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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 23 Feb 2022

Vol. 1018 No. 5

Supplementary Budget for Rural Communities and Farmers: Motion [Private Members]

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that:

— rural communities and Irish farmers are facing crippling costs for feeds, fertiliser and fuel, which has the potential to wipe out many viable farmers;

— the current cost-of-living crisis places crippling financial pressures on all lower income earners, including pensioners, struggling mortgage holders, unemployed, rural residents and farmers, all of whom are feeling the deep impact of spiraling prices creep up over the last year;

— governments in France, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Holland and Scotland are establishing multi-million-euro aid packages to assist their respective farming sectors mitigate the current cost crisis;

— today, all pig farmers across the country are under extreme financial pressures, and all contingencies have been exhausted, while other issues persist within the pig sector, including African swine fever, the current dire economic situation is critically urgent, and the sector can no longer survive without Government support or intervention; and

— the Irish Government has failed to make any additional supports available to our farmers, despite the tremendous financial pressures they face;

recognises that:

— the soaring cost of food, heating, fuel and housing is causing social inequality and real hardship and is pushing even more people into poverty;

— the carbon tax is the key contributing factor to Ireland's record cost-of-living increases, with transport inflation alone up over 18 per cent in the last year, motor fuels up over 22.6 per cent and home heating oil up a staggering 70 per cent;

— the proposed €200 rebate for household energy bills, while welcome, is completely inadequate given the magnitude of this crisis, which would see that payment eroded in even one household energy bill;

— rural residents who have little or no access to public transport are disproportionately impacted by the record fuel price hikes; and

— the primary drivers of the rising cost of living are within the policy, regulatory and fiscal control of Government; and

calls on the Government to:

— fully acknowledge that the spiraling cost-of-living crisis is now a national emergency and requires a comprehensive and robust package of measures aimed at supporting the less well off, rural residents and impacted sectors such as farming and transport operators;

— immediately act on the European Commission DIY toolbox aimed at mitigating the impact of higher energy prices, by slashing taxes and offering help to impacted households, motorists and sectors such as agriculture and road transport;

— introduce an emergency mini supplementary Budget without delay, aimed at tackling the cost-of-living crisis in a robust and meaningful way, and through a whole-of-Government approach by:

— providing for an immediate increase of €20 per week to all fixed social welfare payments, in order to address the current challenges to low-cost families and shield those people on fixed incomes against the financial pain of ongoing cost increases;

— reversing the decision to increase the carbon tax in Budget 2022 and beyond, until the full impact of the energy crisis is fully understood and a cost-to-benefit analysis undertaken, by whatever parliamentary means necessary, including new legislation, if required;

— reducing the excise duty on all motor fuel by at least 50 per cent until the energy crisis abates and a proper and common-sense plan for rural public transport alternatives is put in place in every rural community, and the purchase price point of electric cars is affordable to the ordinary motorist;

— reducing the excise duty on petrol (currently 62.77 cent per litre), and diesel (currently 51.9 cent per litre), by at least 50 per cent from now until the end of 2022, which alone would save around €18 on a €100 fill of petrol and diesel, for the regular motorist;

— reducing VAT on all motor fuels, electricity, and home heating oil to below 5 per cent until the end of 2022; and

— providing a funding package of at least €75 million to crippling farmers who are all struggling to pay for escalating input costs for fuel, animal feed and fertiliser;

— direct energy suppliers to commit to keeping the lights on for vulnerable and financially insecure customers, and make sure that there are flexible options available for people to address energy debts;

— acknowledge that the pig sector requires an immediate €30 million financial state-aid package to combat the explosive production cost increases and falling revenues;

— further acknowledge that the pig sector alone requires an immediate funding package of at least €30 million, in order to get through the current crisis; and

— fully recognise that for people in energy poverty, assistance is needed in the present, and while retrofitting offers a long-term answer to the high bills caused by inefficient and substandard housing as well as contributing to climate action targets, it is this winter that those people need the urgent support and not in some Governmental plan in six- or seven-years' time.

My colleagues and I in the Rural Independent Group urge all Deputies to support our motion demanding that the Government hold an urgent mini-budget to mitigate and address the spiralling cost-of-living crisis on multiple fronts. The motion seeks to have the Government recognise the cost-of-living crisis as a national emergency. This would necessitate a comprehensive and robust package of measures intended to support less well-off and impacted sectors, via allocating financial aid and slashing consumption taxes. The current cost-of-living crisis is financially crippling to all lower income earners, including pensioners, struggling mortgage holders and the unemployed. It is also having a disproportionate impact on all rural residents and farmers. The cost of electricity bills has increased from €200 to €500, to be paid every two months, and the Government's answer is to give people €200 to cover them for the year. That is nowhere near enough and is nothing short of an insult to people who are struggling.

There is a fertiliser crisis, and farmers face crippling costs for feeds, fertiliser and fuel, which has the potential to wipe out many viable farmers. I remind the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, that 1 tonne of manure has increased in price from €300 to €900. The European Union has indicated the Government can intervene but it is doing nothing, sitting on its hands, because it is a green policy to make people suffer, give them no aid whatsoever and make them stop driving and spreading fertiliser. Where is the Government going to stop? When is someone in Fianna Fáil going to wake up and say that these are not the roots of Fianna Fáil and that this is not the way the party used to work? Fianna Fáil used to work for the people, not make them suffer, but that is what it is trying to do now.

On the cost of fuel, people call me and I presume every other Deputy in the House, and talk to me when they meet me in the street. They cannot afford to put fuel in their cars but, again, this is what the Green Party, in government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, wants. They want to bully the people and to price fuel so high that no one can afford to travel. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, should remember that every Government Deputy will have to face the people, and they are very hungry and very anxious to meet them at the doorstep. When they meet, they will get a fair bit of a reddening. Many of them will get their - I will not say what - out the door and down the road.

Young families and pensioners are frozen in their own homes. The latter are the people who built Ireland, and this is what the Government has done to the pensioners of Ireland. They cannot afford to heat their homes. Perhaps the Government is immune to us consistently repeating ourselves but that is the truth of the matter. Many of our pensioners are slightly over the limit to receive the fuel allowance. They cannot access it or the retrofitting scheme, perhaps because they got a couple of rolls of insulation in their attic eight or ten years ago. I received a letter on Monday night from a constituent who is suffering from cancer. She cannot access the fuel allowance. She is frozen in her own home and suffering from cancer. Do not believe for one minute that her case is a once-off; I get these letters and calls consistently.

Ireland is the most expensive country in the European Union for housing, with record rents, the highest mortgage interest rates in the EU and a chronic lack of supply, which caused house prices to increase by 14% in the year to November 2021.

