Sula dtosaím, tabharfaidh mé aitheantas do bhás an-bhrónach bean as Gaoth Dobhair i mo chontae féin, Dún na nGall, Moya Brennan. Ba bhean iontach í Moya a raibh croí mór aici. Bhí sí ar dhuine de na daoine ba dhílse agus b'fhírinní a bhí ann riamh. Cara a bhí inti fosta. Ba dhuine de chairdiúlacht agus de chineáltas do gach duine a raibh aithne acu uirthi. Ar ndóigh, bhí glór a tháinig ó na haingil aici. Chuir an glór sin Dún na nGall ar an léarscáil dhomhanda. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis. Cuirim mo chomhbhrón ó chroí in iúl do Tim, Aisling agus Paul, do chlanna Jarvis agus Uí Bhraonáin uilig, dá teaghlach, dá cairde agus do gach duine atá faoi chian ina diaidh. Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.

After weeks of turmoil, protest and public anger over soaring fuel prices, what is most striking is that the Tánaiste's Government is still not listening. Right across the State, over 750,000 households rely on home heating oil to keep their homes warm. For them, this crisis is not abstract. It is immediate and it is punishing. It is the difference between heating their home or going without. Despite everything that has happened over the past number of weeks, the protests, the pressure and the clear message from workers and families right across this State, the Government still has not reduced excise on home heating oil by a single cent. There is nothing. The Tánaiste now expects a pat on the back for not increasing the carbon tax on home heating oil in a fortnight's time. Instead, he will impose that increase in the very depths of winter. For families already stretched to the brink, that is no relief at all.

What does it say about the Government that, after weeks of anger and hardship, it still does not get it? The Government still simply does not understand the lives people are living. It does not understand the fear of a bill landing that cannot be paid, the quiet dread of a cold home or the constant calculations required just to get through to the end of the week. There is a complete lack of urgency, of empathy and of basic understanding from the Government.

What we have seen is not just inaction, but a pattern of behaviour that poured fuel on this crisis. Last week, members of the Government chose to insult, demean and even threaten those who took to the streets. These are people who were left with no choice but to rise up out of desperation because their livelihoods are being decimated. That is the reality. They are seeing cut after cut and price rise after price rise and they felt they had no other option but to take a stand. Now, to add insult to injury, many of those same workers are returning home to find parking fines landing through their letter boxes. This is the wrong response. It is a response that punishes people who are already pushed to the brink. These are people who did not have money last week and they are now being asked to fork over hundreds of euro for parking fines.

For goodness' sake, where is the common sense in all of this? Has the Government learned nothing over the last week? It is it not listening to where people are at? Is it any wonder that this Government is so detached from people's lived realities? It is staggering. The Government refuses to act on the issue of home heating oil. It dismisses and belittles those in hardship. It makes life even harder for many of those same people. I will ask the Tánaiste a direct question. How does he justify the decision not to decrease excise duty on home heating oil by a single cent? Given all that he knows about people being pushed to the pin of their collars and going without heat in their homes, why does the Tánaiste, as Minister for Finance, simply ignore those people, refuse to listen to them and refuse to act on their behalf on the issue of home heating oil?

I join with the Deputy in extending sympathies to the family, friends and community of Moya Brennan. She was a musical icon, a unique voice of extraordinary talent and somebody who played no small part in bringing Irish music to an international audience. May she rest in peace.

I thank the Deputy for the question. This has been a very challenging period of time for the people of this country. The pressures that people are feeling are real. We are working constructively to endeavour, as best we can, to assist people at a time of huge global turmoil. There is sometimes an effort to divide society into different groups. Everybody will benefit from the energy package we have put in place. That is because, as the Deputy knows, when you take measures to reduce energy prices, that has a positive effect in moderating the likely increases in the rate of inflation. While there has quite rightly been much discussion on fuel this week, we hope the measures we have been putting in place will have a broader positive impact in suppressing, insofar as possible, what is likely to be a growing rate of inflation. That is passed through directly when it gets to the supermarket floor. That is the first thing I would say.

I will get to kerosene in a moment but the second thing I will say is that this is not a small package by any fair or objective measure. I presume the Deputy would acknowledge that. It is a package of a total of €750 million in supports. It is either the largest or one of the largest packages in the European Union. I am holding up a table that proves that. This Government has taken action on behalf of the people of Ireland, introducing one of the very largest packages in the European Union. The details of the package are well known. There are reductions in the excise duty on petrol, diesel and green diesel. There is a package for farmers, farm contractors, agricultural contractors, hauliers, bus contractors, fishers and many important supply sectors of the Irish economy.

The Deputy is also right that there is a real issue when it comes to the cost of home heating oil. On that much, we agree. However, we disagree on how to respond. We have taken steps to help people with home heating oil. We took a conscious decision to expand the fuel allowance season. The fuel allowance season was meant to be over by now. It was not meant to be available to people this month. It is worth €152 per household as a result of that extension. That is costing €71 million. The Deputy will know that the households that are most in need from a fuel poverty point of view get that. He will know such households in his own constituency. We all know them. They include many pensioners, carers, people with disabilities and, crucially, many low-income working people who are in receipt of the working family payment. About a quarter of all households in the country now receive that payment. I ask the Deputy to let people know that.

