Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I made that clear in the point I made about taxation measures and whether the Government wants to raise revenue, as this will do, and have the effect of making those households, including more than half of those households on the lowest 10% of incomes in the State which do not get any fuel allowance payment that the Government will now make poorer. There is an argument in the area of behavioural change but that can only happen when the necessary investment is made. I am sure the Minister has read our alternative budget where we detailed that we would have significantly invested in different types of energy and retrofitting way beyond what the Government is tinkering with and that we would have invested in public transport availability and accessibility. That is the type of investment we need over a number of years before we could then look to taxation measures to try to effect behavioural patterns. To increase the price of petrol, diesel or home heating oil for more than 50% of houses that are the poorest in society and expect that somehow they will buy an electric car in the morning is bonkers. That is the reality.