The skimpy package of measures recently announced by the Government is grossly insufficient given the depth and impact of the crisis. That is why we are tabling this motion, which is aimed at forcing an out-of-touch Government into holding a mini-budget. For almost a year, my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group and I have been emphasising the need to tackle inflationary pressures, brought about predominantly by the Government’s frenzied green policies and crippling carbon taxes. Unfortunately, the Government has been idle, allowing costs to soar while simultaneously benefiting from record VAT, excise duties and carbon tax from fuel, home heating, electricity, household goods, building materials, fertiliser and animal feeds. VAT, for instance, is calculated as a percentage of the price of goods or services, meaning that as those prices inflate, so too do VAT receipts for the Government. Thus, inflation means higher prices, and more money flowing into the Exchequer.

Increased transport and home fuel costs are causing extreme financial hardship for many households, small businesses and farmers. We believe, therefore, that the best way to ensure prices will fall rapidly is to reduce VAT, excise duties and carbon tax on all fuel types at least until the end of 2022. The greatest advantage of using consumption taxes to provide relief against inflation is that the impact can be felt by the public immediately. With the European Commission already recommending that member states take this course, the Government must finally act. The only meaningful way to tackle current inflation and protect consumers is through taxation reliefs and increasing all fixed social welfare payments by €20 per week. The increase of €5 in weekly social welfare rates in budget 2022 is grossly insufficient to keep pace with rising prices, resulting in a significant cut in living standards for those on fixed incomes.

In tandem with these measures, financially pressed farmers require a multi-million euro package, as called for in our motion, to mitigate a 300% jump in fertiliser costs, combined with the impacts of fuel, feed and energy spikes, which are crippling to all farmers. The latest country-by-country scorecard from the European Commission warns that inflationary and cost-of-living pressures will persist in Ireland for 2022 and will increase faster this year here than in any other country in Europe. In its winter 2022 outlook, the EU projects an average rate of inflation of 4.6% for Ireland this year, which is higher than the 3.5% rate it has forecast for the eurozone as a whole. In other warnings about the soaring cost of living crisis in Ireland and inflation, many leading economists are warning prices are likely to remain high throughout 2022 and beyond, with food and fuel becoming increasingly less affordable.

It is time to act. We have been calling on the Government to act for the past 12 months. Will it for once sit up and listen?

My colleagues and I are very glad to be able to bring this important motion before the House. It must be particularly upsetting for the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, to have to come in here and try to defend the indefensible. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Green Party and, indeed, many Deputies on this side of the House who supported measures such as carbon taxes are now waking up because they are hearing it on the doorsteps. They are hearing that the people are feeling the brunt of what the Government has done to them. They are seeing exactly what the carbon taxes are going to do to them.

Rural communities and Irish farmers are facing crippling costs for feed, fertiliser and fuel, which has the potential to wipe out many viable farms. The cost of living crisis is placing crippling financial pressures on all lower income earners, whom the Government have abandoned, including pensioners, struggling mortgage holders, the unemployed, rural residents and farmers, all of whom have been feeling the deep impact of prices spiralling upwards over the past year. There are more increases coming in May thanks to Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Green Party and all of the people who supported them. Many of them were over on the Labour Party side, and when they woke up now and then, they told the Government that it was not doing enough and the carbon taxes should be more than they were.

I welcome today's announcement because it is an acknowledgment of the crisis. We know exactly what a pig is making today. Farmers are losing €35 per pig. The Minister announced funding of €7 million. I am glad about that. I was the first person to look for it when most Government Members were asleep as to what was happening in the pig sector. The Minister knows it will not be anywhere near enough, though. He knows that there are pig farms to which it will mean nothing. The move could have been based on what happened in France. My colleagues and I wanted a package worth €30 million, but farmers got €7 million. It will be a drop in the ocean and will not save many pig farms.

The Government has failed to make additional supports available to our other farmers despite the tremendous financial pressures they are facing. The soaring cost of food, heating, fuel and housing is causing social inequality and significant hardship and is pushing even more people into poverty. Fianna Fáil and the other parties with it seem to be oblivious to this. The Minister knows I am not being personal about this. As I have said in the Chamber previously, he is a good man and a good politician, but he is here defending the indefensible. He should be putting his hands up and saying that he knows the Government got this wrong, because it has. The other Deputies who voted for carbon taxes need to realise that they were wrong.

People will not be able to sustain this. We are not far away from the day when we are driving along the road only to look up at a pole and see that a litre of fuel, be it diesel or petrol, costs more than €2. How are people supposed to manage then? How are they supposed to fill their oil tanks? The answer from the Green Party and Fianna Fáil is that people should not fill their oil tanks and should instead go into their houses, dig up their floors, install underfloor heating and pay enormous costs for electricity even though the Government cannot ensure the supply of electricity because it has stopped people from burning turf. In other words, the Government parties have sold their souls for an agenda that does not make sense.

My good God, but there were great people in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party long ago. They had common sense. The new crowd are running away with the fairies, though. They have completely lost their grounding. They have lost the idea that they must go to a door, knock on it and ask the person who comes out to vote for them because they will represent him or her. What have those parties done since coming up here? They have abandoned the people. People are really hurting and are finding it extremely difficult to live. Working people are even finding it too expensive to go to work because of the cost of fuel and everything else. People cannot run their homes, but the Government's only answer is that it is worried and that it will have to place burden after burden on them until 2030 because it wants Ireland to be the goody goody boys of the world and to be the fastest reducers of carbon emissions by squeezing the life out of people through taxes. The Government tells people that it is very good, though, because it will give them back some of those taxes to insulate their homes and that, if people have €65,000 to spare under the bed, it will give them €25,000. The Government is telling people that it is taking taxes from them because it is going to give those taxes back to them. It has lost all common sense. Its parties might think that they can knock on doors and people will come out and say that they will back them again because Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or the Green Party were great for them, but the parties will be abandoned and thrown to one side. They are doing it to themselves. They have not just shot themselves in the foot – they have shot the bloody legs out from under themselves with the height of their stupidity. It does not make sense.

What does the Minister believe farmers are thinking today? If a robber had a choice between robbing a ball of money from a bank or robbing a pallet of fertiliser, the robber would be better off robbing the pallet of fertiliser because it is worth more.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important topic. Families and workers in Kerry and all over Ireland are suffering because of the increasing cost of fuel. Many cannot carry on and will not survive. If diesel prices rise further, work will stop and wheels will grind to a halt.

The Government did not recognise it two weeks ago but it needs to publish a mini-budget to deal with the problems. The Government cannot increase the carbon tax any further. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, can manage with a bicycle here in Dublin and has several public transport options in the form of trains, buses, the DART and the Luas, but the story is totally different for someone in Gneeveguilla, Scartaglin, Cordal, Castleisland, Brosna or Knocknagoshel who needs to go to work in Munster Joinery or Cadbury in Rathmore, Liebherr in Killarney or Walsh Colour Print. That person needs a car – there is no other option. He or she has to travel several miles to go to work. Parents who have to take their children to school need cars. They have no other choice. When people live in outlying places like Glencar, Killorglin, Cahersiveen and Kilgarvan, they cannot put two or three children up on the bar of a bike together and bring them to school.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government are content to let the people of rural Ireland suffer all of these extra living costs in order to keep the Green Party on side. Indeed, when we were making our case at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to Mr. Fabien Santini from the EU about the savage increase in fertiliser costs, a Green Party Deputy said that he was happy because it would help farmers to go organic and spread less fertiliser. Being city-based, he believes that saying this will not hurt him electorally, but if the cost of food production increases, the cost to the consumer increases as well. How do Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbenchers content themselves with utterances like that?

