Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is all about the pre-European Council statements. The Government will not fool people in Europe in the same way as it is trying to fool people here. People in Europe are a bit smarter. They have been around for a while and they have copped on to us a long time ago.

Every person in Ireland who puts petrol in their car or lights their cooker is in some measure already paying through the nose to offset the damage done by carbon to the tune of €400 million per annum. Let us be fair, have a level playing field and be understanding. The impression I get is that the Government wants us to forget about this and to start seeing the climate carbon tax as something new when in reality we have been paying for carbon use for almost a decade.

I welcome to the Visitors Gallery Mr. Nicholas Ryan-Purcell, the producer of the documentary, "This is Nicholas - Living with Autism". He lives in the small town of Cloughjordan which has done huge work with its eco village and is showing the way as a community group. Many people are doing similar work but they are not being supported.

In regard to the ESB, I have been contacted by many farmers who cannot get meaningful engagement with the ESB regarding connectivity to the grid.

We are not at the races. We should not be going out to Europe saying go ndúirt bean liom go ndúirt bean léi go raibh fear i dTiobraid Árainn a bhfuil póca ina léine aige. We tell the truth. We man up and say we still have to deal with this issue. We are not going to fool our friends in Europe, but we need them to support us.

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