Dáil debates

Thursday, 5 May 2022

Regulations for the Sale and Distribution of Turf: Motion [Private Members]

 

6:15 pm

Photo of Carol NolanCarol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The announcement of the ban on the commercial sale of turf created a fiasco, and that fiasco was of the Government's making. I have listened to statements made during the debate blaming the media, Opposition Deputies and everybody else instead of the Government holding up his hands and saying it got it wrong, and seriously wrong. It shows the arrogance and the fact the Government thinks it can walk over people in rural Ireland and fool people. It will not wash.

The ban on the commercial sale of turf will be strongly resisted. I do not think the Government realises the anger that is out there. It is encroaching on people and this is an overreach. It is telling people how to heat their homes. A small percentage of people are affected. Next, the Government will be telling them what to eat or how long to run a shower for. Is this for real? If the Government is seriously worried about the deaths it maintains are caused by fossil fuels, why is it not concerned about the 3,000 deaths caused directly or indirectly by fuel poverty? That is the reality. It is a fact.

The Government is disconnected from the people. It is arrogant in trying to ram through something that has been strongly resisted in rural Ireland and strongly opposed by me and other Rural Independent Group Deputies. We will continue to stand with the people in our constituencies. We will not be watering down what we are saying or anything else like some Deputies here or like the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil rural Deputies who headed for the hills earlier today and are now probably on the run. This is ridiculous. It is an overreach. To tell a small percentage of people what they should burn is ridiculous.

Is the Government not concerned about the substandard buildings and accommodation in which people are living in this country? Is the Government not concerned about the substandard conditions in which children and teachers are trying to work in our schools every day while they wait for approval from the Department of Education for new buildings? Does that not appear on the Government's agenda? It seems to be very selective in the research it chooses. It has ignored research compiled by the European Respiratory Society. It stated that living or working in cold and damp conditions causes serious lung conditions. Has the Government ignored that?

The Government needs to get real and stop trying to dictate to the people of rural Ireland all of the time. It is out of step, out of line and out of touch, and I can tell it this will be resisted. It will not get its way on this one.

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