Farmers are terrified and many do not know how or if they will be able to continue. The cost of agri-diesel has increased from 38 cent to more than €1 since this time last year. Feed costs have doubled and fertiliser costs have trebled. Urea fertiliser cost €330 per tonne last July. It now costs €940 and is difficult to get. When we pressed the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, on the cost of fertiliser, she told us that the Government had written a letter to someone. God almighty, but is that all it can do? What about dropping the anti-dumping tariff of €50? Would the Government ever consider giving farmers a subsidy of €100 per tonne towards the savage cost of fertiliser? This would help to keep the cost of food down for housewives.

Commercial lorry owners in the transport industry are at breaking point. They were outside the gates of Leinster House months ago and made their case in an ordinary and respectful manner. I asked the Taoiseach to forgo the extra VAT and excise duties that the Government was accruing from the increased fuel costs and give the sector a chance but he did not respond and the Government has done nothing. That was three or four months ago. The Government took in an extra €3 billion in VAT returns in 2021 compared with 2020. That was €1 billion more than its own projections. God almighty, but would it give some bit of that money back to people to let them continue operating? Truck owners face several other cost increases for tyres, batteries, AdBlue and many other wearing components. Their prices have doubled. To top it all, truck owners cannot get parts owing to a fierce delay because of Brexit.

It is a scandal in God's eyes that people on illness benefit, jobseeker's benefit, maternity benefit, disabled benefit, enhanced illness benefit or occupational injuries benefit do not qualify for the fuel allowance. A pensioner living with a cancer patient who is in receipt of illness benefit will not qualify for the fuel allowance. Even though that person has paid the contributions entitling him or her to get the benefit, he or she cannot get the fuel allowance.

I have raised this before and the Government has done nothing about it. These are vulnerable people, many of whom are sick and in a bad way. The Government is talking about what it has done. It has done nothing for these classes of people. Gas prices went up by 10% again yesterday and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, made a submission against Shannon LNG, where we would perhaps have a hope of getting gas in from America, which wants to sell it to us, because soon we will not be able to get it from the Russians.

Elderly people need heat in their homes to survive more so than younger people. They will perish in their homes if the Government does not act to help them. This mini-budget should reverse the decision to increase the carbon tax in budget 2022 and beyond until the full impact of the energy crisis is fully understood and a cost-benefit analysis is undertaken by whatever parliamentary means necessary, including new legislation if required.

The mini-budget must reduce the excise duty on all motor fuel by at least 50% until the energy crisis abates, a proper and common-sense plan for rural public transport alternatives is put in place in every rural community and the purchase price point of electric cars is affordable to the ordinary motorist. The Government should not be trying to force people away from diesel or petrol cars until it has a reasonable and practical alternative, which the electric car is not at present. It must give over its codding. It knows it is wrong in that regard. People will adapt and change if it is practical.

The mini-budget must reduce the excise duty on petrol, which is currently 62.77 cent per litre, and on diesel, which is 51.9 cent per litre, by at least 50% from now until the end of 2022. This alone would save approximately €18 on a €100 fill of petrol or diesel for the regular motorist. The mini-budget must reduce VAT on all motor fuels, electricity and home heating oil to below 5% until the end of 2022.

I appeal to the Minister to do this. Otherwise, people cannot go on; they cannot continue indefinitely. As has been said in this Chamber, the price will shortly be more than €2 per litre. The Government will have to do something. It is not fair to continue insisting on a carbon tax just to please the Green Party and keep it onside. Government Deputies should think of the people who elected them in rural Ireland and the people who always voted for them. Those people are changing their minds and nothing will stop them from doing so.

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes that:

— the annual rate of consumer price inflation, as measured by the European Union's (EU) harmonised index of consumer prices, has picked up sharply in recent months, reaching a multi-decade high of 5.7 per cent in December before moderating somewhat to 5 per cent in January;

— the recent increase in inflation is partly a result of temporary factors related to the pandemic, which are expected to ease gradually over time;

— the key drivers of inflation in recent months are 'base effects', the imbalance between global demand and supply that has emerged as economies re-opened, and increases in global energy prices;

— Budget 2022 contained a large range of measures to protect households from the rising cost of living, including a personal income tax package worth €520 million next year and a social welfare package of over €550 million;

— the fuel allowance was increased by €5 per week to compensate lower income households for the additional energy costs they are likely to incur;

— in addition to the Budget 2022 measures announced in October last, the Government has this month approved a further package of measures to the value of €505 million to mitigate the cost of living including an increase in the energy credit to €200 including VAT, estimated to impact just over 2 million households;

— a lump sum payment of €125 on the fuel allowance will be paid to 390,000 recipients;

— there will be a temporary reduction in public transport fares of 20 per cent from the end of April to the end of the year;

— the reduction of the Drugs Payment Scheme from €144 to €80 will benefit just over 70,000 families;

— the Budget increase to the Working Family Payment will be brought forward from 1st June to 1st April;

— there are reduced caps for multiple children on school transport fees to €500 per family post primary and €150 for primary school children;

— Ireland is a small, open economy, where wage growth in excess of other economies erodes our competitiveness and puts future jobs and economic growth at risk;

— Budget 2022 provided a gross vote of €1.858 billion for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and this is in addition to almost €1.2 billion in EU funded direct payments received annually to support farm incomes;

— in October 2021, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine tasked Teagasc to lay out a credible roadmap to assist farmers in the short-term with the rise in fertiliser prices as well as offering a long-term solution in the move to reduce dependency on chemical fertiliser;

— the Minister launched the soils, nutrients and fertiliser campaign on 26th January last, a strategy that can ease the price pressure on farmers and will be good for the environment and for farmers' pockets, particularly in seeking to address the challenge of increased fertiliser prices;

— in January 2022, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine met with the main banks to discuss the current challenges in the pig sector and the importance of their ongoing support, with the key message that farmers experiencing cash flow difficulties should engage with the banks as soon as possible to discuss options and that the banks remain committed to supporting their customers in the period ahead;

— the Brexit Impact Loan Scheme and the Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme, both of which are financed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in partnership with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, can be used for working capital and include features which will assist the current financial needs of pig farmers;

— Bord Bia has intensified its efforts to promote quality assured Irish pig meat in the domestic and export markets with dedicated TV, radio and national print media advertising campaigns planned for Q1 2022, and also has two EU programmes that have significant funding allocated towards pig meat promotional activity currently running in China, Mexico, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines; and

— Teagasc has intensified its dedicated, ongoing advisory supports being provided to pig farmers and is actively engaging with pig farmers to explore financial options potentially available to them and to assist in discussions with financial institutions; and

recognises that:

— the Government has been pro-active in limiting the fall-out from higher rates of inflation;

— to support households and firms, the Government has made available €48 billion of fiscal support during the pandemic, one of the most significant policy responses of any country in the world;

— this has led to a significant increase in the general Government debt of around 11 per cent of national income; and

— Ireland's public debt is almost a quarter of a trillion euros as a result, and among the highest in the developed world on a per capita basis."

