TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said the government has not discussed reducing excise duty on alcohol in Budget 2027. 

It comes after the Irish Examiner reported today that Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke was pushing for the cut in an effort to aid rural pubs. 

Martin was speaking to the media outside government buildings following the first full cabinet meeting after the Dáil’s summer recess.

Asked if he would be supportive of this measure being included in next month’s budget, the Fianna Fáil leader said: “So far, in terms of tax, we’ve discussed the income tax issues and package.

“We haven’t moved into areas like that,” he said, referring to alcohol. 

But he said that “the price of a pint varies in different locations”, citing the industry’s “propensity to raise the cost of alcohol”. 

“We will look at different sectors in the round, are there other mechanisms that can be used to support? But that issue hasn’t surfaced yet at any of the talks that we’ve had.”

Budget 2010 was the last time excise on alcohol was cut, when the rate on a pint of beer reduced by 12c. 

Carbon tax 

Martin was also asked about reports in the Irish Independent that the government could delay the annual increase in carbon tax beyond 2030, beyond the current coalition’s lifetime. 

He denied that tensions had arisen between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on the matter.

“The reality is that the revenues from the carbon tax trajectory, as provided for in legislation, have been baked into the National Development Plan expenditure profile, particularly of the Department of Climate and Energy, and also then in terms of fuel poverty and in terms of supports for farmers.”

He said the carbon tax revenue goes to farmers for environmentally friendly farming initiatives and “underpins a lot of the fuel poverty allocation in terms of the fuel allowance”.

“All that has to be worked out if there was to be consideration of that. All of those things fall for discussion, but those are the issues that would have to be reconciled.”

Martin said one of the purposes of grants for retrofitting and solar panels “is to actually make things cheaper for people energy-wise”.

“For those who have benefited from the grants and the retrofitting, things were getting cheaper on the energy front.

But I would acknowledge that not everybody has so far been in position to benefit from grants and various supports.

He said the energy and climate minister Darragh O’Brien “is looking at other issues that he can take in respect of solar and so on to really enable people and to empower people to bring the cost of energy down”. 

Unions industrial action ballots ‘unhelpful’

Martin also said the decisions of unions Siptu and Fórsa to ballot members for industrial action was “unnecessary and unhelpful”.

Public sector workers in both unions voted overwhelmingly for industrial action, up to and including strike action, over the last two days. 

The Taoiseach denied that the unions and government were “miles apart” on the issue and said the government had offered talks.

“Quite frankly, I think the decisions to ballot were unnecessary and unhelpful, in my view. We have made it very clear to the public service unions that, as like previous years, that we’re up for negotiation,” he said.

“The Minister for Public Expenditure has indicated that the government is open to negotiating a new public service pay deal.”