Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When it comes to energy we certainly are in a state of emergency. It is an emergency that is affecting people's health. I made the most of the fact that the Dáil did not have late-night sittings last week to spend a lot of my evenings knocking on doors in my constituency of Kildare North. People are telling me that their palms are sweating when they go to fill up the car. Their chests are tightening when their kids ask to put on the heating because they are freezing. Others are telling me that they feel nauseous when they hear their electricity and gas bills popping through the letterbox. These are the people who get up very early in the morning, either to work or to care in the home. A constituent has told me about borrowing from family at the end of the month in order to go to work because the person cannot afford to fill the car. It costs more than €90 per week to fill the car to go to work. In constituencies like Kildare North where there is not a lot of public transport, prices like that are not unusual. Others have told me that they are actually looking to work from home, not because of Covid but because of fuel costs. These prices are crucifying people financially and are having a knock-on impact on the health and stress levels in the families. The House is already aware of what we are proposing in this motion in order to rein in the costs, including the removal of excise duty on home heating for this period.

I am very glad the Revenue Commissioners cleared this up for the public and corrected the Government representatives who thought they were being smart by pushing their mushy political spin instead of the financial facts. There should be more than one Fine Gael apology coming Deputy Doherty's way today.

As a member of the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action, and watching our North and South Poles going through extreme heatwaves this week, I am well aware of the climate emergency we are in. I want to make the Sinn Féin position on carbon tax very clear because, as my father used to say, some people need to be told every day. Right now, ordinary people simply do not have a choice. The alternative options are not there. To increase carbon tax for them now is punitive. It is like slapping a sugar tax on the weekly shop when the only foods in the shop are cakes, sweets or doughnuts. We simply must do better. We are in a climate emergency and we need to be getting on with providing affordable alternatives for our people.

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