October. That is the wrong decision and it should be extended beyond the budget to allow for a proper review of the cost of fuel during budget time in order to identify the appropriate window for the operation of the scheme. To decide to close it on 1 October is the wrong decision. The amendment seeks to remove the date of 1 October which leaves the scheme open ended, with the intention that it would be reviewed at the time of the budget, which is the following week, with a decision taken broadly not just on the diesel rebate scheme but also, as we will see in recommendation No. 2, the excise duty that will be placed on petrol and diesel and whether that would be appropriate, given the pressures the Government's decision would put on ordinary workers and families across the State.

Sentiment score: -0.16

I move amendment No. 1 to Seanad recommendation No. 2: To delete from the row dated "1 September 2026" down to and including the row dated "1 May 2030" and substitute the following: " " If we needed a reminder of just how volatile, fragile and utterly unpredictable the situation in the Gulf remains, we were handed that stark reminder today with the news that Donald Trump has declared the ceasefire deal with Iran over and has launched fresh attacks. Everyone in this Chamber and everyone across the country hopes against hope that some semblance of a ceasefire can be maintained but we must be honest with ourselves. Hope is not a strategy. Hope is what we rely on when we have no control. It is not a substitute for prudent economic planning. There is zero certainty here. There are no guarantees that the Strait of Hormuz will remain open or that global supply lines will not be choked tomorrow morning. That constant looming threat of conflict is a direct risk in terms of energy prices rising again. The price of a barrel of oil has risen sharply only in the past few hours. That is precisely why Sinn Féin has consistently and repeatedly called for the excise duty on petrol and diesel to be kept exactly where it is. It needs to be held at the current level until it can be properly reviewed as part of the normal budget process in October. That is the only prudent and sensible thing to do. Instead, the Government has taken the reckless decision to lock in price increases that will kick in automatically when the Dáil is not even sitting. I simply do not understand or comprehend how the Government thinks it is appropriate or fair to legislate for a hike in the price of petrol and diesel that will come into effect on 1 September. The Minister has tried to comfort us in the past by stressing that everything will be kept under review. We need to cut through that spin. The reality is that this legislation, in effect, commits the State to price increases without a single shred of visibility as to where fuel prices will be in the future. Let us look at the timeline because the optics and the reality is damning. Next week, this House will rise, the doors of Leinster House will be locked and Ministers will head off on their summer holidays. Their parting gift to ordinary Irish people across the State will be to have locked in fuel price increases that will hit them in their pockets. By Christmas, they will see the price of diesel increase by 34 cent and the price of petrol increase by a staggering 29 cent. That is what the Government is asking us to vote for today. We need to think about what it actually means for people in real life, including people in my constituency of Donegal, people in Mayo and people in rural communities right across the State who have no access to public transport and no alternative but to get in their car to go to work, drop their kids to school or visit a neighbour or elderly relative. As if that were not good enough, the Government is not just hitting people with increases on petrol and diesel. On top of that, it is going to hit them with an increase in the cost of home heating oil, natural gas and a basic bag of coal. That increase will kick in in October, right when the days are getting shorter and the nights colder and right when families are forced to turn back on the heating. As I have said in the House numerous times, the carbon tax is regressive. In 2022, the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, stated that it is well know that the tax is regressive. Research by the University of Galway found that carbon taxes are "regressive in all countries", with the only question being how regressive they are. I urge the Minister of State, even at this late stage, to talk to his colleagues and reconsider their approach of increasing fuel costs. We cannot control what happens in the Gulf or in the United States but we can control what we do right here and now in this Chamber. We can control the level of taxation we place on petrol and diesel. The Minister of State can do the right thing here. He can use the levers of taxation to release the pressure and burden on ordinary people across the State. People are stressed out and under serious pressure. Let there be no doubt that under the current prices, and remembering that the barrel is now getting dearer, we will see people being forced to pay well over €2 for a litre of diesel. That is not acceptable and it is why we in Sinn Féin have tabled this amendment to say that these price increases should not be going ahead and that prices should be properly monitored at the appropriate time. We must release the pressure on ordinary families throughout the State, not, as provided for in this legislation, increase the price of diesel on 1 September, 1 October, 14 October, 1 November and again on 1 December. That is a wallop to people right across the State who are asking the Government to lift the pressure and burden on them on so many fronts. What they do not need is increase after increase but that is exactly what is set out in the Bill. I urge Members to support the Sinn Féin amendment because it represents what ordinary people throughout the country have been telling me they need. I have told them I will bring their voice into the Dáil. If they had the chance to stand here, they would be saying that they have faced serious pressure over the past number of years and they need support at this time. They do not need the Government deciding to put up the price of diesel by 34 cent between now and 1 December. It is scandalous, to tell the God's honest truth, and it should be stopped.

Sentiment score: -0.02

I will press the amendment. To be clear, because the Minister of State would like us to forget what happened, this is the Bill coming back from the Seanad. In case people do not know what has happened here, this Bill has already passed through the Dáil. It is very unusual when a Bill has to come back into the Dáil after it has been passed. The reason is that the Government has had to change what it was trying to put into law, which was the 34 cent increase in August. It had to change that because of the pressure we in Sinn Féin applied. The Minister of State can shake his head all he wants. There was also a fear among the Government of the risen people and of people taking to the streets again and saying, "We are having none of it, because this is a Government that doesn't understand the pressure we're under." The Government was trying to put into law, in black and white, an increase of 34 cent. The Government actually passed that in this House, with the support, unfortunately, of some of the Opposition parties. That does not take away, however, from what is in this Bill, because all the Government has done is kick the can down the road. Thirty-four cent is still going to go onto the price of diesel. It will just happen in different stages and it will be fully on the price of diesel by 1 December. I am saying this very clearly because I would not be able to go back to my constituency in Donegal, hold my head up, talk to people who elected me to have their backs, be their voice and stand up for them and say that I voted to increase the price of diesel by 34 cent. It will not happen in Sinn Féin's name. I will press the amendment because there is an alternative and I ask Deputies across the House to support the amendment and, more important, to support hard-working people across the State.

Sentiment score: 0.14