Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank everybody who contributed to the debate on petrol and diesel prices. This is not the first time that we have brought a motion like this before the Dáil. We also brought one last September.

It would be remiss of me not to address some of the hot air that we were getting from the Rural Independents. I am glad that they have left because things have cooled down a wee bit. Let me just say for the record: this Government introduced a carbon tax every year on petrol and diesel for the next ten years, or since it was brought forward in the Finance Act 2020. The one thing I would say to Deputy O'Donoghue is that he was not even here. He did not vote against it; neither did he vote for it. He was not even here when it was passed. He did not turn up.

What I would say to Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, after all the guff he gave today, is that he also did not turn up. That is not unique, because the last time we brought a motion here in response to the Government pushing up the price of petrol and diesel was in September. Do Members know who else did not turn up and contribute to the debate? Again, Deputies Michael Healy-Rae and O'Donoghue. Indeed, none of the Rural Independents turned up when their slot was called. That shows the importance they place on this issue. We hear a lot of huffing and puffing. The reality is we have been consistent in putting this issue on the political agenda. We in Sinn Féin are genuine when we say that we need change and that people are under pressure.

If Members want an example of how out of touch Fine Gael is after 13 years in government, just listen to what the Minister across the floor said. Fine Gael does not understand where ordinary people are at. I mentioned the survey that Sinn Féin carried out. One person said he is on disability allowance and relies completely on his car. He is a lone parent with three sons. He says the schools are not on the bus route, which means school runs by car are a must. He also says it is very frustrating and causes him anxiety most days trying to juggle the huge cost-of-living increases. According to him, it is like being in a vice with no way out, and the vice is getting tighter and tighter each week. Whose hand is on that vice? It is the hand of the Government. It is the Government that is tightening that vice on ordinary people the length and breadth of this State, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. It did not just put up the cost of petrol and diesel at the start of this month, but it plans to do it a second time. Not happy with a second increase, it plans to do it for a third time in October. We are saying very clearly that this would not happen if the Government understood where ordinary people are at.

We have never collected as much tax on petrol and diesel in the history of the State as we are collecting now. When this Government came to office, we were collecting €236 million less on petrol and diesel than we collected last year. What is going to happen this year, because the prices have gone up, is that we are going to collect more than that again. Under this Government's plan, we will have collected more excise duty than ever. The excise duties that we have currently, even before the Government plans more increases, which it intends to do, are higher than they were three years ago. This is a Government imposed penalty on ordinary people and workers who are saying to the Government that they want it to have their back. Unfortunately, anybody looking in here knows that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil do not have the back of ordinary people. The Independents spent more time giving out about us, who want to stop these hikes, than giving out about the Government, which is pushing them up. Why is that? It is because the Independents rush to support Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil time and again.

This increase can be stopped and it should be stopped. If it is not stopped, the Government will crucify hundreds of family businesses in Border towns that now face petrol being sold for 20 cent less right across the road or the bridge. I have challenged the Ministers and the Tánaiste on what they would say to a family business that is already dealing with price pressures in terms of the minimum wage, pension auto-enrolment and PRSI increases when they are looking at forecourts where petrol is 20 cent cheaper and the Government put 10 cent of that price on at their pumps? What do they say to people in those jobs?

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