{"id":16498,"date":"2026-03-12T10:42:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T10:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=16498"},"modified":"2026-03-12T10:42:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T10:42:00","slug":"governments-hands-off-approach-to-the-energy-crisis-is-reckless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/governments-hands-off-approach-to-the-energy-crisis-is-reckless\/","title":{"rendered":"Government&#8217;s hands-off approach to the energy crisis is reckless"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>The government should be using this week to put a plan in place, for a suite of measures, that can be deployed next week when the D\u00e1il is sitting<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The government\u2019s hands-off approach to the energy crisis is reckless and dangerous, according to Social Democrats energy spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Whitmore said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn unprecedented 400 million barrels of oil was released from the reserves of dozens of countries yesterday \u2013 and it didn\u2019t make a dent in oil prices. They are continuing to soar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are all reading grim forecasts of oil prices reaching $150, or even $200, a barrel if the conflict in the Middle East doesn\u2019t end. A sobering reality is that, even if the conflict does end today, it will take weeks \u2013 if not months \u2013 for energy supply in oil and gas to return to normal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the world looks on in horror at the spiralling war in the Middle East, and consumers are faced with soaring energy prices, our government is sitting back and twiddling its thumbs. Yesterday, Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the government wanted to wait and see what the situation was at the end of March. This hands-off approach is both reckless and dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHundreds and thousands of people were already struggling to pay sky-high energy prices before the United States and Israel started this illegal war. Nearly 320,000 people are in arrears on their electricity bills. These relentless price rises will drive many of those people over the edge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bizarre thing about the government\u2019s indifferent approach to this crisis, is they have a template of supports that can be deployed. A reduction in excise duty \u2013 reducing petrol by 20c a litre and diesel by 15c a litre \u2013 was introduced in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when energy prices previously soared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government should be using this week to put a plan in place, for a suite of measures, that can be deployed next week when the D\u00e1il is sitting. Their failure to act is a dereliction of duty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat suite of measures should include a targeted \u20ac400 energy credit, which can immediately be provided to 800,000 families who are struggling most. There should also be a cut to excise duty, which accounts for the biggest tax on petrol and diesel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is time for the government to stop narrating the problem and start planning \u2013 so that action can be taken on Wednesday, when the D\u00e1il is sitting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The government should be using this week to put a plan in place, for a suite of measures, that can be deployed next week when the D\u00e1il is sitting The government\u2019s hands-off approach to the energy crisis is reckless and dangerous, according to Social Democrats energy spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore said: \u201cAn unprecedented 400 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[539,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Government&#039;s hands-off approach to the energy crisis is reckless - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/governments-hands-off-approach-to-the-energy-crisis-is-reckless\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government&#039;s hands-off approach to the energy crisis is reckless - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The government should be using this week to put a plan in place, for a suite of measures, that can be deployed next week when the D\u00e1il is sitting The government\u2019s hands-off approach to the energy crisis is reckless and dangerous, according to Social Democrats energy spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore. 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