The cost of filling a car with petrol at the moment is €100. It is €19 above what was just five years ago. Some 60% of the cost of a litre of diesel is now tax, and 65% of the cost of a litre of petrol is now tax. This breaks down as follows: 54 cent in excise; 2 cent on the National Oil Reserve Agency, NORA; 16 cent on carbon tax; 8 cent on better energy tax; and 32 cent on VAT. Out of the €1.73 price for a litre of petrol, €1.13 is now Government tax. The Government is taking the majority of the cost of a litre of petrol and diesel in tax. A €100 fill of a tank would actually cost €35 if it was not for the ever-increasing fuel taxes by this Government. These taxes are not progressive. They hurt low- and middle-income families the most, and they hurt those in regional and rural Ireland the most. In 2024, the Government took €4.1 billion in fuel taxes. That was the highest such figure ever, and it happened at the peak of the cost-of-living crisis. In 2024, carbon tax reached €1 billion for the first time. It is now the largest fuel tax in the country, and it is going to increase for every year up to 2030 no matter what the economic circumstance of the citizens of this country.

The war in Iran will likely send the cost of fuel surging. Academics are saying that the price of petrol could increase by 70 cent to €2.44. Diesel could increase by 81 cent to €2.53. That would bring a full tank for petrol and diesel in this country above €150. These are eye-watering figures. This is already happening. On Friday, a fill of home heating oil cost about €1,000 in the State, and it has increased by about €150 in just four days. This should not be happening because the supply chain purchased this oil before the crisis in Iran. Again, according to academics, a fill of home heating oil could actually top out at €2,000 in this particular situation. Incredibly, the Government will be quids in from this increase in the price of fuel. Not only are families being price gouged, but the truth of the matter is that this Government is tax gouging in these circumstances. When the price of fuel increases in this country, the Government makes more in taxation on that increased price. That is an incredible situation.

What I am proposing is that the Government looks at the carbon taxes. We were told that carbon taxes were to change behaviour and that this was to move people away fossil fuels, and when we reached a certain price, people would then make that change. However, if the market is already reaching that price, surely the carbon tax is just punitive in relation to that. We were told that the carbon tax was about moving people into alternatives, such as sustainable transport or other ways of heating their homes. If they cannot do that, is a carbon tax not just punitive in that scenario? Will the Taoiseach scrap the carbon tax on petrol and diesel if the cost increases beyond current levels?

In terms of the overall energy situation, the Deputy is correct in saying that there is no necessity for home heating oil to increase, given that many people will have had that oil in stock and, indeed, much of that oil comes via Britain and Norway, not from the Middle East. That has been the source for quite a long time.

The Deputy has conflated a lot of issues. General revenue - all revenues, for example from energy or income tax - goes to fund social services in the State. If we were to eliminate all revenue on fuel, we would have a very significant hole in the sustainable budget, which would take services away from education, health and social protection. We are already being criticised for having too narrow a tax base in terms of fiscal sustainability over the next 20 to 30 years. The Deputy wants to narrow that tax base even more.

On the carbon tax, the bottom line is that every cent of that carbon tax is given back to people in terms of the fuel allowance and, in particular, the expansion of the fuel allowance to cover more people, including the working family payment cohort, with 50,000 people on top of all those on social protection.

The Deputy is now saying let us pull the rug from under the fuel poverty initiatives we have created and from under the retrofit industry-----

I have not said anything like that. The Taoiseach is arguing with someone else.

-----because around €553 million of the carbon tax is going towards retrofitting.

The Taoiseach is having a pretend discussion.

Deputy, that is not allowed.

Retrofitting helps people to reduce their bills on a sustainable basis into the future. Third, that would be pulling the rug from under farmers who will benefit this year to the tune of €173 million from the carbon tax revenue in the form of agri-environmental schemes in terms of the ACRES programme. I argued for a carbon tax at the beginning of the 2020 Government on the basis that it would provide us with funding to enable change to happen. There is no way you could fund the retrofit programme without a dedicated ring-fenced budget. There is no way you could do that on a sustainable basis. We have created an industry and a lot of opportunities for workers and new companies in retrofitting. Does the Deputy want to take all that away over night and take away that clarity and certainty of landscape that is out there until 2030 and beyond? We do accept, without question, there is pressure on people and there potentially might be even greater pressure as a result of this crisis but we will look at that in the round in terms of how we can support people more generally regarding supports. We will keep that under review as it unfolds. That is a more effective way of dealing with this and helping to support people. In the budget, prior to the outbreak of war, we supported those most in need and we targeted the resources to working families on low incomes and those on social protection as opposed to a universal approach.

Now it is your time, Deputy Tóibín.