Danny Healy-Rae: Opposes Carbon Tax Hike, Defends Rural Ireland

I'm glad to get an opportunity to talk on this very serious topic motion here this evening. And as I already stated several times, this is a proposal, it says something about national oil reserves or whatever, but what this is about, this motion, is raising carbon tax, increasing the amount of money that the ordinary motorist, the ordinary punter will have to pay, the farmer will have to pay more, hauliers, you name it, bus drivers, bus operators, all those sectors. And they'll have to pay a sum for what is going, what I deem it to be, for to put a new shiny bus fleet, electric bus fleet in Dublin. And this rural island is being asked to pay for that. And Minister, first of all, I should have congratulated you and wish you well in your new post. And, but however, I'm not supported, I will not be voting for this motion tomorrow evening, and I will be voting against it. When you hear silly things like people trying to, we'll say, come up to the map to obey the rules that are going to pertain, and you'll have people trying to make electric excavators. And the facts are, they have made them already, but they have to charge them with diesel generators all night. So, I mean, it is absolutely ridiculous what's going on. You're talking about electric cars, and already the price has gone up for charging electric cars, up to 3.80, we'll say, for to do 100 kilometres, an electric car now will cost 3.80, where the diesel car, the small diesel car will do it for 5 euros. But look at the cost of diesel car, the electric car is going to cost people. And where will you charge it? And when it stops and gives up, where will you plug it in? There's no place to plug it in. And, you see, all these things are going to cost the people in rural Ireland. Because you can't get anywhere in rural Ireland without a car, or without a jeep, the farmers, and you can't do anything without a tractor. And he better allows that. And, again, what is this going to do with all people who, for one reason or another, can't cut turf any longer? And that's wrong what's been happening. We traditionally cut turf all around the county of Kerry to keep ourselves warm. And we'll keep doing that while we can. But the Green Party don't want us to do that. And that's wrong trying to make people do things or not do things that they have been doing for generations. We're here promoting public transport. And, from my knowledge, any bus I look at the present time, or with the last 10, 12, 15 weeks, there's one or two inside, 51 or two-seater coach buses. And a loose pass with the other day, a massive loose up here outside, and there was only two inside. And then, we're told to use public transport. And the Greens and the Party, that's what they're saying. And, at the same time, we're looking at ads every night on the television, telling us not to use public transport, if at all possible. So, there's a complete contradiction there. And I wanted to know, and I have it said several times, if we shut down the lights altogether in this country, and left it to each and every one of us, to really make 0.13 of 1% of a difference in the worldwide context. And there's other big powers, continents, doing nothing at all about climate change. And criticism of farmers and methane gas, the man that, the scientist that put up an argument that the farmers were creating so much gas emissions or whatever, he has come along now and said that he was too towards wrong in his estimation. So, Minister, you have to be honest with people and what you're trying to do. And when I think of people ringing me from around the country tonight, and even Kerry and Dunygal, about the problems that we have in rural Ireland, and where rural pubs are being denied to open their doors, while they're wide open here in Dublin, two-thirds of them, your hitty rural Ireland again, and this is what this is all about.