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and Government colleagues, I thank the Deputies for bringing forward the motion. As they will be aware, the Irish agrifood sector is our largest indigenous industry and of enormous importance right across the country and in rural Ireland, in particular. It is a sector that touches off every rural parish in the country and supports a balanced regional economy that drives €13.5 billion in exports. It is truly an exceptional sector with excellent farmers, food producers and processors at its core. Whether it is through the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, or direct Exchequer supports, this Government stands full square behind our farm families and food producers. That has been our form and track record at all times since this Government came to office. Despite many of the markets for Irish produce remaining relatively strong over the past 12 months, bringing solid returns to farmers, input costs have increased for all farmers, be that for feed, fertiliser or fuel. In some cases, the increase in output prices has been eroding market returns and that is clear.

Specifically, the pig sector has been at the centre of the challenges of these input price challenges while also suffering a considerable dip in the market. Coming as it did from a base of €330 million export value in 2010, the pig sector has shown exceptional growth over the last decade. It is the third largest of our livestock sectors now after dairy and beef, accounting for 6.3% of our output value or more than €930 million in 2021 in exports, supporting approximately 8,000 jobs. As well as this valuable contribution to our national economy, it is also a key contributor to our rural economy and communities. As we know, Irish pig farmers are currently facing exceptional challenges due to a combination of extremely low prices and extraordinarily high input costs. Mirroring the situation that has been presented across the EU over recent months, Irish pig farmers have seen their margins decimated. I know this is an issue on which Deputies have focused very significantly in their Private Members' motion today.

As Deputies will know, the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, and I have engaged at length with the stakeholders in this sector, and through the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, national pig committee, very much to understand, work with them and know the challenges they are under at the moment. While input costs present an issue for all sectors and will continue to do so during 2022, the pig sector has been particularly impacted. Production is very dependent on the use of compound feeds and it is thus more exposed than other sectors to fluctuations in feed prices. For the sector, this price cost squeeze is being felt acutely already and the sector has not shared the positive prices context of other sectors over the course of the last few months. Rather, it is caught now in a low point in the price cycle with global market disturbance and a worsening price cost squeeze.

With many farmers reporting that credit lines extended to them for feed are being curtailed, the cash reserves built up over the better 2019-20 period will deplete accordingly. I know feed mills are working with their customers but they are also under pressure. Feed prices have risen consistently since the beginning of 2020. The world consumed more grain in the last year than it produced and world grain demand is growing at a rate of 1.8% annually. These factors influencing the increase are twofold both in global demand and increased input costs. Along with other agriculture ministers, I have called for an integrated EU-wide approach and for the European Commission to deploy appropriate solutions to both the concerns around input cost and current severe market disturbance in the pig sector. I continue to raise these issues at EU level. Like ministers in many other states, I have needed to assess what national support we could put in place within our own capacity. I raised this matter again with colleagues and with the Commissioner as recently as Monday at the European Council meeting.

A series of measures have been brought forward to support the Irish pig sector, including intensification of promotion activity by Bord Bia and advisory support from Teagasc. There is also financial support, which is important here as well, through the Brexit impact loan scheme and Covid-19 credit guarantee scheme, both of which are financed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in partnership with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and can be used for working capital. They are important supports at the moment. The Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, and I also recently met with the main banks and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, specifically to discuss the crisis. The banks have outlined their continued commitment to supporting their customers and I know farmers are engaging with them.

Importantly, in terms of taking action at national level, I was pleased yesterday to announce a support scheme with a fund of €7 million, which will allow for partial compensation payments in the region of €20,000 to pig farmers. I delivered this package following thorough engagement with the IFA and its national pig committee. I am grateful for the support of my Cabinet colleagues in approving this support package yesterday. It is an emergency response as an urgent short-term solution to assist producers that will be viable for the current extreme market circumstances. I believe it is the biggest package there has been for the sector at any stage over the country's history and is a reflection of the challenge the sector is under at the moment. It is also at the maximum level of €20,000 that can be awarded to any one farm under the state aid de minimis rules. That is the mechanism we are using to introduce this scheme to ensure it can be brought to farmers as quickly as possible at a time when they are under immense pressure. I believe this support scheme reflects the challenge farmers are under. I assure Deputies that my Department and the agencies will continue to do all they can to support pig farmers through the difficult period ahead.

As we are all aware, farmers are facing increased fertiliser prices due to factors outside of their control. In a broader sense, energy prices remain well above 2021 levels and increased global demand continues, particularly from the big grain-producing nations. Increased transport costs and EU-imposed tariffs and duties on certain third-country imports also add to these prices. Again, it is an issue I have raised consistently at European Council level.

The spike in prices will have an impact on farm margins in 2022, but farmers led by advice from my Department and from Teagasc are taking steps to reduce use and mitigate where possible the worst effects of the increases. Last year, I tasked Teagasc with laying out a credible roadmap to help farmers reduce their dependency on chemical fertiliser in the short and medium term. Last month, I launched the 2022 soils, nutrients and fertiliser campaign at Teagasc Ballyhaise College in response to the unprecedented fertiliser price levels. This roadmap can be good for the environment but, particularly important, it will be good for the pocket at the moment. We all know that there is undoubtedly much more that we can get out of the effective use of organic fertiliser in terms of how it is applied, when it is applied and in maximising its capacity to reduce costs and to grow grass.

I have also written to the European Commissioner, examining the effect on the European market of removing anti-dumping measures. A decision is expected shortly on this. Notwithstanding all of this, I am acutely aware of the challenges that many farmers will face this year. We are working hard to offset these increases. As Deputies will know, since I was appointed as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I have sought to use the Exchequer funding in the most effective way possible to support our farmers. Working with Cabinet colleagues, including the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, we delivered an 11% increase in the Department’s budget for last year, which was followed up by a 2% increase on top of that for this year. This funding is being used to support farmers to underpin incomes through the continuation of key schemes, including the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, and the beef data and genomics programme, as well as creating new measures, such as the straw incorporation scheme, which can deliver, for example, €10,000 to a 100 acre tillage farm.

We are also seeking new and innovative ways of protecting farm incomes and ensuring their long-term viability for the sector. As the Deputies will know, in the past, often between CAP programmes, there have been gaps in schemes where they did not exist. That did not happen this time because the Government has made a massive commitment to ensure that we support farm incomes and that we support farmers. We have continued all of those schemes.

