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

This is not robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is robbing Paul to pay back Paul and robbing Paulette to pay back Paulette. It is crazy beyond belief. It is obviously a gimmick. If the Government was serious about doing anything about energy costs, it would have gone back to 2016 when it supported Shannon LNG and when Shannon LNG was in the programme for Government and would have left it there. Instead it capitulated in 2020 to the Green Party and instead of supporting LNG, it went completely against it. We also had the horrific scenario of a Minister objecting to the entire project in a formal way, which was horrendous. What we were telling the people of Ireland was that we were going to produce less and less energy at a higher and higher cost and that they should use more and more of it because the Government wants us to use electric cars and heat our houses by purely electrical means. When massive extra costs are involved, the answer is to give people a few euro before the election to take the harm out of it in the hope that they will say "well aren't you great people?". The funny thing about it is that those involved in this Government are not great people because they have no common sense and no planning. It is like the budget. The budget was all money but no plan. There is something lacking in this Government and it is joined-up thinking because it makes a decision one day that costs a fortune, it does something stupid and then it tries to cover it over the following day. I could be one of these people on this side of the House who is shouting, roaring and giving out all the time. Some of them are over around that corner there.

They could not say anything good about their grandmother not to mind anybody else. When I see Ministers doing the right thing, I compliment them, and I am very complimentary. We have very good people on that side of the House. There are people I look up to who I respect and people who have been around the block a long time. They know politics and how Ireland ticks. Then, my goodness, there are other lonesome soldiers and I am afraid they leave a lot to be desired. The electorate hopefully will sort everything out. It will decide who it wants or who it does not want.

Lest anyone had thought I would welcome this, or say it was great and give the Government a clap on the back, it is robbing with one hand and giving it back to people just in time for the election. It is inherently wrong. We must be straight in our politics and our business and be straight with the people.

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