Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues and the officials from our office - Brian Ó Domhnaill, iar-Sheanadóir John Hanafin and Mairéad McGrath for their work on this motion. We stand proud over this motion. It is what the people are telling us. We are in touch with the people. We are not going to listen to arrogance and petulance from a Minister who normally leaves the Chamber before we speak, but he got caught here today. He does not like us for some reason or another. We know the facts. The Government promised in the 2016 budget that it would abolish the USC. What has happened to that promise? The Minister mentioned the double taxation allowance. Some 80% of the work in agriculture is done by contractors. They do not qualify for that allowance. If the Minister ever left the leafy suburbs of Dublin, put on a pair of wellington boots and stood in a field he would understand that. This Government is the Dublin 4 set. The Dublin 4 set will get it from the people. Tá na daoine an-chrosta ar fad.

Of course we voted against this joke of a carbon tax. We are opposed to it because it is a punitive tax, is not fairly spread and hits the weakest and most vulnerable people and rural dwellers the hardest. Unless they walk, they cannot get anyplace without a motor vehicle. The Minister's party bought into government and into power and clung onto it by supporting the Greens. It is dancing their merry tune since forming the Government.

The cost increases out there are shocking. The cost of living is so high. I do not have time to repeat them all but I have them. We all know when we consider mom's purse of a Friday evening. All of us who have children in college or school know of the costs of school uniforms, books, you name it.

Concerning the agricultural sector, the Government is welded to the big conglomerates and the multiple billions of profit they make. Not a word is said to them. Fine Gael is welded to them and now Fianna Fáil is as well. The latter used to be the party of the ordinary people and now is the party of the rich conglomerates. The aforementioned parties are cutting off their nose to spite their face, closing down our power stations because of the pipe dream the Greens have, stopping peat harvesting and importing it from Poland. If the Minister wants to insult us, I will not be insulting but kindergarten children would not behave like that. It is utterly stupid and nonsense. The Government has broken promise after promise. We are proud to bring this motion.

The Government put down an amendment. I thank the ushers for searching but I could not get a copy of that amendment. They will not even give us a copy to read. They put it down, move it and say we would not listen. We listen intently, unlike the Minister. When our turn comes to speak, he flies out like a scalded cat through a skylight, in case we remind him of some truths. The USC is a punitive tax on all earners, especially low earners, and was supposed to be removed but was not. Farmers are struggling and cannot eke out a living. Farm families are the backbone of all rural communities. Rural and urban families cannot afford heating. The Government can do it. Sweden was able to drop oil prices back to 2018 levels through VAT and excise duty reductions. Why can the Minister not do that? He tells us we did not cost our budget. That is simple addition. Oil at the moment is €1.70 per litre and a euro of that goes into Government coffers through VAT, excise duty and carbon tax. Another carbon hike is on the way. The Minister will force it through with this cobbled-up Government. It is a liquorice allsorts or dolly mixture.

On the costs of ordinary household items, margarine is up by 37%, vegetable oil by 16% and pasta by 15%. These are basic requirements for people to live and have nourishment. I see the Minister does not use much honey by the way he mixes with us, but jam and honey are up by 14%. Lamb is up by 12%, milk by 9%, eggs are up, etc.

The paltry sum being given to the pig farmers means we will not have a pig industry. I welcome the €7 million because millions do not grow on trees, but they are in trouble and losing a vast amount of money per item. One thing the Government could do for the country that has nothing to do with money is to speed up the passport or visa applications for people who want to come to work in the pig industry. In factories in the north of Ireland they are down to 60% of previous staffing levels. They cannot kill the pigs. There is an animal welfare crisis and a huge crisis concerning farmers getting paid and the animals being returned. Across the economy, it is simple and would not cost a penny. Wake up in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and get the workers who want to come in. Many good employers have gone out to source this labour. They want to get the paperwork sorted out. Applications are being dealt with since last October.

The last three recessions I remember, it was feirmeoirí na hÉireann, the farmers, who rescued our economy each time. They provided for people and everything else and will do it again but their spirit is nearly broken. The candle is nearly quenched because the conglomerates are around them, forcing down the prices of products and then buying up the land. The Government and, particularly, the Minister have given an open door to vulture founds and such people to buy up land. It is an abject wrong that if I have a property it can be sold on by a bank or lending institution to a vulture fund. That is not legal but the Government turns a blind eye to it. Laws and people do not matter anymore. All the Government is interested in is letting the big conglomerates do what they like. A warning has come from Tesco that we are only at the beginning of the price hikes. Consider the money Tesco makes and it does not bank a penny of it in this country, as I understand. The big conglomerates are beautiful and the Government loves them. The small businessman employing himself and the farmer employing a son or daughter and maybe one or two labourers pay contractors and pay everybody. They are honest people but will be unable to pay because they cannot keep going the way they are.

We plead with the Government and it puts down a half-baked amendment and will not give us a copy to read. Is paper that scarce? Has the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, placed an embargo on printing amendments? Time after time we come in for Topical Issues, etc., and cannot get copies of the Ministers' replies because they are embarrassed to have them read out and should be embarrassed of the amendment put in today.

Fine Gael is supposed to be the farmers' party. That is what we always knew it as but it has abandoned rural Ireland and the people. It is clinging onto power for ten or 11 years to ensure pensions and everything else. Cromwell was not as bad with "To hell or to Connacht". It is to hell or anyplace else now with the farmers and their families. The schools, post offices and every facet of rural Ireland will be undermined and attacked. Earlier, the Minister had a fine chat with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, maybe about the trade mission he was on. I hope that was successful. It was when Deputy Nolan was speaking and was the height of you-know-what. The Minister lectures us then about not costing. He has whole Departments to cost. What happened when Mr. Watt got his big raise? Who costed that? They do nothing but write cheques. Consider the money the HSE spent and the scams being exposed by papers.

Look after the farming community or we will not have it. Look after the people of rural Ireland because they will not be able to live. They will be dying in their houses with the cold. The Minister talks about retrofit schemes, which are already two years behind in my county and every other place. They must have €500 up front, which many families do not have, to get the house assessed. They do not have that floating around because they are living from week to week and day to day.

I understand I am taking other people's time so I will respectfully end my contribution. However, I will not take a lecture from the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, ever again because he has reneged on every promise he has made in the last ten or 15 years. He tells us we do not cost it. In light of his costings on the children's hospital and any other project he has done, including broadband, he has some cheek to tell us we did not cost it. It is laughable.

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