Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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It is somewhat ironic that we are talking about excise duty exemptions for NATO and EU military forces just after we talked about carbon tax increases which will affect households with lower incomes most. These big military forces have a massive impact on the environment. The US military is one of the largest polluters in history. It consumes more liquid fuels and emits more climate-changing gases than most medium-sized countries. The F-15 fighter jet uses 25 gallons of fuel per minute, or 1,580 gallons per hour. My mind boggled when I saw this come up in the Finance Bill. Will the Minister provide an explanation as to why he is proposing this because I cannot see any rhyme or reason to it?