Home heating oil hikes 'exposes government failure to protect Kildare families'

Recent home heating oil hikes has exposed the government's "failure" to protect families living in County Kildare.

That's the claim which was made by Sinn Féin TD for Kildare South, Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh, who said that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael "cannot continue to stand by" while families in Kildare and beyond are hit with increases in the cost of home heating oil.

Her comments follows new data published by the European Commission, which shows that Ireland has experienced the largest increase in home-heating oil prices anywhere in the EU, with a 27.3 per cent rise in a single week — eight times the EU average.

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IMMEDIATE ACTION

Deputy Ní Raghallaigh claimed that the figures underline the urgent need for "immediate action" to protect households. 

Elaborating on her view, she said:  "Families in Kildare South are already under enormous pressure from the cost-of-living crisis. 

"Now they are being hit with a staggering surge in heating oil prices that is far beyond anything seen across the rest of Europe.

"In just one week, the price of home heating oil here jumped by more than 27pc, compared with an EU average increase of just over 3pc; for many households this means the cost of filling a tank has soared to nearly €1,800.

“For the 700,000 households that rely on heating oil, particularly those in rural communities, these increases are simply unaffordable."

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Deputy Ní Raghallaigh also called on the government to intervene immediately, adding: "Sinn Féin has introduced legislation — the Mineral Oil Tax (Emergency Cost of Living Reduction) Bill — to cut excise duties on petrol and diesel and bring real relief to households and workers.

"Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael also need to suspend planned carbon tax increases and cut VAT on home-heating oil in line with the lower 9pc rate applied to electricity and gas."

Furthermore, the Deputy expressed her wish for a  full investigation into alleged price gouging in the fuel market: "If companies are exploiting an international crisis to boost profits while families struggle to heat their homes, that cannot be tolerated."

She concluded: "The public cannot afford for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and their Independent allies to continue acting like spectators while households are hammered; they must act now to bring prices down and protect families."

COUNTER STATEMENT

A number of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael representatives living in the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District were contacted by the Leinster Leader in relation to Deputy Ní Raghallaigh's comments.

Two local councillors responded — Fine Gael Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer and Fianna Fáil Cllr Rob Power.

While Cllr O'Dwyer declined to comment, Cllr Power issued a lengthy response.

He told the Leader: "Nobody underestimates the pressure that rising heating oil costs are placing on families in Kildare right now.

"This is a real crisis for real households, and the Government is treating it as such; what is less helpful is opposition parties seeking to harvest political capital from that hardship while offering proposals that don't add up."

Cllr Power continued: "The call for a competition investigation would carry more weight if Sinn Féin hadn't arrived three months late.

"Minister O'Brien asked the CRU [the Commission of Regulation for Utilities] to review retail energy competition back in December, and that work is already well underway.

"Sinn Fein's call to action isn't leadership, it's a press release."

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On the topic of allegations of price gouging within Ireland, Cllr Power had this to say: "The government's position is clear: the market is adequately supplied, and opportunistic pricing is unacceptable.

"That message has been communicated directly to the industry."

Moreover, when it came to the subject of targeted supports, Cllr Power replied: "It is worth noting the contrast with past criticism.

"This government was previously challenged for not doing enough for those most in need, but Budget 2026 responded to exactly that.

"The Fuel Allowance was increased to €38 per week from January; from this week, over 43,000 households in receipt of the Working Family Payment are now also eligible for the Fuel Allowance, backdated to January.

"In addition, the 9pc VAT rate on gas and electricity has been extended; these are targeted, means-tested supports, not blanket measures."

'BE STRAIGHT WITH THE PUBLIC'

Taking aim specifically at Deputy Ní Raghallaigh, Cllr Power said that she "should be straight with the public".

He elaborated: "Budget 2026 allocated €558 million in carbon tax revenue for SEAI [Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland] residential and community energy upgrade schemes, including the Solar PV scheme, increases to the Fuel Allowance, the Warmer Homes Scheme, and the National Home Retrofit Programme, which provides SEAI grants for insulation, heat pumps, and home heating upgrades.

"Independent ESRI [Economic and Social Research Institute] analysis consistently finds that the households on the lowest incomes are actually better off overall as a result of the social protection measures that carbon tax increases fund."

Following these comments, he took aim at the Deputy's party as a whole: "If Sinn Féin are proposing to suspend or cut carbon tax, they owe the public a straight answer: which of these programmes would they cut?

"Would they reduce the Warmer Homes Scheme? Scale back solar grants? Cut Fuel Allowance supports? You cannot simultaneously demand more protection for households in energy poverty and strip the funding mechanism that pays for it.

He asserted: "The government's approach is coherent: protect the most vulnerable now through targeted supports, and reduce long-term exposure to fossil fuel price shocks through retrofitting and renewables; Deputy Ní Raghallaigh's proposal would do the opposite."

"It gives short-term optics at the cost of long-term resilience, paid for by the households she claims to be defending," Cllr Power concluded.

Sinn Féin TD for Kildare South Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh and Fianna Fáil Cllr Rob Power. File photographs

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Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.