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

Speaking to this amendment, there has not been a proper impact analysis of what this Bill is actually going to mean for the Irish people, be they involved in farming, tourism, or any other sector of society. We are an island. Take our tourism industry, for instance. I come from the tourism capital of Ireland and, indeed of Europe, and I am proud and glad of the tourism product that has been built up by hoteliers, publicans, restaurateurs and businesspeople in our county who have strived to become masters of their craft. However, the plans contained in this Bill would make us a high-cost destination by increasing on a continuous basis the taxes and charges on aviation fuel. Over many decades there has, thankfully, been a reduction in the cost of flying into this country. I remember only too well how hard it was for people working in England when it came to August, Christmas or St. Patrick's Day weekend because if they wanted to fly to Ireland it cost between £300 and £600 to do so. Under this Bill is we could potentially finish up being a high-cost destination again. We are an island nation. When people come here on holidays they cannot row here in a boat or come on a steamboat. They are going to want to fly into the country and if we make it too expensive for them, they simply will not come to us.

Practical common sense is lacking from this Bill and the Minister is failing to see that. Tonight, he has shown total disdain for each and every one of us who has worked diligently and tirelessly on our amendments. I again thank Deputy Mattie McGrath, the staff who worked with us and the Members of our Rural Independent Group who did their best on behalf of the people. I am referring to people like Mr. Kenny Jones, the chairman of Kerry IFA. He is a Kielduff dairy farmer and he came up here today with people like Mary Fleming and others from the leadership of Kerry IFA. They came here to shout loud and hard on behalf of Kerry IFA and its membership, be they dairy farmers, suckler farmers, sheep farmers or any of the other types of people involved in trying to make a part-time or full-time living from farming. They understand the implications of this Bill and realise that farm incomes are going to be hurt and affected by it, whether that is through the CAP renegotiations or otherwise.

There are so many things wrong with this situation. It is like winning the lotto, where one second this way or that way would have made all the difference. It was just the way the seats fell after the election that meant that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, was not just in the driving seat but had full control of the motor car, that motor car being the make-up of this Government. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were so weak and desperate to be in power that it was a case of whatever the Minister wanted, he was going to get it. Indeed, what actually happened with this Bill - speaking again to the amendment - was that what the Minister looked for in the first instance was given back to him and he was allowed to take more out of it. He heard enough people say that it was not going far enough and he knew he had an easy pushover in the Government parties, that they would not rock the boat because they did not want him to shake the foundations of the wall holding up the Government. It was Eamon's way or no one's way. He is running the country at present because the other parties are terrified of him. They are afraid to say anything that would upset him or put him out of kilter because they so desperately need him. Whether he, no more than any of the rest of us, will be there in the future will be for the people to decide but, my God, he will have left a legacy behind him.

I know people who have been pursuing the green agenda for years and it is important to acknowledge that. I am talking about deeply committed and sincere people who were doing this 30 or 35 years ago in places such as Kenmare and Kilgarvan. They are people from whom I learned an awful lot. They were talking about hemp and putting up wind turbines and they could see the problems we were going to have in the future. Those people are still there and I am proud to call many of them my friends. They are genuinely real people who were interested in looking at alternatives. They too could see the need to not impact in an adverse way on farming practices and so on. They would not want a big cull of the national herd, which is what the Minister wants. There are many things the Minister desperately wants but he is very craftily coming around and steering away from them. He knows as well as I do that if we are to achieve what he is looking for with regard to our emissions, a cull of the national herd by this Government is on the cards. It is on the cards in this Bill.

One of the most hurtful things of all is to think that, no matter what happens with future governments or Ministers, at the end of the day we will have this new team of people. I call them the new wise people because they are like the wise men and the wise women. They will be the new NPHET and Ministers such as Deputy Ryan will say that this is what they are being told to do by the Climate Change Advisory Council. It is the same as when other Ministers set up groups such as HIQA or when the HSE was established in its present form. These things were done in order that politicians could shift the blame away from themselves and say it was not really them but these other people advising them and telling them what to do. That is wrong.

My job as a messenger of the people of County Kerry, who were good enough to send me up here, is to speak on their behalf. They are starting to realise what this Bill will mean to them and they realise we are speaking about future generations. Of course we have to protect-----

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