As we begin Leaders' Questions, I welcome everybody in the Visitors' Gallery and particularly the girls from Finglas who are here with my niece, Jocelyn, among them. The name of the school escapes me. I am sorry, girls. The Taoiseach will greet them as I am sure will Deputy Mary Lou McDonald.

As a Cabra woman, I extend a particular welcome to all of the girls from Finglas - our neighbours. They are very welcome. Tá fáilte rompu go léir.

We are already witnessing a surge in fuel prices in reaction to the US-Israeli onslaught in the Middle East. People across the country are reporting massive hikes in the cost of home heating oil, with prices having increased by as much as 35% in the past number of days. The cost of home heating oil was already high so people really cannot believe what they are seeing.

This morning, I was contacted by a 94-year-old woman from Wexford who relies on home heating oil to keep her house warm. Only last week, the price for a half fill of oil from her provider was €464. By midday today, that had jumped to €879. That is almost double the price in just days. This extortionate hike puts this elderly woman under huge pressure but her options are either pay up or go cold. This woman is not alone.

Yesterday, people spoke out on the radio about the price of home heating oil shooting up sharply in real time. Heating oil providers have jacked up their prices by hundreds of euro. This is blatant price-gouging and greed. It is a brazen rip-off, happening in plain sight. Of course, the price surge is also hitting motorists at the pumps. People are reporting increases as high as ten cent a litre since this onslaught began. Companies are clearly taking advantage of this crisis to squeeze even more profit from their customers. The Taoiseach is entirely passive on the matter. Yesterday, he said there was no excuse for price-gouging but it is not good enough to criticise price-gouging and then do absolutely nothing about it. By the way, writing a letter to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, and asking for a review of the energy market is really no action at all. It is a cop-out. The Taoiseach needs to pick up the phone and tell the top brass in these companies to stop fleecing people. The Government needs to drop its plan to increase carbon tax in the coming weeks, increases that will drive up the cost of home heating oil even further. Surely, the Taoiseach can now accept it is his job to step in and act with purpose to protect households from these hikes and stop this price gouging.

Tá teaghlaigh cráite ag arduithe ollmhóra ar phraghas an ola teas tí. Tá price-gouging agus saint le feiceáil go soiléir ó chomhlachtaí. Caithfidh an Rialtas stop a chur leis an tsaill seo. The Taoiseach cannot do nothing as these price shocks hit home. For too long, the message from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to struggling households has been, "You are on your own". That has to change and change fast. People are under pressure. The Government needs to intervene to help.

Will the Government scrap its plan to push up the price of home heating oil even further? Will the Taoiseach tell people today that he will not hike carbon taxes while they struggle to heat their homes? Will he outline what concrete, direct action he will take to end this rip-off and stop the price-gouging? He is left with a clear choice: he can take on these price-gouging companies or he can sit back and force households to take the pain. Which choice will the Taoiseach make?

I welcome the students from Finglas. They are very welcome and I hope they enjoy their day in Dáil Éireann. I hope it may spark and inspire some of them to come in some day as elected public representatives as well.

Admhaím go bhfuil teaghlaigh fud fad na tíre faoi bhrú de bharr an mhéid atá ag tarlú maidir le praghsanna, go háirithe praghsanna a bhaineann le fuinneamh. Mar a dúirt mé inné, táimid ag déanamh machnaimh ar an scéal agus beimid sásta cabhair agus tacaíocht a thabhairt do dhaoine mar a rinneamar cheana nuair a bhí géarchéim ann le linn ghéarchéim na hÚcráine.

There is a lot of uncertainty out there at the moment and no one should take advantage of that uncertainty to increase prices of energy or oil, be it home heating oil or on the forecourts. We are keeping everything under review in terms of the price situation and the impact on households. In the budget, we took very targeted measures to support people. One of the manifestations of that will be this wee when 50,000 families currently in receipt of the working family payment will receive their first fuel allowance payment and back pay on Thursday, 12 March. Any family on the working family payment will receive back pay of €380. That will help that cohort. That is a measure we took in the budget to include them for the first time in the free fuel allowance. The additional needs payment is also available for anyone in particular difficulty. The Minister for Social Protection has made it clear to community welfare officers to respond in that regard.

