Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

At a recent meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach I challenged the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, in respect of agri-diesel and the fact that the Government had announced, to much fanfare, a meagre 2 cent reduction in the cost of agri-diesel but intended, on 1 May, to increase it again. The Minister justified that move but has now recognised that farmers and farm contractors in Ireland would rightly refuse to accept such a pittance. While there has been some movement with regard to agri-diesel tonight, it is simply not enough.

I urge Government members to support the Sinn Féin motions in the House tonight to reduce the cost of home heating oil rather than increasing it on 1 May, as is currently planned, and to give those hard-pressed workers who have no option but to drive to work a bit of support by reducing the cost of diesel and petrol.

Today I was tweeted by one of the many Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbenchers who have been running around their constituencies pretending that they were aghast at the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan's proposal to ban the sale of turf. They have managed to find a way to refuse to support Sinn Féin's motion tonight. Deputy Cowen told me that carbon tax revenue delivers €160 million in just transition funds to Offaly and the midlands, €300 million per annum for retrofitting and €120 million per annum for agri-environmental schemes. Of course, he does not say that the €120 million for agri-environmental schemes represents a reduction because of the terrible budget that his Government negotiatedvis-à-visthe funding that is available. What sort of a threat is it to the people of Laois-Offaly, or anywhere else in rural Ireland, to say that if they do not stomach an increase next week in the price of the only source of heating they have, the Government will deny them retrofitting and agri-environmental schemes and just transition funds? Under this Government, Exchequer funding across all areas has increased by over €6 billion in comparison to what was estimated at the time of the budget. In that context, the Government cannot tell me that hard-pressed workers and families of this State have to endure an additional cost in home heating oil next week or that they cannot be given a break on expenses incurred in travelling to work. This is absolutely a facade put forward by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Deputies in order to justify their disgraceful position of coming in here tonight and voting against a motion that would give their constituents the break they are asking for, ensure the suspension of the flawed proposal in respect of the carbon tax increase, temporarily remove excise on home heating oil and scrap, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan's ill-thought-out, ill-conceived and frankly unworkable proposition on turf.

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