Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

Fuel costs rose during the past 12 months and the Government provided a miserable €16 more per week. That is the cost of the four pints the Minister of State might drink tonight. The increase is lost in inflation and increases in rent and fuel costs.

The Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, stated today the Government plays its part in tackling climate change. It was a frightening thing to state. If this is the Government playing its part, I would hate to see what it would look like if it sat on its hands. This State faces penalties of €120 million per annum because of the failure to achieve our Kyoto targets. Yet the Government's main environmental proposal in this budget and the solution to the monumental problem of climate change proposed by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, is to spend €270 million buying carbon allowances. He seeks to buy the right to generate more pollution for Irish industry. The industrialised north will buy its way out of its commitments to reduce emissions and the expense will be passed on to the consumer. This is a form of environmental imperialism.

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