Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We know that. They are worn from doing that. Most of the Fianna Fáil Deputies are green today anyway. We all know that and everybody knows that in my constituency.

The bottom line is the carbon tax. The Government will hit people with an increase on 1 June and in September and October. Where will it stop? Will the Minister answer me where it will stop? Can he tell me whether I am wrong in saying this will mainly affect the people in rural Ireland? I am not wrong. He knows I am not wrong. He has no answer to this question. Perhaps he might later but I am giving them the facts that the people are telling me. Where I live there is no public transport and the farmers are hit day and night. They will be hit again with this increase. Every small increase takes people over the edge. I speak to farmers. There is a loss of confidence because of the continuous attacks, mainly led by the Green Party and I accept that. It is wagging the tail and the other parties are just saying "Yes". Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael hide behind the ditch thinking that nobody will cop that they are backing the Green Party but they are.

People who wanted to invest in machinery are pulling back. People selling agricultural machinery are saying there are few if any sales this year. Recently I told the agriculture committee that I spoke to a farmer in west Cork who wanted to invest in a second robot for milking cows. In fairness, he is a big farmer. He asked me what I thought of the future. I told him the only hope he has of progressing or growing his farm is to keep buying land. He told me that he had enough ropes around his neck. He said it was over and that he was pulling the investment. He had clearance from the bank and the grants but he said that he would not go ahead. I told him it was up to him and not to stop on my behalf but that he would not have phoned me only that he was worried anyway. He said there is continuous negativity. Somebody sent me a text today to say we brought in 54,000 tonnes of beef from some other country. Well done. Instead of protecting our own agriculture, beef sector, dairy sector and sheep sector we are turning our back on them thanks to the Green Party. The other parties are aiding and abetting it.

Sinn Féin has tabled an amendment on the price of home heating oil. The Minister refused to take the VAT off home heating oil. This is a severe attack on the ordinary mothers and fathers inside in their houses, most of whom have spent a terribly difficult winter anyway. I meet a lot of people who ask me whether I think the price of fuel would come down so they could buy 500 l of home heating oil. People ask me questions such as this. I cannot come up with the magic answer. It is a difficulty for families who are perished in their homes and are paying top dollar for their home heating oil.

There is a lot of worry. People laugh at this. Members can laugh and smile all they like but they will all have to face the people when they knock on their doors. They can tell the people that they are sorry they left them without home heating this year because they could not afford to pay for it. They can tell people they left them in a situation where energy companies have overcharged customers and that they stood idly by and let it happen. The Government cannot be blamed for everything but certainly it could do a hell of a lot better than what it is doing when we see businesses such as shops paying €10,000, €12,000, €13,000, €14,000, and €15,000 for electricity bills. Hotels are coming to me on a daily basis. I received a text a while ago from someone in west Cork whom I do not know. That person is worried about the increase in fuel costs. The person's mortgage has increased. The person has faced so many cost increases and does not know where the money will come from. There is only one pool of income but there are a whole lot of pools taking money.

I want to speak about the fishing sector as I have the opportunity to do so. It has been hit very badly. There was a fuel subsidy available from Europe. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, must have fallen asleep and not heard about it. The Minister for Finance should really get involved in this because the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is unable to understand how to draw the subsidy. Every other country that has a fishing industry drew the fuel subsidy. The French are now drawing a second tranche while Ireland did not even draw the first. It is an astonishing attack on the fishing industry, the farming industry and mothers and fathers doing their best.

I welcome what the Minister has done for the hotels with regard to the 9% VAT rate. It is very important that he has not increased it. Many cafés, restaurants and hairdressers are very much on the edge in rural communities. I heard a radio debate one day that made me think I was in a different country. Those involved were saying that the hotels in Dublin are doing well. I have met representatives of the hotel sector in west Cork from Clonakilty, Rosscarbery and other places. They told me only a few months ago that in family-run hotels some of the family members will have to work for nothing this year to make ends meet. If the rate was taken from 9% to 13% it would have pushed them over the edge. It would have closed some cafés and other businesses. I fully welcome this measure. The Minister said it will come to an end at some stage. I hope he will reconsider this but let every day bring its own part.

With regard to the increases in fuel costs on 1 June, September and October, I plead with the Minister to give serious consideration to kicking the can down the road again and sending it away altogether. I ask him to give the little bit of relief he gave last year. Leave it in place. It will not be forgotten. The carbon tax is coming fast and quick and across the way the Government is jumping high and dry for it to come. I have certainly never supported it and I never will. It is a continuous attack on rural Ireland. The people of rural Ireland cannot keep dipping into their pockets to keep this country going. They need further assistance. They need the Minister's party to fight for them.

With carbon tax increases and fuel increases I do not know what the price of fuel will be in 12 months' time for the ordinary people who pull up at the filling station to fill the car every Friday evening. Their income is not rising but their expenses are. It is the same with the people trying to fill the tank of home heating oil. Their income is not rising but their expenses are. The tax take is severe on all of these. It is a complete and utter greedy grab. I would expect the Minister to look at this again. I ask him at least to have a look at the people it affects, such as the farmers and fishers mainly, and the ordinary man and woman in rural Ireland.

See this speech in context