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

We are facing an unprecedented crisis thanks to the green agenda, which has ordinary households, farmers and the fishing sector lying almost in ruins. Europe is telling Ireland to act but we are asleep at the wheel. Our Government must eliminate the carbon tax and cut all energy taxes immediately. Tinkering around the edges, which we have been doing, will not help our people.

As early as September 2021 the issues of energy and transport were addressed at an informal Council meeting, but Ireland still remains one of the only countries not to take decisive action. In fact, our people were left to get through the entire winter before the Government acknowledged, or acted in a half-baked way, to reduce excise on petrol and diesel. This was a full six months after the EU Commission signalled a need for member states to act. The action engaged in by this out-of-touch Government was disgraceful. On 13 October 2021, the Commission released a communication which included a toolbox of measures that the EU and member states could use to address the immediate impact of price increases. In November, my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group moved a Dáil motion seeking to have this toolbox of measures implemented, but the Government sat idly by. Now it tells us that there could be a farming crisis when it is the cause of the crisis. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, is sound asleep. He ruined the fishing industry last year. He is on the verge of ruining the farming industry this year. He has no idea. He is so out of touch.

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