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, I thank the Deputies for bringing forward the motion today. As they can see, we are taking a whole-of-government approach in supporting farmers and farm families. Our farm families, our rural communities and our food producers are the backbone of this world-class sector. We are taking every step to support them at this challenging time. Through the incoming CAP strategic plan, which will run from next year until 2027, I secured an extra €1 billion for various farm scheme supports. That is a 50% increase on the previous CAP programme. Again, it is unprecedented in the history of CAP in this country that we could deliver a 50% increase in funding from one CAP period to the next. The figure is a full €1 billion. It is a reflection of how this Government, by being in office, by being in government, by delivering, by working hard day-to-day and by not necessarily talking on the sidelines, but by getting in, rolling up its sleeves, putting farm families at the centre of what it does, is delivering for them every week, every month and every year while it is in office. That is what we are doing. That 50% increase of €1 billion will enable us to do that by improving many of those schemes next year. For example, the new flagship agri-environment scheme will see up to a maximum payment of €10,500 to farmers taking part in the co-operative measures. This is real money to real farm families. We are making a real difference to them by being in government, by working hard for them day-by-day and by delivering.

We are, therefore, taking an approach to address short-term challenges now, while laying foundations to ensure the long-term viability and success of our agrifood sector, as well as the viability, success and profitability of our farm families. This Government is doing everything in its power to back families and our farmers and it will continue to do so.

For the record, of every €17 in fuel, the Government takes €10 in tax. That is a fact. This targets the 1 million people who are now below the poverty line in this country, such as those who are on social welfare, pensioners, the working middle-class and the self-employed. This hits every one of us in our pockets today.

The Minister mentioned the pig farmers. If a pig farmer had 500 sows, his ESB costs last year were €2,000 per month. His ESB costs today are €4,000. While I welcome the €20,000 increase, it will not even cover the increase in the ESB to rear 500 sows. That is another fact. Today's figures show that the Government took in tax a record €68.4 billion in 2021. Income tax took in €2,956 million up on the 2020 figure. That is €2,956 million. That is up 17.4% from 2020 in tax. The Minister comes in here and tells me that the Government is doing everything to protect the farmers and the working class. All it has done is take extra tax. Now the Minister is saying that he is giving out money.

People need direct intervention now. Direct intervention will be caused with this mini-budget. The mini-budget is looking for a 5% reduction in VAT on all fuels, electricity and home heating oil. That is how we can help the people in Ireland today, by putting money directly into their pocket. That would help everyone, no matter if they were a farmer, unemployed, working, or an old age pensioner. It would help everyone in this country if the Government did that.

According to figures from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, 700,000 houses depend on oil heating. The Government talks about a retrofit. Limerick County Council has said that it is retrofitting 60 social houses in the autumn of this year. However, there are 700,000 houses that depend on oil in this country. What does the Government do? It comes up with a retrofit programme, but the people must have money in their accounts. People do not have the extra money to do the retrofitting. They can barely survive and put food on the table. Why can the Government not understand that? It was elected to help the people in the here and now. The Government is destroying families. The next generation coming up cannot even get to colleges, because of the cost of fuel and there is no public transport.

The Government is in a bubble and it needs to get out of it. It seems when that they come up to Dublin they think on a completely different wavelength. The wavelength they will get when they go to Limerick city and county, as well as elsewhere in the country, is that people will remember the Government. They will say that for every €17 they put into their car, the Government takes €10 back from them. That does not include what they have taken from adults clothes and the price of milk, butter and bread. All the basics, which we need to live, are taxed. The Government comes out and says it is giving €20,000 and €1 million there. It should do the right thing and reduce VAT and put it back into everyone’s pockets.

The Minister made several references to what has been done for farming families but I would like to point out that while some measures are welcome, there are serious difficulties. The carbon tax is crippling every sector, including farmers. He has left that one out. Agri-contractors cannot survive, given the level of tax being imposed on them. This, of course, is being passed on to farmers.

The beef exceptional aid measure, BEAM, scheme has been an absolute disaster. I would ask for that to be revised and improved. The Minister mentioned the budget in October, the forthcoming budget, and so forth. However, people cannot wait until October. People are really struggling. Every day I get calls to my office from elderly people, from working families, from businesses, from farmers and from hauliers across Laois and Offaly. The Minister is doing nothing for those people. Those people are struggling while Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil continue to support the Green Party in its vanity project. That is what it is.

The Government is punishing the citizens who voted for it. That is what is happening. It is a matter for the Government whether it wants to realise that but it is the harsh reality. People in rural Ireland do not have the luxury of transport outside their door every morning so they have to fill their cars with petrol or diesel to get to work. These are the people who are being punished. I constantly find myself, as a rural Deputy in Laois-Offaly, standing up here trying to protect the jobs that we have. I should be speaking about job creation but we have a disaster at the moment because of the just transition and what the Government has done. Again, with its green ideology, it has thrown the midlands under the green bus. It needs to see the chaos it is causing. This just transition is on top of the struggles people already have with the price hikes in electricity and heating.

With the just transition, or unjust transition, there have been job losses. Now jobs are under pressure in forestry and also in haulage. The hauliers are under a great deal of pressure. I do not know what exactly is happening in forestry but I would be very grateful if the Minister could try to sort out the mess. Horticulture is an absolute disaster. The Green Party Minister of State ignored recommendations from a working group. That is absolutely outrageous. The Minister can paint this any way he likes but the harsh reality is that tens of thousands of jobs are at stake.

The Government is punishing people unnecessarily, particularly with the carbon tax. The Rural Independent Group, of which Deputy Mattie McGrath is the leader, is the only group which has been consistent on the carbon tax. In fact, we were the only political group to oppose the carbon tax from day one. People need to know that and should not be fooled by what is happening in here. This House is an echo chamber at times. The Minister needs to listen to the voice of the people. People cannot continue like this. The facts are there. I am sure the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has been in touch with the Government. It has had an unprecedented number of calls to its service this year. I have seen applications for the fuel allowance refused. People who should be entitled to the allowance are not entitled to it because the Government has not gone far enough. Other countries have brought in measures to help people. I stress again that people cannot wait until October.

Given the terrible negative impact of the carbon tax on agriculture, I appeal to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to try to sort out this mess because it is crippling agri-contractors and farming families. It appears as though the Green Party wants to force farmers off the land altogether. If the Minister is part and parcel of that, he is not standing up for farmers but punishing them. People in general are being punished. We have seen a very blunt transition that is not fair. There are no alternative jobs. People are struggling to heat their homes and pay for basics.

I would appreciate it if the Minister would do me the courtesy of listening to the message I have from my constituents in Laois-Offaly. I refuse to continue until the Minister shows me the courtesy of giving me his attention for the few minutes I have left. I have always been reasonable. I was interrupted and disrupted. I am sorry-----

The Deputy was not interrupted by anybody.

As a party that claims to be fair and just-----

No, excuse me.

The Deputy was not interrupted at all.

No, excuse me.

I was interrupted, disrupted and distracted.

Sorry, a Theachta, but if you do not sit down, you will have to leave the House.

I was interrupted and disrupted.

No, excuse me. Every Deputy in this House deserves courtesy.

You were not interrupted. I am the Chair.

How dare you? Where is justice gone? Where is justice gone in Sinn Féin?

No, excuse me, I am not finished.

I am suspending the proceedings.

I am not finished. I want the courtesy of having that minute.

The Acting Chair would not correct the Minister, who was talking through all of it.

