115. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will consider applying a 75% windfall tax on the profits of energy companies, including electricity companies. [68614/26]

From next Monday, over 1 million households will see gas and electricity prices begin to increase. Households lose out but big energy companies will be the big winners. Energy companies will rake in even greater profits while ordinary people are left to carry the burden. Will the Minister bring forward a windfall tax on these excess profits and use the money to help households struggling to keep the lights on and heat their homes this winter?

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. More broadly regarding energy prices and the like, I am conscious of the pressures people are feeling in relation to energy bills. They are real, not just in Ireland but across the European Union and large parts of the world. In an Irish context, we will have our budget next Tuesday, when we will endeavour to assist people with those bills, particularly through the winter period. The Government is conscious of the increased financial pressures on households and businesses in recent months. In response, it has introduced a number of measures to help reduce - or at least suppress the growth of - fuel prices for households and businesses, with additional supports for key sectors of the Irish economy and supports more widely in relation to excise reductions.

The European Commission's AccelerateEU communication addresses the EU's rising energy costs and volatile fossil fuel markets and aims to accelerate the clean energy transition and strengthen EU energy resilience. While the communication notes member states may take domestic measures, no EU-wide approach has yet been agreed. The temporary solidarity contribution, TSC, was introduced in line with the Council regulation of 6 October 2022 to tackle windfall gains being made in the energy sector following the commencement of the war in Ukraine. The TSC formed part of a co-ordinated European response, reflecting the highly interconnected nature of EU energy markets - when we acted, we did so at an EU level - and a view that an emergency intervention to mitigate the effects of high energy prices at the time could not be sufficiently achieved by member states individually. It continues to be our view that tackling the energy crisis in a co-ordinated way between EU member states is preferable, given the interconnectedness of EU energy markets.

Governments across Europe are rightly attentive to developments in energy markets and their impact on households, businesses and the wider economy. As Minister of Finance, and in the context of our Presidency of the Council of the EU, as I think we discussed before, we put the topic of a windfall tax on the agenda of the ECOFIN meeting in Dublin and I have requested the European Commission to reflect on those discussions and report back at a meeting of ECOFIN next Thursday and Friday in Luxembourg. I will update the House after that.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. The Minister knows the European Commissioner has ruled out a Europe-wide energy windfall tax. He said it was better done domestically. There is no point in the Minister for Finance hiding behind the skirts of the European Union. It said, as of Tuesday, that it is not planning to do this and that it is best done at domestic level. These companies are raking it in. Households will be fleeced by nearly double-digit increases in gas and electricity from Monday, the day before the budget. One million houses will, within a week, see their electricity and gas prices increase and the Minister is hiding behind something the European Commission is telling us, the public, that it is not planning to do and that would be better done domestically. Will the Minister look at introducing a windfall tax on the excess profits these energy companies are making while ordinary people are put to the pin of their collar trying to keep warm and keep the lights on this winter?

My position is extraordinarily clear. I heard that individual Commissioner's comments today. I met with Commissioner Hoekstra yesterday, who is the Commissioner with responsibility for taxation. He is due to report and engage with EU finance Ministers in Luxembourg next Friday.

It is not only my view but the view of the German finance Minister, the Italian finance Minister and four other finance Ministers, expressed in a signed letter to me, that the best way to consider acting on this is at an EU level. That is how we acted in this House in the past, as the Deputy will recall, at the start of the war in Ukraine. Due to the interconnectedness of the EU energy market, it makes sense to look at these things as a European Union. Of course, there are things we can and will do domestically and we will outline a number of those in the budget. Regarding the windfall energy tax, I am clear on the Government's position, and I am also clear on the position of many of my EU counterparts, that working together at an EU level is the right way to go. That is why we will formally be discussing this in Luxembourg on Friday week.

It is the energy Commissioner who made the point that there will be no windfall tax at a European level. That is the wrong position - I absolutely agree on that - but in this Parliament, the Minister, as the Minister for Finance, can bring one in if he wants. He can tax the excess profits. We are talking not about the profits but about the supernormal profits that energy companies are making. He should tax them at a rate of 75%. Why? It is because they should not be making these types of profits while people are being pushed to the pin of their collar and we are seeing double-digit increases in gas and electricity prices. It is immoral that energy companies are making these types of profits. As the Minister for Finance, the Tánaiste would have the back of ordinary Irish people if he stood up and said he was going to make sure these excess profits are taxed and that that tax would be redirected back into people's pockets and to households right across the State to help them with their electricity and gas bills. That is a decision that he could make today if he wanted to. Will he consider that?

The Deputy keeps asking me the same questions. I have the back of ordinary workers. We tested that electorally in Galway West not that long ago when the Deputy's party put its proposition and I put mine. We won the by-election and his party did not. We have tested these propositions with the people because the people of Ireland know that, of course, it is more nuanced than the Deputy outlined. We are in the European Union. Energy is extraordinarily interconnected across the European Union. That is why it is not just my view, but the view of multiple governments of a whole variety of different political persuasions - some of the right, some of the left and some of the centre - that the best way to consider these issues is at a European level. That is not a new phenomenon in this House. It is also what we did when we previously introduced measures at the start of Russia's brutal illegal invasion of Ukraine.

We will continue to work on how best to deal with windfall profits. I share the Deputy's analysis of the situation on the windfall profits and how we best deal with that. We will continue to do that at European level. Domestically, we will continue as a Government to have the backs of ordinary workers. That is why we have brought in packages of measures that far exceed what most other European countries have done. We have an ability to do that because of our good management of the economy.