Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted be able to speak on this very important issue. As the Minister knows, I represent Galway East, which is predominantly rural. It has villages and towns and growth centres around Galway city but we have very little in terms of public transport or taxi services available to us.

Those people who elected me to represent them here leave the east of the country and drive into Galway city to work every day. They can be stuck in traffic for maybe up to an hour, burning away very valuable fuel trying to do that. It is very expensive fuel and has become even more expensive in the last couple of weeks. They are trapped in their cars for the simple reason that they do not have any public transport. It is very limited. Some private bus providers are doing their best to try to help the situation. When these same workers go home, however, they have to pay more for their electricity, fuel, heating oil, gas cylinders or whatever they are using to heat their homes. The cost of food is also rising. These same people are the backbone of our economy. They are the people who are bringing in PAYE to make sure we have enough money in the Exchequer to provide the services we provide. Right now, there is an unprecedented level of increase, which is genuinely having a huge negative effect on these families and their disposable income.

The cost of fuel has also continued to have a negative effect on business, including agriculture. We need to get to grips with this problem. We cannot solve the problem straight away but we need to do a few things. The Government talks about EU rules but at the end of the day, our citizens are the people we have to make sure are protected, not the rules that have been set up. The rules are there to be adjusted and have been in the past when we had emergencies. We all know the reasons why fuel prices are rising. We do not need a preview of what is happening like the previous Minister gave us. Everybody knows it when they go to the fuel pump. We do not need to know the analysis of all that. We need to know what we are going to do.

People on fuel allowance are struggling. As well as that, the thresholds for the income for fuel allowance need to be adjusted, as do the criteria for people who are trying to get it and who need it. I have a constituent who is €5 over the limit for fuel allowance. He is caring for a family member and providing a huge service to the State and yet he cannot get the fuel allowance.

I also contend that we will not see the full effects of what we are talking about today until next autumn when the harvest comes in from our agricultural products. I have spoken to builders providers, farm suppliers, farmers and agricultural contractors who all believe the effects of increasing costs and scarcity of fertiliser will not be properly seen until next autumn. A building provider told me last night that he is not buying in any more fertiliser because the next pallet he buys will cost him €500 more than the one he bought last week.

The solution being talked about is energy independence and making sure we have retrofitted houses and public transport. All of this agenda is fine but it is a medium-term approach. What we need now is to take away the carbon tax and excise duties and also give additional PAYE credits to our workers - the people who work every day for our country to raise their families. These things can be delivered now as a matter of urgency. I ask the Minister to consider them strongly.

See this speech in context