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

There is not one Member of this House who does not have a green agenda or does not want the environmental agenda to work. There must, however, be a common-sense approach here. If the Government wants people to get electric cars, it must incentivise them to do so. If it wants people not to use their cars, it must provide public transport services. I have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no public transport in rural villages and towns. There may be public transport in the larger cities but beyond the areas where the 50 km speed limit applies in the cities, there is very little rural public transport. It cannot work.

I want to save my planet but I also want to use a common-sense approach. My car does almost 1,000 km per tank of diesel. I do my best coming up and down to Dublin. There is no infrastructure to bring me to Dublin by train because trains are not available if I go home late. There is no place for me to park my car if I want to use bus transport. The cheapest way for me to come to Dublin is by car, which burns a tank of diesel for each 1,000 km I drive.

In recent weeks, I have listened to Deputies debate fuel increases and propose that this or that be done. I remind the public that on 16 June, Deputies passed the deeply damaging climate action Bill, which means extra costs for goods, higher electricity bills and fuel costs, the culling of the cow herd and the ending of turf cutting. Thirty-four Fianna Fáil Deputies, 27 Fine Gael Deputies, 12 Green Party Deputies, all six Labour Party Deputies and all the Social Democrats Deputies, five Deputies from Solidarity-People Before Profit and five from the Regional Group, 30 Sinn Féin Deputies and four Deputies from the Independent Group voted for the Bill. Two Deputies from the Independent Group voted against it, as did the members of the Rural Independent Group. The same people who, day in and day out, hammer the Government and call it a disgrace voted for this Bill. All of the Opposition parties, bar ten Independent Members, voted for all of these cuts.

I was missing on the day the House voted on the climate action Bill because I was in hospital. Otherwise, the vote would have been 128 in favour with 11 against. I have my morals and I will say it as it is. Everyone, bar ten independent Deputies, voted for the Bill. RTÉ gives full coverage to Opposition Deputies who voted for increases in fuel and electricity costs when they now say they are against the Government. Independent Deputies are not against legislation but we want infrastructure put in place so we can all work together. However, there is no infrastructure.

I highlight our call on the Government in this motion "to immediately act on the European Commission DIY toolbox aimed at mitigating the impact of higher energy prices" by slashing taxes and offering help to impacted households, motorists and industry. Last week, I spoke on haulage costs and the impact this has on every household in Ireland. Bringing food to the tables of these households is a primary objective. I appeal to the Minister of State to take the lead, as other European countries have done, by increasing the cap on fuel allowances for truckers. Every other country has increased the rebate scheme for truckers. In Ireland, the rebate is set at 7.5 cent per litre. Other European countries have increased it to 26 cent per litre to counteract the knock-on effects of higher fuel costs. If fuel prices are higher, haulage costs will be higher and the food in our shops will get dearer. Everything, including materials costs, will be higher. Why has the Government not done the same as every other European country by increasing fuel rebates for haulage companies? The Government could easily increase the cap to 16 cent per litre. This would halt the rise in transport costs in this country.

The Government is spending €8 billion on retrofitting houses that would use the equivalent of one tank of oil per year. A truck would burn that amount in one week. The only form of transport we have to get our food into shops and to transport our children to school is the diesel engine. We have asked the Government to spend €108 million on transport to upgrade trucks to Euro 6 engines. Those engines can be modified down the line for further emissions savings. The Government has decided, however, to spend €8 billion on retrofitting house when €108 million would reduce the carbon emissions from trucks. That makes no sense.

Probably the only way the Government will listen is to do what truckers have done in France and other areas. On 24 November, a convoy of trucks will travel to Dublin and block the whole place. The only way the Government will listen to people outside Dublin and other urban areas is if we turn off the lights for a week. Let us see how long people will last then. That is what happens to us.

The Rural Independent Group is fighting for equality. We are not fighting against climate action but for equality so that everyone can be incentivised to bring down carbon emissions. We must have the same infrastructure the cities have. This morning as I drove to Leinster House I was watching the buses. None of the open-topped buses had a passenger. We passed 38 buses in the final 5 km of our journey into the city. I estimate those buses did not have 100 passengers between them. We in the countryside are trying to get our kids to school and buses are at capacity. Private bus operators are trying to get our children to school at a minimum cost, while the Government subsidises Bus Éireann. The Government has never incentivised anything outside the city areas. It must invest in infrastructure and incentivise people to come along with it.

If the Government provides incentives, people will work with it but it does not intend to do anything in that regard.

The local area plans and national development plans show that the Government wants between 65% and 75% of people to move into the cities. That is what the Land Development Agency, LDA, was all about. Everything is to be built in towns and cities and not one house is to be built in county areas. Why is that? The reason is that the additional population in the cities will give the Government more Deputies and it will maintain control of the Dáil.

Some 37% of the population live in rural areas. As I said, I want the people who live in rural areas to remember who voted for the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill in this House without any infrastructure being put in place. That is the main message we want to put across to the people. Truckers drive 1.9 million miles per day to keep food on our tables. The Government is putting all the money into retrofitting rather than trying to bring down emissions. Solar panels and heat pumps have been incentivised but when people install solar panels they are told they are not allowed to send their electricity back to the grid because there is some technicality preventing it.

In farming, the Government was told about ash dieback back in 2009. In 2012, an instrument was introduced to stop trees coming in from the Netherlands. This happened under a previous Government and this Government is now offering farmers €1,000 to fix the problem, with no income for the next 20 years.

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