Danny Healy-Rae slams fuel policy, briquette phase-out and turf limits
Danny Healy-Rae spoke on 3 Feb 2021 about fuel supports and rural heating, urging increased fuel loans and wider access for social welfare recipients. He criticised government decisions that he said raise the cost of fuel, coal, briquettes and electricity and warned these changes harm rural communities.
Support for increased fuel loans
He expressed support for calls to increase the fuel loan and to allow others on social welfare to access it, saying that a 15-month wait is too long if people cannot afford heat.
Briquettes and household heating
He recalled briquettes as a convenient, clean and effective form of heating that families, young and old, could handle and rely on. He warned the government is phasing briquettes out within a few years and said that will put them out of reach for many on low incomes.
Turf cutting and rural practice
He defended the traditional rural practices of cutting turf and timber, describing people as proud to cut, dry and store fuel for winter. He criticised government restrictions that would prevent people from cutting turf, saying this undermines rural self-sufficiency and tradition.
Electricity costs and charging infrastructure
He argued that government promotion of electricity and electric cars overlooks rising electricity costs for households and for car charging. He cited a claim that it costs 26,000 euros to install a curbside charging point in a housing estate as an example of practical barriers.
Climate rhetoric and government critique
He accused the government of following green policy directions at the expense of rural Ireland and questioned the wider impact on emissions, saying a national reduction would have a very small effect on global carbon totals. He challenged ministers over the consequences for rural communities and livelihoods.
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Thank you very much Laskoncola. I'm glad to get the opportunity to talk on this very important matter here today and of course I support the call for the increase in the fuel loans and to allow others in social welfare to access the fuel loans and like was mentioned there 15 months is too long if we can't afford heat. But I suppose my real problem is the government and their policies and increasing the cost of fuel, increasing the cost of coal and briquettes and putting it out of the reach of the honoree people that are on social welfare and maybe the old age pension and who have to count every penny as they go. And even just talk about the briquettes. They were a wonderful farm of heating and women and young and old people picked up a couple of bales of briquettes and they were easy to handle, they were clean and there was good heat from them. Now we're being told by this government that we won't have them anymore after a couple of more years. They're saying it'll be four years before they're finished but I said it'll be a lot sooner than that. And they're driving people then to using electricity and saying that electricity is the way to go and to have electric cars but do we realise that the cost of electricity has gone up for people that would have to use that and even for electric cars and that promote electric cars this government. And we're told that it costs 26,000 euros to put a curbside charging point in a housing estate. Is that what he's standing over? And then he's telling people he can't cut turf. He won't be able to cut turf and people went out in the countryside where I come from and they were proud to cut turf in the summertime and dry it and bring it home. They were proud to cut timber and put it into a shed and let it dry before they used it and they were proud to sit in front of their fires and keep themselves, which kept them warm back over the decades and the centuries going back. And this government and this t-shirt is following the greens out the gap like a dog following sheep, a flock of sheep. He's doing everything that they told him. We see Eamon Ryan last night boasting that we were going to lead the way. We are a small country, I must remind him. And now if we were to turn out the lights and all of us leave this wonderful country that we live in, it would only make 0.13 of 1% in the overall context of reducing carbon emissions. We are all under the rules. We are all under the ones. I say to you minister here today, is this what he is doing to rural Ireland? Because if it is, he will never be inherited. If he will stop the people and carry and rule... Thank you. We are reading into other TDs time. I am going to call on the independents, please. Deputy, you are eating into other people's times. Thank you. Thank you.
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