Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Green Party believes its view of the world is superior. The hollow talk of building back better, just transitions and our glowing net-zero future sounds great from an ideological standpoint but means the burden will be borne primarily by rural residents. The rural-urban divide is perhaps most evident when it comes to public transport. The CSO data indicate that rural-urban public transport use is very unequal. This is due to the lack of public transportation options in rural Ireland.

Agriculture should not be carrying a levy to fight global warming. Food is not a luxury and agriculture should not be the sector that suffers so others do not. During the Dáil debates on the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021 earlier this year, the Rural Independent Group tabled a large volume of alternative proposals. Deputy Matthews, who is gone now, said there was no one putting forward proposals. We put forward 100 amendments to the Bill, all of which were voted down by the Green Government in which the Minister stands. Some of the amendments we put forward would have meant a 0% VAT rate on insulation or all children living 1 km or more from a school having free access to school transport. We wanted farmers to be rewarded for making lands available for biodiversity, including scrub, and have previous penalty reduction payments reinstated. We said the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, should be revamped to make it more economically viable for farmers and that a new and substantial carbon offsetting scheme should be introduced for the agriculture sector, which would include a blend of tax incentives and grant aid. These are just a few of the amendments we submitted but they were all rejected.

Ultimately, if Ireland went back to the Stone Age it would do nothing to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions as the emissions coming out of China, India, Australia, the USA and Russia continue to climb. It must also be noted that any statement coming from China on any issue, including emissions, should be taken with a grain of salt. All 400 private jets that carried most of the world's grandees, tech people, lords, ministers, various royals and world leaders to COP26 are back at base, which is a total contradiction of what we are fighting for here today.

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