Sure, you are as good as government now anyway, supporting the carbon tax.

Excuse me. I call on the Deputy to withdraw that remark.

No. I will just end by saying-----

You should withdraw that remark.

No, I will not withdraw it.

I am sitting in the Chair as an independent.

I will not withdraw the remark. The Acting Chair refused to correct two Deputies who continued to speak while I was speaking. I will not withdraw any remark.

Your time is up. You are now a minute over time.

Excuse me. I was finishing-----

If you do not sit down, I will suspend the Dáil.

To conclude-----

Cuireadh an Dáil ar fionraí ar 10.45 a.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 10.50 a.m.
Sitting suspended at 10.45 a.m. and resumed at 10.50 a.m.

I commend the Rural Group on bringing this motion to the House and for giving us an opportunity to debate what are very important issues, particularly in respect of the cost of living crisis that we have been discussing in some detail and that affects probably all workers and every family across the State. It is important to recognise that there is an extra burden on many rural families, in particular farming families. Of course, whether you live in a urban or a rural area, you are faced with the challenges of high rents, high childcare costs, high insurance costs and high mortgage rates - all the areas we have been discussing - but there has been a particular issue with regard to increases in the cost of energy, especially motor fuel, that place an additional burden on farming families and that is quite clearly evident in the price of fertiliser, which has already been discussed.

Fundamentally, there is a problem that was exposed in the remarks of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, who, I regret, is not here. He still maintains that the CAP budget and funding for farm supports has increased when it quite clearly has decreased as a result of the poor negotiation that the Government engaged in with respect to the European Union budget. There will be fewer supports for farm families over the round of the next Common Agricultural Policy than there was in the previous one. That is a statement of fact and yet the Minister continues to sell as spin that that is not the case. It is a three-card trick because the Government also claims, as it did in last night's debate, that €1.5 billion of carbon tax funds are ring-fenced to go to farmers in agri-environment schemes when that €1.5 billion, if it materialises, is only plugging some of the hole that is evident in the Common Agricultural Policy as a result of the same bad negotiations at EU budget level. Nobody can argue with what are statements of fact, in that over the next five years farming families will be paying more in carbon tax and getting less in farm supports, while being asked to do more on their environmental obligations.

Farm families were, as all of us were, eagerly waiting to see what big measures would be introduced in the Government's cost of living package. Can the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, imagine being from a farm family at the top end of north Monaghan and waiting in anticipation to see what supports the Government would introduce in its cost of living package only to find out that Luas tickets will be 20% cheaper? That is welcome for those who have access to public transport but the fact that it was incorporated into a cost of living crisis that is most acutely felt by rural communities shows how out of touch the Government is in respect of the services that are in place.

I welcome the measures announced last night involving a €7 million package for pig farmers, although I agree with previous speakers that it will not go far enough. Two weeks ago I raised this in a Topical Issues debate with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We had what I thought was a constructive debate. We outlined the need for a financial package. We also outlined the need for the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, and banks to step up to the plate in support of pig farmers and of other vulnerable farmers. The Minister indicated that he had met them and was expecting some improvement but no improvement has come.

I also outlined the difficulties in terms of staff shortages at processing plants that still have not been resolved. Even though the Government stated that it has put in place the measures to address those staff shortages through permits, they still have not been resolved.

We need to go beyond the rhetoric to the delivery of supports. If we want to support those workers, families and communities that are struggling to make ends meet, the answers are simple. The answers have been outlined quite clearly by Sinn Féin. We need a cost of living cash payment for those who need it most. We need to see a support for renters. They need one month's rent back in their pocket and they need to see a rent freeze for at least three years. We need to increase the minimum wage. We need to increase all working-age social welfare payments. We need to extend the fuel allowance by at least two weeks and we need to ensure that we cut the cost of childcare services by one third. We need to scrap the proposed increase in carbon tax.

The disgraceful actions of Russia in Ukraine will likely lead to EU sanctions of some sort. If those sanctions impact negatively on Irish workers, families and farmers, the EU needs to bring forward a package. I would ask the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to make that point at European Council level.

"Only today, I had to decide whether to tax my car - we live in rural Ireland and there is no public transport - or heat my house. Either way, food shopping will be slim this week." That is from a letter I received from a rural Tipperary constituent last week, one of the many people for whom a reduction in public transport fees will do absolutely nothing. People must tax their car, get their NCT done and pay soaring fuel costs and a €200 contribution to the electricity bill is a fleeting benefit. That is how out of touch the Government is when it comes to responding to the real needs of people out there, particularly those in rural Ireland and the young people who have ambitions for the future. Instead, the Government wants to give them easier access to unavailable public transport and saddle them with further debts so that they can make their homes efficient.

Sinn Féin has proposed a cost of living payment which would immediately put money into the pockets of hard-pressed working families. Only yesterday evening, we called for the pending increase in the carbon tax in May to be scrapped. We suggested a range of measures that would make a real difference to people's lives. For example, in the farming community - the lifeblood of rural Ireland which Government representatives wants to see working their farms part time - the pig sector has been badly affected by Brexit. The ability to source alternative markets has been affected because of the rising transport costs. Input costs have soared while energy costs are having a real impact. The capacity of processing plants is at crisis point due to staff shortages and factory prices are falling. Since September, we have been highlighting, both North and South, that a lack of capacity within the food processing sector will result in financial hardship for farmers. The Minister should consider directing the SBCI to provide flexibility to farmers seeking to avail of Department-funded agriculture loans. The Minister met with banks but farmers have reported no change in the availability of credit. The Brexit adjustment reserve should also be used to provide direct aid to pig farmers.

Elsewhere in the farming sector, the Government's slow pace has continued with the delays in the promised establishment of the national food ombudsman or meat regulator. Farmers are also facing increasing fertiliser bills on top of everything else. That is why we have been calling on the Government to advocate at a European level for the suspension of anti-dumping tariffs on fertiliser.

These are only some of the measures that we have proposed along with our alternative budget that was designed with rural Ireland and the agricultural sector firmly in mind. The Government has to understand that when it fails our farms, it fails our rural communities and by a consistent reluctance to take action, it has added to the pressures that our rural communities are facing. It seems like rural Ireland is seen by the Government as an important generator of revenue but not good enough to pay back in kind.

I am glad to speak on this motion. The issues in rural Ireland are across all of our society but are particularly acute where people live in isolated areas and where they do not have the options they may have in other places. I note that when the Government brought in the relief for people in the form of the cost of living package, it talked a great deal about putting in place a measure to reduce the cost of public transport by 20%. That will make very little difference to people living in much of rural Ireland, particularly in places in the north west. When you go north of Sligo-Leitrim, there is not even a train. We needed to see focused measures. That is what always seems to be missing. This across-the-board approach where everybody will get the same amount of money shows a failure to understand the root cause of the problem. We need to ensure that we target the measures to the people who need them most.

Across rural Ireland, many people are in real difficulty, particularly if they have to travel to work. They have the soaring cost of fuel and of heating oil, in particular, because that is the only option people in rural Ireland have to heat their home in many cases. Measures were introduced to retrofit homes in the past couple of days. In rural areas, it will be much more difficult to come up with solutions to all of that.

