Michael Healy-Rae: Cut Fuel Taxes to Support Rural Ireland
Michael Healy-Rae welcomes the passage of a resolution and urges continued supports for those who rely on fuel in rural areas. He warns that current fuel taxation and excise are too high and calls for recognition of this in this budget and future budgets.
Michael Healy-Rae opens by welcoming the passing of the resolution and stresses the importance of maintaining supports at this time. He frames the debate as a matter of immediate need for households and businesses in rural communities.
Healy-Rae highlights the structural realities of rural Ireland: agricultural activity, heavy daily movement of goods by large trucks, and limited rail and bus services on many routes. These constraints, he argues, make fuel indispensable for everyday life and the rural economy.
The speaker argues that excise and tax on fuel are excessive and calls on the Government to address this in the current and future budgets. He expresses scepticism that Ireland can fully remove reliance on fossil fuels by 2030 or 2035 at the speed some propose, and urges pragmatic fiscal recognition of ongoing fuel needs.
Michael Healy-Rae frames the issue as one of fairness for rural communities that cannot yet access alternatives to fossil fuels. He calls for policy that recognises the continuing practical reliance on fuel and the need to ease the tax burden while transitions are planned.
Resolution welcomed
Michael Healy-Rae opens by welcoming the passing of the resolution and stresses the importance of maintaining supports at this time. He frames the debate as a matter of immediate need for households and businesses in rural communities.
Rural transport and fuel needs
Healy-Rae highlights the structural realities of rural Ireland: agricultural activity, heavy daily movement of goods by large trucks, and limited rail and bus services on many routes. These constraints, he argues, make fuel indispensable for everyday life and the rural economy.
Taxation and budgetary priority
The speaker argues that excise and tax on fuel are excessive and calls on the Government to address this in the current and future budgets. He expresses scepticism that Ireland can fully remove reliance on fossil fuels by 2030 or 2035 at the speed some propose, and urges pragmatic fiscal recognition of ongoing fuel needs.
Consequences and outlook
Michael Healy-Rae frames the issue as one of fairness for rural communities that cannot yet access alternatives to fossil fuels. He calls for policy that recognises the continuing practical reliance on fuel and the need to ease the tax burden while transitions are planned.
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Transcript
Ministers, I welcome the passing of this resolution here today in a very special way. I believe that at this time we need to continue these supports as they are very important. But in the bigger picture, I really think that if you look at the future fuel needs of this country, because of the fact that an awful lot of activity is based in rural areas such as agricultural activity, the fact that we have so much needs to be moved around this island every day by large trucks and that we don't have train services or we don't have bus services on every road and every town and every route in this country. So what we have to do is look at the taxation in the future of fuel, because quite simply we pay too much tax and excise on the fuel that is used. It is very aspirational for people to be saying that by 2030 or 2035 we will have removed our reliance on fossil fuels. That's not true. We won't be able to do that in a speediest fashion as what we might like to do. So all I would say is that in this budget, in future budgets, we have to recognise people are paying too much tax and too much excise on the fuel that is required and which they need every day.