Tonight at 7.45 p.m. the country will come to a standstill to cheer on the boys in green in Prague. It is wrong that so many people in the North who share the same passion and identity may be unable to watch their national team free to air because it is geoblocked. This is something the Government urgently needs to address. I was a young lad when Donegal's famous son Packie Bonner made that save to set Ireland up for victory in Italia '90, and that memory stays with me. Let us hope the lads can do the business tonight and take us a step closer to our first World Cup in 24 years. The nation believes and the nation is right behind them.

I lár ghéarchéim breosla as cuimse, tá an Rialtas i ndiaidh teaghlaigh atá ag brath ar ola teasa tí a fhágáil ar lár. Ní fhaigheann formhór acu an liúntas fuinnimh go fóill. Caithfidh siad dul i ngleic le costais ag dul in airde agus in airde agus roghanna dodhéanta á ndéanamh acu. Níl faoiseamh ar bith ón dá cent atá ceadaithe. Teastaíonn fíorthacaíocht ó na teaghlaigh seo agus teastaíonn sé anois. Rud a dhéanfadh difríocht láithreach ná chun a fháil réidh leis an gcáin charbóin ar ola teasa tí.

Let us talk about fairness because the Tánaiste spoke about fairness yesterday. Where is the fairness for the 750,000 households relying on home heating oil? The vast majority of them do not get any fuel allowance. They have seen their costs to fill soar to eye-watering levels and the Government's response is a reduction of 2 cent per litre and €20 in the cost of a fill. Incredibly, the Government is going to take back this measly €20 in a couple of weeks when it jacks up the prices by increasing carbon tax. That is not fairness. It is insulting and people know it.

Let me tell the Tánaiste what this actually looks like. A support worker who contacted me is working constant overtime trying to keep two children in college and one in school. She told me she is exhausted and burned out and still cannot get ahead. Electricity is up, food is up and fuel is up. She is now sitting with no heat on, asking what the point is. Another women who contacted me in the past day is 67 years of age. She is still working. She told me she only turns on the heat when her grandchildren visit. She is saving the last little oil she has for them. Think about that for a second. People are denying themselves basic heat in their own homes. That is the reality of the Tánaiste’s decisions, whether he likes it or not.

Sinn Féin put a clear proposal to the Tánaiste this week to remove excise duty and strip out carbon tax from home heating oil - real, immediate relief - but he refused and dug in. I again ask why. Why, when he knew that these measures are not enough, did he choose to leave people short? The Tánaiste should be bringing a financial resolution before the House today. We should be reducing excise duty on home heating oil tonight and giving the maximum reduction possible on diesel and petrol. He needs to recognise he has made a serious mistake, because from today this place will not sit for 20 days and families will be left high and dry to fend for themselves, trying to stretch whatever is left in the tank and making impossible choices.

Again, my question is simple. Will the Tánaiste act now to do the right thing? Will he recognise the mistakes he has made and stop abandoning the 750,000 households that rely on home heating oil to heat their homes? Will he bring the resolution and cut excise duty on that fuel, or is he going to continue to abandon those households and leave people to struggle knowing full well that his measures do not come close to cutting it?

Let us start where we can agree in a rare moment of unity in this House.

It seems to be working well.

Which is working well?

The football team.

We hope they work well tonight.

It is kind of bringing us together.

It has started off that way anyway.

I might lean into that, to start in a moment of harmony. I genuinely join all Members in this House and people right across the country in supporting the Irish national soccer team tonight as they take on Czechia. At a time of real challenge in our country and our world, of turmoil and uncertainty, the Irish team have really lifted our spirits. There is a real sense of belief, from the youngest to the oldest person in this country, that Ireland can do this. I wish the best to our manager, Heimir, the entire team, the many thousands of fans who have travelled to Czechia to be there and the many millions who will tune in tonight. We are all behind our team and in the truest possible sense of the phrase, come on you boys in green.

This week we brought in one of the largest interventions of any EU member state, based on population, to help people in the here and now, at the petrol pump, with the price of diesel, to help our hauliers, our coach operators and to help those at most risk of fuel poverty, including those most at risk when it comes to the cost of things like their home heating oil. Deputy Doherty knows that as well. He knows that from as soon as next week, nearly 500,000 households in this country will benefit from the decision we took to increase the fuel allowance. I want to provide clarity in this House. I do not know about the Deputy's office, but I certainly got queries from people wondering whether, if they had opted in to the lump sum payment for the fuel allowance, they have that opportunity to receive the four-week extension in the same format and the same lump sum. They do, and that can be paid from next week too.

We have taken real, practical measures. There is €70 million worth of additional fuel allowance, which I think everybody in this House supports. It is a measure that is targeted and helps those most in need. It helps many working families, by the way, because we have extended it to the working family payment. It helps many pensioners and older people, many people with a disability and many carers. It factually helps those most in need of assistance with the cost of fuel. Extending that into the summer period, considering the level of volatility around fuel, is the right thing to do.

We also took practical and more universal measures to help everybody in the area of excise. There was general and widespread support for that too in this House. Sinn Féin did not vote for it in the end. It had a different set of proposals. When push came to shove pretty much, every other political party in the Opposition, while they might have different ideas and might have wanted a different package, still pressed the "Tá" button in favour of cutting excise on petrol and diesel. Sinn Féin were too partisan and too involved in performative politics. So much for the united Opposition. They were left on their own when the rest of the Opposition decided that, maybe on this one occasion, they would take off their party jersey and vote with the Government because this package of measures will help people in some way. I thank people who constructively engaged on that.

There clearly is a constructive Opposition in this House, and then there is Sinn Féin.

On carbon tax, there was a document published on budget day on the use of carbon tax funds. Deputy Doherty is at this a long time - 16 years, in fact. He is the longest serving Opposition spokesperson on finance in the history of our State. The carbon tax allocation clearly goes to those most in need and it clearly shows it is helping people most at risk. It is helping people when it comes to the fuel allowance, it is helping people with the living alone allowance, it is helping people in our farming communities, it is helping with the transition in the form of EV grants and infrastructure, it is helping with the peatland rehabilitation and it is progressive and helps those most in need as well. Sinn Féin opposes it. I think it is nearly on its own. It might have a few others but of the main Opposition parties I think it is on its own in opposing carbon tax. It is no longer Opposition versus Government but most parties in this House versus Sinn Féin when it comes to the policy rationale here. It party cannot resist this populist tendency to just oppose everything for the sake of opposing everything.

Thanks, Tánaiste.

There are real challenges and we may well need to intervene again, but the package we put in place was the right package for the right moment and we will remain nimble and agile on any further interventions that are needed.