The issue we need to bring to the fore here is that we need to target the money to the people who need it most. Those are mainly working families - people who get up early in the morning and work hard trying to make ends meet to pay their mortgage, to pay their loans and to get a sense of future. That is what has been taken away from them. The Government needs to recognise that it needs to put money in place for all of the people, but particularly those who are most acutely affected and those in rural areas.

Is léir go bhfuil muid i ngéarchéim i leith costais mhaireachtála. Feiceann muid ar fad go bhfuil na billí tar éis ardú, ach tá a fhios againn go bhfuil brú ar leith ar cheantair thuaithe ina thaobh seo. Tá praghas leictreachais tar éis ardú 22%, tá peitreal ardaithe 30%, tá díosal ardaithe 32%, tá gás ardaithe 28% agus tá ola don bhaile suas 50%. Níl ioncam na ndaoine atá orthu na praghsanna sin a íoc tar éis ardú ar chor ar bith. Is léir nach bhfuil cliú dá laghad ag an Rialtas faoin mbrú atá ar dhaoine agus chonaic muid é sin le seachtain anuas leis an gcúnamh atá an Rialtas tar éis a chur chun cinn. Níl cliú aige faoin mbrú atá ar dhaoine. Tá an Rialtas sásta tuilleadh brú a chur ar teaghlaigh trí ardú eile ar an gcáin charbóin a thabhairt isteach i mí Bealtaine, rud a chuirfidh níos mó brú ar na teaghlaigh sin. Dúirt muid leis an Rialtas anuraidh gur chóir labhairt leis an gcoimisiún faoin gcáin breise luacha a laghdú mar a rinneadh i dtíortha eile san Eoraip, ach ní raibh an Rialtas fiú sásta an cheist sin a chur.

An tseachtain seo caite dúirt an tAire Comhshaoil, Aeráide agus Cumarsáide sa Seomra seo gurb é an bealach go bhfuil an Rialtas ag cabhrú leo siúd atá ag fulaingt ná go bhfuil laghdú de 20% ar tháillí córas iompair poiblí, ach is léir nach bhfuil a fhios ag an Rialtas fiú nach bhfuil córas iompair poiblí ag feidhmiú i gceart sna ceantair thuaithe. Tá a fhios againn sin agus tá a fhios againn nach bhfuil busanna ar fáil dóibh siúd atá ina gcónaí i gceantair iargúlta. I nGaillimh, ghearr an Rialtas seo siar ar an tseirbhís bus fiú. Ghearr an Rialtas leis an gComhaontas Glas siar ar an tseirbhís bus ach táthar ag insint dóibh siúd atá ina gcónaí sna ceantair thuaithe gur chóir dóibh a bheith ag brath ar an tseirbhís bus sin. Ní fiú an chabhair sin ar chor ar bith.

Tá na daoine sin ag brath ar an gcarr nó ar an leoraí i gcomhair na hoibre agus chuala mé ó tharlóir amháin go bhfuil an costas chun an leoraí a líonadh tar éis ardú ó €350 go €500. Tá sé sin ag teacht amach as a phóca féin. Níl sé ag fáil faic ón gcomhlacht atá sé ag obair dó. Tá brú eile air chun bia a chur ar an mbord, chun a bheith cinnte go bhfuil bia ag an teaghlach agus go bhfuil sé in ann a theach a théamh. Níl an Rialtas seo ag déanamh tada chun a chinntiú go bhfuil an chabhair sin ann do dhaoine cosúil leis sin atá ina gcónaí sna ceantair iargúlta.

It is clear that the cost of living package that was announced a number of weeks ago is not enough. It was interesting that the €505 million that was announced was lumped in with the budget. We have raised the cost of living for a number of months, particularly after the survey we conducted last October to which more than 14,000 people responded. At that stage, it was clear that the cost of living was becoming more of an issue and it has only gotten worse.

In response to the issue of the cost of living we hear a great deal about the increases in social welfare and the fuel allowance and you would think the Government was doing people a favour. We know that at the moment every single working age social protection payment is below the poverty line. We also know the fuel allowance has still not been restored to 32 weeks since it was cut by a previous Government. For the vast majority of workers out there, aside from the electricity credit that was announced, they will see no assistance whatsoever going forward with their heating bills and that is a problem. It is now more than a year since we brought forward a motion seeking for a discretionary fund to be established. I was told it was on the table but it did not come to pass and people are repeatedly being told to seek an urgent needs payment. However, people who work more than 30 hours per week cannot get that, so there are no supports out there for people who will struggle with their heating. Not only had we supported a mini-budget but we brought forward one three weeks ago and we asked that the Minister would look at that surplus €1.1 billion in VAT receipts above target that was taken in last year. We asked for that to be used to put money back in people’s pockets and support them.

I am glad we are looking at the increased costs on farmers and I see them at home. These increases are crippling, from feed to fertiliser. We know that rural communities depend on farmers and farm families and they are struggling. We already had a crisis and many farms are not viable to begin with. They are now seeing increased costs which are making the situation far worse. I commend the Rural Independent Group on bringing forward this motion and I hope the Government will seek to act because this situation will get worse. What has been announced is not enough. The Government needs to go back to the table.

I thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this motion because it gives special attention to the cost of living crisis, particularly in rural Ireland and on family farms. We know that the cost of fertiliser has increased by between 160% and 228% in the last year and that is completely unsustainable. While beef prices might be high, the outputs are crazy. Feed costs have gone through the roof and farm families are struggling with fuel costs and other costs associated with living in rural Ireland. I do not know how many more times we can tell the Government to scrap the planned carbon taxes, which do not make sense economically. The Government is digging its heels in on this and it will suffer the damage for that. It makes no economic sense because we do not have alternatives to carbon.

Deputy Martin Kenny brought forward legislation to rural-proof Government policy and it is obvious that this is not happening. People in rural Ireland and farming communities know this; it is not just us saying that. As late as last week, the CSO data showed that regional inequality continues to rise. The rising inequality in disposable income, for instance, was €3,237 in 2020, as opposed to €1,307 in 2000. That is nothing political but it should tell the Minister what is happening and what this Government and other Governments have done in rural Ireland. Inequality in disposable income is three times higher than it was a decade ago, so something is absolutely wrong. That is why we need a Government policy with positive discrimination towards rural Ireland. People feel that in their pockets more than anywhere else. I know it relates to higher education, regional infrastructure and everything else but it also relates to disposable income. Where we have farmers who have so little disposable income by the time they have paid for everything, it completely discriminates against rural Ireland and if Covid showed us one thing it was the need to address regional inequality.

The rapid increase in the cost of basic necessities of everyday life, including rent, light, heat, fuel, health, childcare and groceries is having a profound and negative impact on workers and families the length and breadth of this country. That is particularly true in rural areas and constituencies like my constituency of Longford-Westmeath. Maintaining a basic standard of living is beyond the reach of some and it is a real and growing challenge for far too many people.

