Aontú TD for Mayo, Paul Lawless, has accused the government of intentionally adding “extreme red tape” to the fuel package designed to help farmers and contractors – with receipts required for fuel consumption for the entirety of the previous year.
He also claimed that not a single cent had yet been paid out under the Fuel Income Support Scheme almost a month after the fuel protests had been ended.
Deputy Lawless said: “We are now nearly a month on from the fuel protests, and the fact remains that not a single cent has been paid out yet under the Fuel Income Support Scheme announced by the government to quell the protests.”
“The package of €100 million was announced to great fanfare by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste some weeks ago. Only in recent days have we learned the finer detail of the scheme, and there are very serious problems with it. Firstly, it is my understanding that if a farmer or contractor wishes to avail of the scheme for a month or two this summer, they must supply receipts for their fuel consumption for the whole of last year,” he said.
Deputy Lawless continued: “Once a farmer or contractor has supplied details on how much fuel they used in the whole of last year, the payment under the scheme will be proportional based on the “assumed usage” in the “impacted period”. This is scandalous.”
“We all know that a farmer or contractor uses more fuel during the spring and summer months than in winter. Basing this payment on the total fuel usage from the previous year means people will still be out of pocket. Furthermore, we don’t know how much money people will get under the scheme, because we’re told that will be determined by the total number of applications received,” he added.
“The closing date for applications is 27th May, and no money will be paid out before then because they have to then start counting the applications to determine the rate of pay. I believe that the government has deliberately made this process complicated to deter people from applying for it,” the Mayo TD said.
“It is a scandal that the fuel support package announced during the protests on 12th April will not actually reach farmers or contractors’ pockets until June. The government has been almost clapping themselves on the back over this package. They have been resisting Aontú’s calls to cut the carbon tax saying that the money generated through the tax is needed for retrofitting etc. What we have since discovered is that €578 million euro in carbon taxes generated between 2020 and 2023 was not spent on climate measures and much of it was returned to the public purse.”
“The money generated through the NORA levy on fuel was supposed to go into the climate action fund, but that fund has a surplus of €278 million since 2020 – the government didn’t actually need this fuel tax, and cutting the tax would be no skin off their noses, they can well afford to cut the taxes”, concluded Lawless.
This week, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, announced the opening of a Fuel Income Support Scheme.
“The Fuel Income Support Scheme was introduced as a targeted income support to assist farmers, agricultural contractors and fishers “facing unprecedented increases in fuel costs”. The payments will cover the months of March up to the end of July 2026, which coincides with peak fuel usage on farms,” he said.
“On 12 April, the Government approved measures to mitigate increased energy costs for households and businesses. This included a Fuel Income Support Scheme for farming and fisheries totalling €20 million per month for the five-month period March to July 2026 to be paid based on historic usage of Marked Gas Oil (MGO ‘green diesel’).”