Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support this amendment, of course. We all know, as should the Minister, who deals with people as much as we do, that by increasing these taxes from next May, this will drive transport costs up. It will hurt people who are going to work in their cars and taking their children to schools. This will hurt people in rural Ireland more than in urban areas. People in rural areas need a car. They cannot travel without a car. The Minister for Transport and for the Environment, Climate and Communications said today that he was proud that the Government was spending so much money on footpaths and cycleways. As I said, when people are travelling long distances to work, a bicycle is no good to them. If they are supposed to walk, they will have to leave the day before if they have to be at work the next day because savage distances are involved. Many people in Kerry work in Cork city and travel the roads morning, noon and night. People may be taking sick people to hospital in Cork, Tralee and other places. It is all travel that cannot be managed without a car.

Then take the commercial transport industry. This is going to drive the whole thing through the roof again and increase the cost of living in every way, whether it is the transport of food, agricultural goods or whatever. The Government is certainly going to drive the cost of living up further. I cannot understand why it is insisting on this, especially when the base product is so expensive. We are already paying enough taxes and carbon taxes. Even when fuel was €1.20 per litre, there was no need for the carbon tax. People have to use their cars for as long as they can. They cannot manage without them. We gave the Government ideas about liquefied petroleum gas and biofuels, but it will not entertain them.

The Government is hell-bent on making people walk or maybe making them go back to using the horse and cart. There is no common sense in what it is doing by increasing the carbon tax again next May. That is totally and absolutely out of order.

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