This is a targeted measure. I am watching what is likely to happen in Northern Ireland today, which the Deputy's party will know well through its role in the Executive. The measures Sinn Féin is likely to bring in today with respect to home heating oil will also be targeted measures and not universal measures.

On the second thing we have done, it is important to listen and we listened when people in this House said that we should suspend the increase in carbon tax on kerosene and green diesel. We support the carbon tax, as do most of the Opposition although Sinn Féin does not, because it plays a very important role in funding the climate transition and in supporting farmers, retrofitting and those in fuel poverty. We introduced that suspension.

Sinn Féin's solutions are not as easy as the Deputy suggests. I looked at one of those solutions. We should all look at people's ideas and be willing to engage on them. I had my officials look at Sinn Féin's proposal to return the carbon tax to the 2023 rates and to backdate this reversal to 1 May. I have been told that Revenue does not hold records of any individual end-users. Therefore, any retrospective adjustment is unlikely to be possible and could result in the unjust enrichment of suppliers, substantial administrative burdens and unanticipated costs to the Exchequer. This is not a question of a lack of empathy but one of making sure that the solutions we come up with together are practical and workable.

We have a large package of measures in place and we will continue to work our way through this challenging time.

I really do not understand why the Tánaiste is not listening to ordinary people. There has been an outpouring right across the country. The Tánaiste can wave his graphs all he wants, but he needs to really listen to ordinary people.

It matters.

A young woman wrote to me and lots of other people this week. I think it is important for me to read out what she said. Listen to this. She said:

My own situation is becoming unbearable. Despite being in a dual-income household, I haven't been able to afford home heating oil for three weeks - three weeks without heat, not because I have been irresponsible but because I simply cannot afford it anymore. At the same time, I'm paying extortionate rent for a home that I can't even properly live in. Damp is setting in because I can't afford to heat it. I feel trapped. I am being squeezed from every angle with no relief and the future feels completely out of reach.

She went on to say:

I will never own my own home in this country despite working full-time and doing what I was told - going to college, getting the degree. As a working-class child of two working-class parents, that dream is gone. There is no pathway forward, only increasing pressure and diminishing hope.

They are the people the Tánaiste needs to be listening to, not waving his graphs. He should listen to ordinary people and respond. What was the Government's response this week? It would not cut a single cent of carbon tax from home heating oil. She is in a house that she could not heat for three weeks. She works full-time and her partner does the same, and the Government ignored her this week because it is not listening and it is completely out of touch.

No, it is quite the opposite, in fact. People are living through very tough and very challenging times but Deputy Doherty has got to be honest with that person who wrote to him as well. The Deputy can talk about waving graphs, but facts matter. I had Sinn Féin's measures assessed by officials in my Department, and they came back and said it was not doable.

Cutting carbon tax? Of course, it is.

Hang on a second. May I speak, please? Thank you. Revenue does not hold records of individual end users when it comes to home heating oil. If we did what Sinn Féin proposes, and I am accepting-----

We are not looking for retrospective-----

You are.

That is nonsense. On home heating oil.

With regard to a proposed amendment for solid fuel carbon tax, the Sinn Féin amendment proposed reverting to 2023 rates and backdating the reversal to 1 May 2023.

We did not ask for backdating.

I am going to write to the Deputy and explain to him the practical challenges with the Sinn Féin's measures. There are practical challenges.

Cut the carbon tax on home heating oil, simple as. The Tánaiste knows he can do it if he wants to.

Can I say something else? The Deputy had his time and I think the people deserve better than shouting and roaring. We cannot get through this global economic crisis if every week we come into this House-----

She cannot get through the week, never mind the crisis.

-----and the proposal is to abolish taxes and spend more. That is not a sustainable way through this. Abolishing taxes and spending more would not steer us-----

What does the Tánaiste say to her?

Deputy Doherty, please.

What I say to that person is we have her back. We put in one of the largest packages in the European Union.

Ah here.

Come on.

We have reduced excise. They are benefiting from that at that pump. We have extended the fuel allowance and we will work through this together-----

Is the Tánaiste telling me that he has her back? She cannot heat her home.

-----while Sinn Féin refuses to condemn intimidation against gardaí this week. It refused to stand by-----

She did not intimidate anybody.

She did not but you refused and your leader refused-----

She is sitting in a cold house. She is working every hour that God sends her.

Deputy Doherty.

She did not intimidate anybody.

Time and time again, Sinn Féin refused to condemn the blockades. It is now in favour of blockades.

The Tánaiste is diverting. There are people sitting in cold homes and the Government refuses to cut carbon tax.

Hang on, Deputy Doherty. You put the question and the Tánaiste has attempted to answer.

I am sorry. I am deeply frustrated. I apologise to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle but not to this fella over there who is completely out of touch.

You are out of touch.