John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate and I commend Deputy Dooley on bringing forward the Bill. It is a little over 12 months since the last general election, including the rhetoric of that election, the rhetoric of the Opposition at that time and the promises and commitments made to the electorate during that election campaign. What a short space of time has passed for the members of the current Government, including the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, and others, to become glove puppets of their Departments.

Little is now being said about the citizens of the State and how they are being treated or cheated, about new politics and about new economic policies. It is more of the same. Little change is taking place. That was seen tonight in the comments by the Minister for Finance which poked fun at the Fianna Fáil Party for bringing forward this proposition. I thought little of that. I often get a bit of fun out of some of the comical remarks and quips by the Minister for Finance but on this occasion, he showed a complete lack of understanding of the plight of the ordinary person who is going to work every day and is trying to make a living. He showed very little understanding of the need for a departure in some way to support the individual who is trying to make ends meet.

Would the Minister for Finance consider that those who commute to work are doing a lot more for less, that getting to work is costing them much more in the first place and that a little relief, even that suggested this evening, would be a big deal to them? As they restructure their lives, their attitudes towards work and the cost of getting to work, how they live and what they purchase, it would seem that the State does not care. It has no policy to support, or has no intention of supporting, the ordinary individual and family which is hard-pressed. Instead we get a break down of the maths in that it will only cost an extra €2 per week. When the Government is introducing policy, whether in regard household charges or otherwise, we are told it will not be a great burden on a family or an individual. However, no one adds up the cost to a family. It is easy to add up these costs, as has been done by previous speakers. When one adds up the cost, it is a huge burden on perhaps the one individual in the household who is working to put fuel in the car to go to work. All he or she is asking for is a little relief.

What about the unemployed person who we are insisting goes on various courses? In rural Ireland, they are not easily available and one must travel to those courses. We are asking that person, who does not have access to public transport, to pay much more than a person living in a city which public transport. No consideration at all is being given to such people from whom other benefits are being cut. The Government promised it would be different and yet it adds further costs to the cost of their lives and to the cost of what they do. No consideration whatsoever is being given to them but it still insists that they do courses in various centres. I do not condemn that but I condemn the fact that the Government gives no consideration to this proposition this evening to, in some way, alleviate their pain.

Would the Minister for Finance consider the long waiting lists in hospitals and the number of times people must visit hospitals for check-ups and consideration of one kind or another? It is usually those who are elderly or marginalised who must think about these things much more. Would he consider the fact that in many of those families and in many of those cases where people are marginalised, they adjust what they eat and they think twice about every cent they spend? The Minister had no regard in his "Six One" news clip quip for those people. He showed the height of disregard for them and a disrespect I would not have expected from him. I do not mind him condemning politically what we are trying to do but I mind what he said about those people because it did not go down well with them and it certainly has not gone down well with me.

I would like to ask about the hauliers. Some 1,500 trucks carry 80% of the country's goods and 95% of the country's export, as outlined by the hauliers themselves. I have a vested interest here because that is my background and I make no apology for that. Hauliers have seen 1,300 truck licences being dropped in the past few years and have seen their costs soar. What is misunderstood, or not understood at all, by this Government is the fact that those businesses are generally family-owned and employ a large number of people in a local community and contribute very positively to the economy. The Government refuses to consider what other countries are doing for hauliers and it refuses to give them a break in terms of their commitment to their colleagues and the people they employ. That is a disgrace.

The Minister of State, Deputy Perry, is one of the few who continues to talk about small businesses. How can he say a working group will deal with the Irish Road Haulage Association and the haulage industry? I understand it will meet tomorrow. As the working group progresses, small companies and family-owned businesses employing small numbers of people are going broke. They are travelling to the Continent to fill up with diesel to come back to put it into tanks. They then travel back to the Continent to fill up again.

This proposition is a small amount of money in the scheme of things and it could easily be replaced if the Government cut the costs to allow the hauliers to fill up at home. It should for once show an understanding of the case being made by an organisation which is keeping the country going. Diesel surcharges are being placed on companies and they are passing them on to the end-user, the consumer, including the shops on high streets whose businesses are bleeding and which have nothing else to offer the economy. The Government shows them no understanding whatsoever. It has turned its back on the business world and has left it to sweat and to lose jobs. It has refused to assist it. It has increased VAT and has refused to consider propositions such as this. It is acting in the most arrogant manner I have ever seen. When in opposition it often accused the last Government of being arrogant but it could be argued it took 15 years to become arrogant while it took this one less than 12 months.

I for one am deeply disappointed with the response to this proposition and the response generally to business people in this country and to ordinary citizens who are so hard pressed that they cannot meet their costs. The Government does not understand that.

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