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

I would not have an issue with carbon tax if there was an alternative. I really would not. There could be an alternative carbon tax if we had the infrastructure. However, at the present, we do not have the infrastructure. Carbon tax is an unjust tax at a time when we do not have alternatives. It is an unjust tax on people who have no choice but to drive a diesel or petrol car. It is an unjust tax for people who have to pay for private buses because there is no alternative for Government to providing bus services. It is an unjust tax for people who do not qualify to get on the bus and have to be driven to work because the bus facilities are not there at present, even though the Government has provided free bus transport to schools. In our area, free bus transport has been provided but the CIÉ or Bus Éireann rules have changed. They say that because of the width of the roads and the fact that they are not allowed to cut the hedges, they have to put on a smaller bus for the safety of the people going to school. However, because a smaller bus is being put on, we are short ten or 15 seats. The roads are wide enough for a milk lorry to travel on them, but they cannot take a bigger bus. That means that there are 12 to 14 families in each of the different areas that have to drive their children to school, even though the Government has said it is providing free transport. That is an unfair tax.

We take our children to sports events all around the county and the country. Some of them go on to represent the county in different sports. For those taking children to such events, the carbon tax is an unjust tax. If we look at any of the services that are within the Government's remit currently, such as the ambulance service, fire service and the Garda, none of them have electric vehicles, because they would not be able to do their jobs. In the middle of a chase, gardaí would have to stop for a few minutes to plug in the car and recharge it. Those services are within the Government's remit, so it can justify the tax. The people without alternatives are going to pay for it. We all have an agenda to save the planet when there are alternatives. There are no alternatives for me. There are no alternatives for people in the outer part of Dublin. They are telling me that there are no alternatives for them either. Members of the Garda have told me that they cannot use alternatives to come to work because there is no transport service available at the time of their shift work. The front-line workers tell me the same. There is no alternative for them. It is an unjust tax on the people who we depended on during Covid.

The Government's job is to protect the people of Ireland in the present. We will deal with the future. We have no future if we have no infrastructure. Therefore, it is an unjust tax for everyone in this country, because there are no alternatives. In an ideal world there would be alternatives, but at the present time there are none. All the Government is doing, with this unfair tax, is bringing misery to people who have no alternatives, which is more than 70% of the country. Looking at the type of vehicles available today, people cannot afford to change to electric vehicles, EVs. Even with EVs, the Government is changing the benefit-in-kind, BIK.

The Minister should see common sense and protect the people who put him into the position he is in. He should then work for the future. That is called common sense. It cannot be found in a book. One must see it through our eyes. I have been a Deputy for two and a half years, during which time the Minister has been invited to visit my area and see life through my eyes. I told him I would put him up with the best of hospitality. I want him to live the type of life he thinks he would like to live, that is, my life, and see how long he lasts. It would not work. I ask him to reconsider this unjust tax on everybody in this country.

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