Prices on the forecourts should not have increased. They can be influenced but typically, it should be three to four weeks after a particular event for prices to be impacted at the forecourts. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has asked the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, to investigate the pass-through from wholesale prices to retail prices because we had elements of this in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and what happened there, although there was a longer lead-in during that crisis. Price increases came a bit later in the cycle. The Minister has asked the CRU to carry out an independent review of that and, in particular, the pass-through from wholesale to retail prices in particular. The Minister for enterprise has also written to the CCPC. We met with its officials on Monday and spoke about this particular issue.

At the European Council in two weeks, there will be a specific focus on energy pricing. One of the more fundamental challenges is the coupling of gas with renewables in the price market and structure that governs the European energy market.

The Taoiseach has talked about that for a long time.

That is an issue that was put on the agenda two weeks ago but will have an even sharper focus now because of the impact of this crisis on the energy market more generally.

We will keep any further measures under review. It is important that the Government's focus has been on targeting and using our resources for those most in need and those who need our supports. We have extended the reduction of VAT. We reduced VAT from 13% to 9% on electricity and gas bills. We are now keeping the rate at 9% until 2030.

We will look at this in the broader sense. I will not focus on any particular measure. The Deputy mentioned carbon tax but we will not pull the rug from under farmers, those who are retrofitting and those who depend on the free fuel allowance.

Tá sé soiléir go bhfuil teaghlaigh faoi bhrú, ach tá sé soiléir freisin nach bhfuil an Rialtas ag déanamh aon rud - rud ar bith.

No.

I just heard from the Taoiseach an exposition of the fact he is doing nothing. That has been a real subplot of the entire cost-of-living crisis. It is a Government that is hands off, stands back and just allows households to take the pain. Energy companies, supermarket chains and insurance companies are ripping people off and the Government does nothing to stop them. The Taoiseach talked again about another review. In the name of God, how many reviews is the Government going to do?

It is probably, therefore, no surprise that this price-gouging has happened. Why would these companies not jack up their prices? They know they have nothing to fear from the Government. The Taoiseach says the price-gouging should not happen. Then the question is as to what is the Government going to do to stop it and the Taoiseach has no credible answer.

Thank you, Deputy.

I have asked the Taoiseach to set aside the carbon tax increase. Will the Taoiseach do even that small gesture?

The Taoiseach to respond.

How will the Taoiseach tackle these companies which are ripping people off?

The Deputy says it is a small gesture. That is the point. The carbon tax on its own would be a number of cent or whatever, but when we look at the carbon tax collectively, it has supported farmers, in particular, in terms of environmental agri-schemes with approximately €173 million allocated this year to that. We would not have the retrofitting scheme without it because we have ring-fenced it. We give all that back to the people through retrofitting. Then the third pillar is those in social protection. It is fuel poverty that the carbon tax addresses. The money goes back to the people who need it most. It goes back through retrofitting and it goes back to farmers.

Did the Taoiseach hear my question?

Deputy, I told you: do not interrupt, please.

The Deputy asked about carbon tax.

Home heating oil.

Do not interrupt, Deputy, please.

For this woman, the price has doubled in days.

Sorry, the Deputy has asked about it. We have said we are going to take measures-----

The Taoiseach is going to look at it.

The Deputy has a habit of always looking for the knee-jerk reaction to everything-----

Do I? The Taoiseach has a habit of looking for no reaction to my question.

-----and when she did it before-----

Thank you, Taoiseach.

Thankfully, we did not take the Deputy's advice before-----

Thank you, Taoiseach.

-----because it would have been fairly disastrous if we had.

Before I move on, the students from St. Michael's Holy Faith from Finglas are most welcome. I call Deputy Bacik.