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

The first time the Minister, Deputy Ryan, spoke during Covid-19, I said I had no confidence in that person. He stood up in this House at a time of crisis and stated we should paint the back of our houses and grow lettuce on our south-facing windows so at least we would have our greens. This country could do without the Green Party because it penalising everyone by not having infrastructure in place. Common sense is not that common when it comes to the Green Party. It will enforce taxes on everyone and will not put infrastructure in place. I am not a climate change denier. I believe in a climate transition. The first thing we should do is put infrastructure in place. When there is infrastructure, you can then change everything and everyone will change with you. However, the Green Party believes everything has to happen now and it wants to shove the people who work, drive and can barely put food on their tables into EVs.

Garages in the UK have four-year-old EVs they cannot sell. Why is this case? It is because of the lifetime of the battery, the cost of buying a second-hand EV and what has to be done to maintain one going forward. As I said, I am not a denier; I believe in hybrid vehicles. Then again, many of the hybrids have a battery life of between 50 km and 100 km. The Government needs to listen to common sense and put the infrastructure in place first. Everyone in this country would then go with the Minister and change gradually when they can afford to do it. As I said, people cannot afford to put food on the table or pay the mortgage at the moment. The Government is taxing anyone who works in this country out of existence. It is taking 50 cent in taxes from every €1 of earnings from people who are trying to make a difference.

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