Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak about this matter. Everyone agrees with the climate action plan when it comes to the better insulation of houses. The more insulation one can use, the better. However, the problem emerges when one looks at the price of insulation which ranges between €30,000 and €50,000 which many in this country cannot afford. They are the people who will not receive grants because they are above the thresholds, have youngsters in school or college and are repaying a big mortgage in what we call middle Ireland.

In agriculture 18% of the stock of cattle which go into the factories are produced in feedlots. However, nobody has examined this issue. It is not natural for cattle not to see daylight. We were brought up in a tradition of farming where cattle were out for the summer and brought in for the winter.

While it is not the Minister's fault as he has only been in the job a short time, the way carbon emissions have been added is a complete fraud. Hedgerows were referred to. As was said, farmers are not taking out hedgerows. In fact, they are sowing them. They did so before under the AEOS, agri-environment options scheme, and the REPS, rural environment protection scheme. Between 6% and 10% of the country is covered in hedgerows. However, we cannot sequester one tonne of carbon through the hedgerow network because it is not allowed for in our emissions calculations. That is the fraud when one is adding the country’s carbon emissions. Once we go over a sequestration figure of 2.94 million tonnes in forestry, we are not allowed any more, even though the climate action plan states we can sow more forests. What seems to be coming from the plan is that rural Ireland will be the sequester of Ireland’s carbon, but, on top of this, its people will have to pay. Nobody has a problem with reducing carbon emissions. Farmers were always prepared to do their bit using traditional farming methods. I am not talking about having big landlords, which is where we are headed in certain parts of the country.

I heard a debate in the Dáil the other day during which the Taoiseach said that we would get smaller lorries. We will not get smaller lorries. The reality is that changing a lorry from diesel to gas costs €18,000. The transport sector needs some help. An electric car is 100% perfect for someone living in a city putting up a few thousand kilometres. People in rural Ireland, from Roscommon or Galway for example, who have to drive 30 or 40 miles every day to get to work and come home were told by a Green Party Minister in 2009 to buy a diesel car. It was promoted as being the best thing since the sliced pan. They are now being told to get rid of it. That Minister knew what he was talking about fairly well.

There is now talk of forestry in rural Ireland. Forestry is crucifying counties such as Leitrim and parts of Roscommon and Galway. If forestry is put in everywhere people will not live in the area.

The carbon tax is another big problem for rural Ireland. Whether we like it or not, under the plan being promoted currently contractors will have to charge farmers an extra euro per bale. This tax will cost farmers €700 to €800. The media has said that a normal family will pay an extra €700 or €800 on diesel for their car and heating their house. People will therefore be paying an extra €1,400 to €1,500 while working in sectors that are on their knees, such as the sheep and beef sectors. At the same time we are promoting feedlots so that the slurry can be taken out and exported to tillage farmers. We are allowing that, which will ensure that more cattle are kept in sheds. That is fairly good planning for the future.

Rural Ireland will not accept the carbon tax that is being talked about. People in rural Ireland will not accept it until a LUAS, an Iarnród Éireann line, or a bus route passes by their doors. One would not see a bus in a month of Sundays in some such places. There is nothing and until there is the Minister should not be talking about crucifying these people, who are doing their bit. They have no problem doing their bit when environmental schemes are brought in for farmers. They have always done their bit. Statistics show that the bee population in the west of Ireland has increased. The amount of ammonia is low in the west of Ireland, which is very good. Despite this, we are being thrown into the same package.

I do not accept the media and politicians blaming people in the agricultural sector. Let us remember that when this country was on its knees it was the agricultural sector that kept it afloat for the five or six years until we were back on the road again. Now that the job market is moving, which we welcome, these people are kicked in the teeth again and let off. We are having trouble bringing young people into farming, yet we are kicking the agricultural sector. We are told that everything needs to be culled. When it comes to traditional farmers and family farms, successive Governments down through the years have promoted the return of landlordism, driving people into the cities. Let us look at where we were and at where we should go.

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