Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I will be brief because I respect being given this opportunity.

I thank Dr. Kavanagh and Professor Whelan for their very informed, intelligent and thoughtful contribution. Their experience and knowledge are most appreciated by all of us.

We can watch world markets and the global price of oil, as I do because I have been the holder of a high-carbon licence for 32 years. In blunt terms, that means I sell and dispense oil, oil products, diesel and petrol, so I have been closely tuned into the price of a barrel of oil for my entire adult life. I have not seen before what I have seen happen in the past 12 or 18 months. It is unprecedented. The witnesses stated they believed things will start to turn globally next year, but they will not. We have not discussed the attack on "mom's purse" being undertaken by politicians in the Houses of the Oireachtas through the climate budget. I am not a climate change denier. I respect very much every person who has strongly held views on climate action or inaction, as I do personally.

I own land so I am the custodian of land. When I say I own it, I am not carrying it anywhere. When I die, I will not take it any place with me. I have never seen any person taking a field into the ground. People have to leave their land to somebody else. I hope I will give the land I leave after me to other people in better shape than I got it and I hope they will do the same. I am the same as every other farmer in Ireland. Land is not a possession; it is something we use to try to make a couple of pounds of a living or part-time living.

My point is that mom's purse is my economic guide. It is my financial indicator or barometer of how things are going in the country. If mom's purse in Ballymullen or Ballybunion is all right, then it is all right around the rest of the world, in my humble opinion. If it is not, then things are not good. Mom's purse is under attack. The reason is that it seems to be socially acceptable to tax the living daylights out of everything at the moment, all in the name of climate action and preventing people from emitting more carbon.

It is totally insane, crazy, bonkers and bananas for someone with a well maintained diesel car that runs well and which is paid for or on which payments are being made to dispose of that good diesel engine and buy an electric car. First, the electric car is very expensive to buy. To produce that electric car is expensive and harmful to the environment, as has been proven. Then there is the energy to charge that electric car. The Government is telling everyone to go electric and install electric heat pumps in their houses, yet at the same time it is shutting down power stations. The Government is also talking about trying to bring in gas-powered generators and buying fuel next winter from France and England. These countries are talking about conserving the energy they have because it is a finite resource. If it does not suit them, they will not sell it to us and we will potentially have blackouts.

When we talk about budgetary oversight, one of the first things we should do is overseeing ourselves and checking on ourselves and the way we are voting inside in the Dáil when it comes to imposing more taxes on the hard-pressed taxpayers of Ireland and on mom's purse. Mom's purse is a seriously attacked personal possession. We should be taking a more considered view on taxation. I am not someone who will blindly continue to vote for and support increased taxes because someone has to pay for them at the end of the day. What is happening is wrong. We should be like France and Italy. The Government should decide to reduce taxes on fuel because it is taking an awful lot of money away from people in taxes. It should reduce the tax take it is getting from energy costs because people simply cannot afford it any more.

I will keep to my promise. I just wanted to make those points. It would be neglectful for us to have an engagement on budgetary oversight without talking about the elephant in the room, and that elephant is us. Whether we are Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Independents or Sinn Féin, we are responsible to the people who elected. There is an onus of responsibility on us. At the moment, all we seem to be doing is attacking, hurting and crippling them with inflation that we are causing. Globally, we can say there are other contributing factors but it is we, the politicians, who are one of the biggest things hitting people at the moment. Every one of us has look in the mirror and ask what way we will vote tonight. What did people say today when they stood up and made lovely speeches? Will they support the motion brought forward by the Rural Independent Group or will they pay us lip service today and vote against us tonight? It is a time for straight talking.