Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

The Minister of State has not answered the question about deferring the tolls and whether the Government is going to do that. It has the power to do it and there are other measures it can also take to cut the cost of living and the spiralling costs for drivers. We outlined these in a Private Members’ Bill last week, which we will be voting on tomorrow evening.

The progress that was spoken about in the response last week is as absent as the countermotion, which was supposed to be issued last week, but which never materialised when we were in here in the Chamber.

Is it progress that the Government is standing by while the insurance companies rip people off? Is it progress that the Government punishes drivers who, for whatever reason cannot afford to pay their motor tax upfront and pay it in instalments? Is it progress to hike up the cost of petrol and diesel through the carbon tax increases, which some people in the Minister of State’s Government do not even believe that they have anything to do with? These are hitting lower income and rural drivers who rarely have an alternative option.

See this speech in context