Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support the amendment. As I live in rural Ireland, I am very conscious of the issues facing the farming community. Given that farmers make very little money, for quite some time there has been little opportunity to tax them, in particular farmers with smaller holdings on poorer land in the west. They are the very farmers who will be impacted the most by the carbon tax that has been spoken about and a carbon tax in general.

It is an issue that goes beyond farming. It will affect families living in rural areas or regional towns who do not have buses or other transport options in place. They are being pressed the hardest. The symbolism of accepting the amendment would show that the Government accepts that the agricultural sector, in particular, needs some understanding from the Government that farms are not profitable and farmers do not have alternative options. There is no such thing as electric tractors. Even if there were, they would be well beyond the means of the vast majority of farmers living in rural Ireland, as are electric cars. If the Minister accepted the amendment, it would show that the Government has some level of understanding of that.

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