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

I cannot support the motion. While I have the height of regard and respect for Deputies Eamon Ryan and Catherine Martin of the Green Party, I do not agree with the motion they have put forward. It focuses on Dublin and touches on Galway, Cork and Limerick but there is a lot of territory beyond Limerick and Cork where people need their cars for transport. I agree with having more public transport but it cannot be at the expense of road projects for which we have waited half a century at least in some places. There are bridges and sections of road on the Ring of Kerry on which buses travel perilously every day. We need those buses to take our tourists around the Ring of Kerry, which is one of the products of which we are proud and which brings people to the county. It is one of the things that keeps the county going. What the Green Party is saying is "Save the planet and to hell with the people." It says we should get rid of the cars and let people walk, cycle or manage however they can. They say we should not be let cut the hedges either and that we should close the roads, never mind improve them. We are not to be allowed to cut the hedges or to travel safely. We know what we went through at the heritage committee to get an extension for the month of August for hedge cutting.

The Green Party says children should not be transported to school. There are long journeys for which it is not possible for children to take safely on foot to get to school. They have to be driven there. In 2007, we were advised to change to diesel cars and it has been proven that these cars cause no harm to the environment in rural areas. There has been a great deal of talk about battery-powered electric vehicles. Where are the charging points? There is no place to get rid of the batteries after six or seven years. They cost more to dispose of than to replace, which is €6,000 or €7,000. Even if Ireland were completely emissions free, it would mean only 1.13% of 1% of total global emissions. It is also suggested that we should charge people more carbon tax.

I am sorry the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, has left because I wanted to remind him about Rural Link. He introduced the legislation which the Minister of State opposite, Deputy John Paul Phelan, supported and which Deputy Brassil supported by abstaining from the vote on it. Deputy Brassil attempted to confront the Minister by saying he brought those measures in "controversially" but although I begged the Deputy and everyone else not to support the Minister's Bill, they did. We were promised Rural Link when the Act was passed but where is it when it comes to Cloghera More and the Black Valley and one has to come out via Cloghernoosh and Cockow? Where is the transport that was promised? There is no account of it. It was only a case of "live horse until you get grass". There is talk of more public transport but we are talking about the road from Blackwater Bridge to Sneem where it is not safe for a car to meet a lorry or a bus. There will be a serious accident there. The motion proposes more public transport for Dublin and Galway, while letting the people in Kerry go to hell. That is not good enough for me and I will not subscribe to it.

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