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

The Bill builds on the commitment of the Government to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. It includes several measures to tackle climate change and reduce Ireland's overall greenhouse gas emissions. I am sure the Minister will agree that car owners have been incentivised through the taxation system to convert to electric cars, EVs. He has ensured that the purchasing if EVs is still attainable and effective even though the national grid cannot cope with any more of this because of the data centres. Are we going to put heated windows on the back of these cars so that we can push them along the road or will we be like the Flintstones with no floor in the car and running along inside it? That is how much common sense the Government has.

Significant incentives have been given to the aviation industry, which is carbon exempt. In fact, I point out to Deputy Leddin that it enjoys a hefty €634 million tax break via exemptions relating to jet fuel. Airlines receive €2.4 billion through exemptions from excise duty, carbon tax and the National Oil Reserve Agency levy on fuel for commercial and international flights. Did Deputy Leddin hear that? It would take a year for one acre of forestry to absorb the CO₂emissions produced by a one-way flight from Dublin to New York. Did Deputy Leddin know that in 2019 the airline industry brought 38 million passengers through Irish airports? That works out at half a tonne of carbon per passenger each way.

Where does this leave agriculture in the context of climate justice? Farmers care about the environment as much as any other sector does. They have been told that their emissions account for 63% of the total. Climate justice is about fair treatment of all people and freedom from discrimination in the creation of policy. The blanket restrictions disproportionately affect young farmers by limiting their ability to enter the sector. They particularly affect those who have recently heavily invested in their business. The Irish Farmers' Journalcommissioned a report that indicates the absolute maximum by which they can reduce is 18%. They need new technologies and support. They need assurances regarding the €150 million in carbon tax that was promised by the Government. They are willing to play their part in the solution. I mentioned that the airline industry gets €634 million and it is exempt. Can the Minister be honest with farmers and tell them the national herd has to be culled? Let us be honest. Worldwide, 158,000 people died yesterday and 380,000 were born. How is the increasing population going to be fed if we keep reducing food production? Prices will escalate and poorer countries will suffer.

I thank the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, for highlighting the disgusting fact that raw sewage from more than 30 towns and villages across Ireland is flowing into waterways. I hope the Minister is listening to this, given his comments regarding agricultural manure. We should be ashamed that in a modern society this horrible violation of basic rights and hygiene is happening every day in more than 33 villages and towns. It is appalling. Raw sewage is going into waterways. The EPA stated there are 33 such villages and towns but it has got it wrong because it has not taken into account the sewerage systems that are being desludged on a daily basis by diesel trucks - which add to the carbon tax, as the Minister calls it - to stop raw sewage going into rivers. I was in Askeaton this week and witnessed raw sewage going into rivers. It is not on the EPA's list, so the list is not factual. I refer to Glin, Dromcolliher and Hospital.

None of them allocated budgets for upgrading their systems.

I have listened to people who say that carbon tax is being inflicted on them. It is only being inflicted on people outside of Dublin. I have mentioned the Red Cow on more than one occasion. I am proud that the owner of the Red Cow Moran Hotel - because the Minister would not know what a cow is otherwise - is a man from Athea, County Limerick, called Tom Moran. He had to come to Dublin and teach the Minister what a cow is by naming a hotel the Red Cow Moran Hotel. I will tell Deputy Leddin something. The Government cannot fix the problems here in Dublin, so it is trying to inflict the carbon tax on people outside of Dublin.

The Thursday before last, I left Leinster House at 4.31 p.m. to travel 9.6 km to the Red Cow. It took me one hour and 32 minutes to get there. I travelled 217 km from the Red Cow, which took me two hours and seven minutes. I ask the Deputy to make sense out of that. The Government is crying over infrastructure. It has the infrastructure up here and it cannot fix it. The whole place is congested because the Government has overpopulated Dublin, shoved every business into Dublin and now people cannot get in and out of Dublin. Now, the Deputy is talking about the carbon tax.

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