Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I am opposed to these sections, which will impose a significant additional cost on businesses across the State. The consequence will be a significant drop in competitiveness, which will cost us jobs. The increase in the excise on diesel is punitive.

The Government constantly preached to us that it needed to cut the minimum wage to make the economy more competitive and to help business, yet here it is doing the exact opposite, namely, increasing the cost of doing business. Jobs will fall asunder as a result. We are constantly told by the Government that it is doing something about jobs, but we never see anything concrete being done to create or save jobs. This significant gap is one of the reasons the Bill will be a disaster for the people of this island, never mind this State.

The Government also expects people who live in rural areas to pay an additional cost for fuel when they have no alternative. Large swathes of this land have no public transport, so people have no option but to have motorised transport of their own. The Bill will apply a considerable additional punishment on people in rural areas. It is unacceptable, but I will listen to the Minister of State.

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