Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

The Government is in favour of tolling without a return of investment for the public. There is tolling in France but there is no motor tax there. We have both here. Whether it likes it or not, the Government must accept that motorists are being clobbered. Homes and cars are basic commodities and not extravagances but people are crippled on a weekly basis because of them. The Government recently criticised the cost of petrol but it did not admit that nearly half of the price of a litre of petrol is tax. It is important to point out that motorists are being nailed in every sense of the word.

I welcome the Minister of State because he has been mentioned at every Fine Gael meeting in Carlow-Kilkenny for the past number of years. As the Minister of State is aware, a new motorway will be built between Kilcullen and Waterford. Many farmers will lose their land through compulsory purchase orders. Senator John Paul Phelan will agree that the Government's decision to charge capital gains tax on people who lost their lands to CPOs has been raised at every Fine Gael meeting in Carlow-Kilkenny. The Minister of State fought for this campaign when he was the president of the IFA but has turned his back on the farmers and landowners involved now that he is in Government.