Taoiseach Signals Halt to Home Heating Oil Carbon Tax Hikes
Get European news in your inbox daily
A short daily digest of the whole continent — or just the countries you care about.
Check your email. We've sent a confirmation link — click it to complete your subscription.
Budget season has arrived with its usual mix of caution and populist retreat. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has frozen carbon tax increases on home heating oil for the rest of his term, a move that aligns with a poll showing four in five voters doubt the upcoming budget will cover their fuel bills. The government appears to have decided that green targets are less urgent than the immediate prospect of cold voters.
The state’s financial oversight is also under scrutiny after a department paid ‐130,000 to a ‘turf agent’ without any record of what work was actually performed. Elsewhere, the Drumcree standoff has reached its seventh day of rallies and counter-rallies, a reminder that some disputes in the North are durable enough to outlast any single political generation.