Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I care about the environment, but I also care about the people. My job as a public representative is to represent the people who elected me to represent them in the Dáil. I will give an example to bring it home for the Minister of State. Does he know how many briquettes are in a bale?

There are 22. I am reminded of that by people in the area in which I live. Pensioners are putting aside so many briquettes per day to heat their homes to keep themselves warm. The fact that people are counting the number of briquettes in a bale shows how serious this issue is.

Every rural person would point to the lack of transport infrastructure in their areas due to the failure of this and previous Governments to make such provision. That is the reason people who live beyond the Red Cow do not have transport provision. When the Minister of State comes back to Kerry, people in the area will want to know why they cannot buy a trailer load of turf to keep them warm. How will he face those people and tell them that he is backing the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who is for the birds? I do not mean to be personal but the Minister is not in touch with reality. The Minister of State is backing somebody in his party. I want him to ask his Government colleagues to allow a free vote on this motion this evening in order that he can vote in line with the wishes of the people who elected him and put him here to represent them

Because people have no alternatives, they buy a car and then pay increased vehicle registration tax, motor tax, a tax on motor fuel and a tax on the servicing of the car. I am all for the environment but give me alternatives. The Government has not given people alternatives. They have no alternatives because all those in government want to do is increase the population in cities like Dublin, put infrastructure in place in Dublin and increase the number of Deputies serving that area where there is a higher percentage of the population in order that they can further take from the representation of rural Ireland. That is what they are about. It is a controlling strategy to get the Government parties back into government again. Every person who lives in the city has family origins in the country. We ask the people in the cities to help to protect the areas from which they come from this Government, which is out of touch with reality. It is making its backbenchers vote for a measure with which they do not agree. If those in government agree with it, they cannot go back and face their electorate, as the Minister of State and his backbench colleagues will have to do.

I was interviewed on a radio programme during the week during which I was accused of not knowing what I was talking about when it came to the Government introducing energy grants. However, when the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, who was interviewed on the same programme, was questioned it turned out he did not know what he was talking about because 70% of the people in County Limerick rely on solid fuel and oil for heating but for what energy sources are the grants available? Gas and electricity. I called to the house of an elderly couple to sympathise with them on the death of their daughter, God rest her, who is being buried today. I could not be there today. They told me they were 100% reliant on oil because they are no longer physically able to bring in coal or blocks of wood to heat their home. They needed to have their house warm because people were calling that night. Their concern is that they are completely reliant on oil because they are not able to bring in a few blocks of wood or some coal or turf.

A record €7.1 billion in tax revenue was collected in March, which is €2.4 billion, or 52.4%, more than for the same period in 2021. Those in government have never had as much in the coffers as they have now. However, who is being penalised all the time? It is people from the counties. They have no alternative but to drive a car because they do not have transport provision. Who pays the most carbon tax? A person in the county because he or she has no alternative. That is why the Government is punishing them and has forgotten about them. It must scrap carbon tax until alternatives have been put in place. I am all for alternatives but they require investment in the counties, towns and villages in our areas. That fact that we do not have them is due to the failure of this and previous Governments. Sewage treatment plants have not been updated in 30 years. It is even more of an issue now with people arriving from Ukraine and the Government not being able to house them in the counties because there is not the required infrastructure in place, which is a consequence of the failure of this and previous Governments. I will be watching the way those in government vote on this motion this evening. I will tell every constituency in their areas to watch what the way they voted this evening.

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