Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Can I continue? I have five minutes and that is it. I will not overrun my time. I am trying to get at how the world has to evolve. I have listened to Deputy Eamon Ryan and the way the world has evolved but there are certain things about which I continue to be firm and fast. I am aware, for instance, that there are other people who want to see a world and an Ireland where there is no such thing as a person burning timber or turf in a fire in their home. I know people would want that. I would not want that but would seek to retain the right of people to burn the fuel they might have on their own farms and which they have done traditionally over the years. I do not want to be a part of anything that would result in those people not being able to burn what they want in their own fires. It is tradition and is part of what we are all about. While I very much respect that there is a modern, younger generation compared to the likes of me for whom in the future there will be no such thing as the burning of turf or timber, we must respect the right and entitlement of people who are there now and who have traditionally done this. Of course city living and town living is different to rural Ireland. This is why I always want to speak up on behalf of the people who do not pollute, in my opinion. All they are doing is what they, their families and the people before them have done for many years.

With regard to the Bill and the whole idea behind it, in the past Ireland may have oversold itself by agreeing to sign up to these measures. The technology is not there to drive an electric car from Malin Head to Mizen Head. It cannot be done currently as the technology is not there. Members may remember when mobile phones came in. A phone was something we used to make a phone call. Now we can do anything with mobile phones. I have no doubt but that in time, there will be such a car that can drive from Malin to Mizen and a lot further on one charge. We must admit and recognise, however, that we do not have the technology at present to allow us to do away with all diesel cars to minimise our emissions. We must be sensible and realistic. We have to deal with what we actually have to offer people. At the moment the technology is quite simply not there. Of course great things are being done around renewable energy. Previously a wind farm was completely alien to us and one would have to travel to see one. I remember going to Pamplona as a young councillor to see the wind turbine capital of the world as it was called. Now Ireland is creating an awful lot of renewable energy through wind farms and solar farms, which are an additional source of income to farmers. It is about a job of work and we have to evolve and we have to work but we must work within the constraints of what we have. I thank the Chairman.

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