Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Does the Chair think what the Government is trying to do to the working people is fair in light of the fact that 0.13 of 1% is what we are emitting in this country? That is what we are liable for. They are choked and using face masks in Japan as they go about their work. They cannot breath there. We have the cleanest air. Go to Valentia Island, to the top of Mangerton Mountain or to anywhere else in between. We have the cleanest air. What are we at? What are we trying to do to the people? They do not understand. It does not make sense. Our emissions are 0.13%. Let the rest of them tune up first or make an attempt to do so. However, they are making no attempt. We have Trump in America and someone else in China and Japan. We are told that we have to have certain types of diesel engines. We were told that in 2007. Where are all the grand diesel engines we had at that time? They are in Third World countries, they are in Africa and they are in India. They are working fine and still going. The new engines here only last two or three years. It is not working out. If a modern engine in a lorry breaks down, any operator knows it cannot be reconstructed. It has to be thrown away and a new one bought. That is the story now where once it was possible to remodel and do a job on the other engines. That cannot be done now.

It is all costing money. Everyone is operating on a margin. It is so tight now for a fellow to keep going. We are going to make it harder. That is what Project Ireland 2040 is trying to do, and we are hurting so many people along the way. People are told about electric cars. There is nowhere to plug them in to charge their engines. People will also have to be told that there can be no pools of water on the road if they are driving electric cars. If they are obliged to drive through the pools of water I have been trying to go through over the last fortnight, they will soon find out how far their electric cars will keep going. They will not keep going like the diesel or the petrol vehicles. One splash of water and they are finished. They will be walking then. I think many people want people in rural Ireland to do now. I refer to finishing up walking or cycling at the very best. That is what they are trying to do to us. Instead of trying to go forward-----