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

At the outset I will highlight the great concerns I spoke of in my speech after the budget. One of the first concerns is the absolutely crazy anomalies created by the tax reform group, which was set up by the Revenue Commissioners. It is actively discussing the raising of further excise duties to compensate for the excise duties that will be lost with the introduction and pushing of electric cars and other vehicles on the public.

I can translate this into very straight and ordinary English. Any person doing what might be considered the good and right thing, if he or she can afford it, might buy an electric motor car. The Government is trying to devise ways of increasing excise duty and putting it on electricity bills. This is where the group is looking to increase excise duties. This is absolutely crazy. If what I am saying is incorrect, I would like the Minister to correct me. If it is not true, he should highlight it. Unfortunately, I am sorry to say that what I am saying is factual. It is a Government report and it is trying to dream up ways of hitting people with more excise duties to compensate for the duties it will lose.

This Government has signed itself and future Governments up to the carbon tax, which will affect people living in rural Ireland most. We do not have adequate public transport and we must rely on our own motor cars to transport us from A to B. We should always remember that the person living in the Black Valley or Ballinskelligs is as entitled to live as the person who resides in Blackrock. These people are entitled to go from their homes to their place of work or to an education as much as anybody else. It costs us more to do that because we must travel.

We are delighted to keep the lights on in those because they are the very areas this Government and other Governments would like to see shut down. The Government would be delighted if there were no lights on in Portmagee or in a lot of rural Ireland. The Government would be happier if that was the case, because it would like to centralise people in towns, villages and cities, despite those areas being unable to cater for the people they have already.

I have no doubt that in the years ahead electric vehicles will probably be a good thing. They are not fit for purpose at the moment, however. It is like the mobile phone I have now. Current models are elaborate computers, whereas 20 years ago were very basic and were just phones. It is the same with the current electric vehicles. Great advancements will be made in the years to come in electric vehicles, and that will be welcome. We must remember, however, that the green agenda we are forcing onto people is expensive. I remind people that what this Government and this Bill is signing them up to will result in it costing much more for people to transport themselves from A to B.

It will also cost people more money to heat their homes. I refer to buying fuel, such as a bag of coal. Elderly people, in particular, adore their little open fires. We must remember there is nothing wrong with having an open fire in one's home. We were always told that the right thing to do was to keep the home fires burning at all costs. This Government is now trying to quench those fires to satisfy the green agenda. That is exactly what we are doing in this Bill. People need to be told the truth.

I welcome the VAT decrease to 9% which is included in this Bill for the hospitality and other sectors. However, we begged the Government to not increase that rate in the first place. We begged the Government to reduce it, but it would not do that, and then it reduced it when the businesses were already shut.

I come from the tourism capital of the western world, Kerry. Killarney town is the focal point of all tourism for all of the world. It is a leading light. Sadly, those businesses are now closed, but I look forward to the day when they will be open again. I want to ensure, however, that the 9% VAT rate will not only be retained beyond the 12 months being proposed, but for much longer. We must ensure that businesses are allowed to continue to operate. The Government is clapping itself on the back for making that change, but I will not applaud it because it is being done too late.

Moving on to the increase in the tax on tobacco, I would be much happier if we lived in a world where nobody smoked. I do not believe, however, that it is right to penalise people who do smoke.

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