Dáil debates

Thursday, 28 April 2022

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We need to tackle smoky fuels. The only way we can tackle smoky fuels - the coal, wet wood, peat and other products - that are causing these deaths is to have a regulatory system, as recommended by the Attorney General, in which we tackle all the smoky fuels. In doing that, we recognise it is not an outright ban because there are issues and a tradition in our country where people have had access to their own bog, cutting turf and sharing with neighbours. Of course, we will provide for that but what we will do is start saving those 1,300 lives. We will not walk away, as two previous Governments and a series of Ministers have done. We will do what needs to be done, while maintaining and helping our people through fuel poverty but not ignoring the health issue or the loss of life. That would be reckless and disregard our duty.

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