Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. For the information of the Minister of State, my name is Richard O’Donoghue and I am an independent Deputy who represents Limerick County. It is past the Red Cow and the Minister of State is quite welcome to visit us any time.

This Government insulted the most vulnerable by giving them an increase of €5 a week in their pension where the cost of living has risen by approximately 20%. That is not to mention that on two previous occasions, the Government was supposed to give them an extra €10. Pensioners are €10 behind plus they have a cost-of-living increase of approximately 20%. The Government further insults them then again by taking it back off them, and more, through the carbon tax.

I want to give people an account, in case they do not understand, of what carbon tax means for a person living in the country. I will break it down for them in simple mathematics, like I learned when I went to school. For every €100 of fuel that is manufactured, do the people of Ireland know what the Government take from that is? The manufacturer of petrol receives €39.92; the local shopkeeper gets €3.08 for every €100 of petrol in a person’s tank; and the Government, which has nothing to do with manufacturing or putting the petrol into the cars, gets a whopping €57 out of every €100 of petrol that goes into every person in Ireland’s car.

Let us turn now to diesel. The manufacturer, per €100, receives €44.38. The local shopkeeper still gets nothing extra.

He or she will get €3.08, or between 4 cent or 5 cent per litre, to fill his or her car. Meanwhile, the Government will come away with a whopping €51.94 of every €100 of fuel bought. I often hear people say the shopkeeper is robbing them through fuel. The shopkeeper is not robbing them through fuel; the Government is. They are the most robbing, thieving people and they are so anti-rural.

What does this mean for a rural person as opposed to someone living in a city? I am talking about towns, villages and rural areas. In every town, village and rural area, families have on average between three and four cars per household in order that they can get their children to school, do the shopping and go to work. Everyone in cities such as Dublin has on average either one or two cars because there is a cycle track, the Luas, taxis and bus services. For God's sake, they could almost lift up their children and take them to school themselves. In rural areas, however, people have three to four cars to do this.

In brass tacks for the Government, this means a rural person burns twice the quantity of fuel, at a minimum, as a city person. Even so, the Government spends the rural money on city projects to build infrastructure for the cities. That is where the problem lies. As I have always said, this is a city-led Government. It listens to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, when he is awake, but that is all it will listen to. It is led by the Green Party. The county areas want to make the same contribution, but how can we do that when the Government takes all our taxes and carbon emissions and puts it into the cities? The money it spends on infrastructure in the cities should be doubled for the county areas because we pay the most. That is simple mathematics, but it has taken a long time for that to get through to the Government.

Turning to the SUSI grant, I welcome the additional €200 in respect of maintenance grants but let us examine why the Government has done it. I welcome also the increase to the income threshold of €1,000 but, again, let us examine why it has been done. Finally, I welcome the reduction in the eligibility limit from 45 km to 30 km to allow students to avail of the grants. The reason these changes have been introduced relates to the fact all the polls show that the youth of this country have seen through the Government, and it is now trying to bring the youth with it. The youth of this country will not be fooled by this small token because it saw last year what the Government is about when it penalised people for being 100 yd short of 45 km. It penalised them with no rental accommodation for them when they were going to college. The jig is up. Everyone in this country knows what the Government is doing.

As to provisions for hauliers, a total of 98% of the goods coming into this country come into Dublin Port. When I was driving up this morning, I met countless trucks going down that road from the port, burning 7 miles to the gallon. They have no alternative because the Government will not get the infrastructure into Foynes Port fast enough. Limerick is very central. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae said he loves Limerick because it is the best hurling county. It is a brilliant hurling county because there is a management system and a structure and it works well together, like a family. The Government comprises three different parties trying to run in three different directions, and they are penalising the people in the county areas.

Two Ministers of State were elected by the Limerick County constituency to represent the people of County Limerick. In almost every other county, there are Ministers, Ministers of State and Deputies who sit on the Government benches. They are there to represent their counties and the infrastructure thereof, and they will vote for the Government's budget. I want a warning to go out to every Deputy from those counties. They should be careful what they wish for because when they come knocking on the doors, the young, middle-aged and older people of this country will make them accountable for what they have done to rural Ireland - towns, villages and rural areas. They have taken all our taxes and they are putting them into city projects. They say they give to the vulnerable, but they give with one hand and take back double on the other side. When the election comes, nobody in this House, no matter what party or none, should be safe going to the doors. In my county, I hear people saying one Deputy or another is in trouble but that is just to create spin. Everyone in this House should be elected on the merits of what they deliver for their county. I hope that when Deputies in my county go to the doors, the people will elect them on the merits of what they deliver and not on how they have sold out to the Government.

See this speech in context