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

I very much appreciate the opportunity to speak on this important motion. The only thing that amazes me is when I see people here talking as if they do not know how this has happened. A lot of the people who are talking against it and saying it is wrong - I refer to the high cost of heating homes and the high cost of travelling - are those who voted for it. Now they are here saying it is wrong. They are all around us.

I listened to some of the speeches and to say that I was scratching my head would be an understatement. I was completely and absolutely bamboozled because I was trying to figure out whether they were the same people who voted for these measures. Many people said we were not going far enough fast enough. When they are at home in their constituencies now, they meet fine, honest-to-God people who cannot fill their oil tanks, cannot heat their homes and find the cost of travelling enormous. It is crazy.

An awful lot of people from all sides of the House are saying that this situation is awful and that we must do something about it. They are the ones who have done it. Who said we had to tax people with additional taxes? There are other things we can do. Every person in the Chamber is deeply committed to protecting the environment. I do not believe there is one Deputy elected to the Dáil who would say that he or she does not care about the environment or that he or she is not worried about the future. Every one of us is worried.

I definitely do not think that the Green Party has a monopoly on worrying about the environment. That is rubbish. The real people who are worried about the environment are those who own it, namely the farmers of Ireland. They are the people who are really committed to the environment. It is very unusual to see people talking out of both sides of their mouths. It is crazy.

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