The Government has refused to listen to us in Sinn Féin, to others on this side of the House, to the likes of St. Vincent de Paul and to that growing list of others highlighting the impact of the soaring cost of living. I want to go back to the latest report of Barnardos which states that one quarter of families fear they will not be able to feed their children because it is getting harder to put food on the table. Some 19% of respondents said they had skipped meals so they could feed their families and children. More must be done now. The Government has admitted that its €500 million cost of living package will not be enough for many families. It has acknowledged its failings and yet it continues to fail to act. Targeted measures are needed. For months Sinn Féin has been warning the Government about the cost of living and it has shown the Government how it can be done. I heard the Minister on the radio this morning saying that he appreciates the difficulties but he must also then appreciate how ludicrous it is to tell people who are in these desperate situations that they must wait until October. While the Government continues to bury its head in the sand, hardworking people are struggling daily and making the choice whether their families should be cold or hungry. That is bordering on Dickensian.

I have read the Government’s amendment to the motion put forward by our colleagues and it speaks about a proactive response. I respectfully suggest that the Minister should shake his head. I refer to the public debt of one quarter of a trillion euro. The Minister should not try to put that on the shoulders of average working families the length and breadth of this country. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, spoke about delivering but the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, should look out the door. All the Government is delivering is hardship, poverty and increased personal debt, and rural Ireland is paying the price for something it had no hand, act or part in creating.

I know the Minister runs a constituency office. If it is anything like my advice clinics or those of Sinn Féin or the Rural Independent Group, which has tabled this motion, it ought to busy with people who are presenting household bills and the choices they have to make daily or weekly on whether to heat their homes or feed their families. These are not fabricated concerns on this side of House but the very real concerns of real people in communities throughout the country. There is a great deal in this motion and much to be commended in it. Deputy McGrath wanted to have a debate purely on the pig farming industry for which time has not been allocated, but it was included in this motion. It shines a light on an industry that is struggling. I am sure Deputy McGrath would have preferred if a distinct section of Dáil business had been dedicated to it, but it is included in this motion, probably rightfully so.

The cost-of-living crisis is widespread and cutting through every single community in every county in our country. The Labour Party, like Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and now the Rural Independent Group, have all brought motions over recent weeks to bring solutions to the Minister to try to tackle this issue. We support the call for a mini-budget, which has been on record for a couple of weeks. A whole-of-government approach is required to tackle the soaring cost of living. The cost of living is one way of putting it. Another way is that it is making the poor poorer. That is the reality of the cost-of-living crisis. For those who can barely afford to get by when things are relatively benign, when things take a turn as they have now, due to many factors that, in fairness, are outside the control of our State but are impacting on people throughout the country, it is the poor who suffer the most.

We have put forward proposals that we ask the Minister to re-examine. We need to look at an immediate rent freeze and a roadmap to reduce Irish mortgage interest rates to the EU average. It is a scandal that they remain so high. We need to provide emergency energy cost-relief packages for households, which should include a temporary time-limited reduction in the VAT rate on energy and fuel up until the next budget, and seek an EU derogation to allow for long-term retention of the historic 13.5% rate on electricity and gas, when such a temporary VAT cut expires. Considering everything we have done to bend over backwards for the EU over the past decade and more, we can and should apply for a derogation on this. There is no reason we should not. We should introduce additional targeted supports for those in energy poverty by widening access to the fuel allowance and commit to the introduction of a refundable carbon tax credit for low-income households to support the long-term phasing out of fossil fuels.

I will pause on that point and the point about the carbon tax. I am deeply troubled and concerned about how the carbon tax is being discussed overall in the discourse. There are many reasons the cost of living is rising. Many taxes are contributing to that, in addition to other reasons apart from taxation. This motion details excise duty on petrol and diesel, for example, and we have spoken about VAT. There has been an effort by some, however, which we saw from Sinn Féin during last night's debate, to toxify the carbon tax to the point where it becomes so deeply unpopular that it will be included in election manifestos going into the next election and will ultimately be cut or wiped out altogether. There is no doubt carbon tax is difficult for many, especially those on low incomes or no incomes, but there are ways we can target supports for those families without having to row back on carbon tax. Carbon tax is not the only method for tackling climate action, but it is an important one. Anyone who is serious about climate knows it is one of the important measures. This effort has not just been going on over the past couple of weeks or during the debate on last night's motion, and it is not just a big element of this motion. I have seen it when I have been on the doors over recent months. Targeted messaging is going on through social media campaigns to try to turn the carbon tax into the new water charges and into a tax so deeply unpopular and politically toxic that it has to be defeated and rowed back on.

We need to retrofit homes. The energy consumption by housing in our country accounts for just under a third of all energy emissions. It has to be targeted and it has to be funded. It is difficult and it will be a long process. There is a degree of ambition in the package announced last week, but we need to see it work and we need to see it go quickly to homes that need it the most. There is a great deal attached to it. We need to see apprentices and experts in these retrofitting areas in the trades to be available for this work. There is a great deal to it.

I am deeply troubled because climate cannot wait. It cannot. We are seeing it in the three back-to-back storms of the past week. There are articles about how the jet streams in the Atlantic are changing due to climate change. These are the reasons these weather events are happening. The science is indisputable. Where the rubber meets the road on it is in areas such as this. That is what is disappointing because there are so many different ways we can help people in difficulty due to the cost-of-living crisis. We can help people through direct targeting of supports and payments to get through this and to be able to phase out fossil fuels in their lives. There seems to be a sledgehammer approach to this, which unfortunately will crack the mature debate we need to have about climate. It does it a disservice and it takes away from the real measures, some of which are in this motion and other motions, and many of which are in the motions we tabled two weeks ago.

I thank the Rural Independent Group for tabling this very important motion. It covers a number of important issues relating to the cost of living and rising energy costs, in addition to some very important issues affecting farmers, in particular, such as rising costs, which need a great deal of attention. This motion correctly outlines this as an issue that affects people in rural and urban areas. It affects people on low incomes throughout different parts of Ireland. It is very important that it gets a good airing.

We are in a situation at present where people are hurting from the cost-of-living increases, such as those in energy. I talked to a constituent recently, who was typical of what many people are saying. He told me that, every week, when he gets his income, the very first thing he does is buy groceries so that his family will be able to eat for the week. He then makes decisions about what bills to pay, but the one thing he is committed to doing is that weekly shop so that his family can eat. He then makes very tough decisions on what bills for necessities he has to pay and what ones he cannot. That is the situation people are in at present.

If we are serious about tackling climate change, and we have to be, we have to recognise two things. We have to recognise tackling climate change cannot wait and people trying to put food on their table to feed their families also cannot wait. Those two things are equally important. What we now see happening in this debate and in recent discourse - we have to question whether it suits certain political actors - is a division around this and a prioritisation of one over the other. It is becoming divisive. It reminds me of a book by Ed Moloney I have just finished, which is a very comprehensive book about many issues that happened in the North. He makes the argument in it that it suited some of the political actors in the North to have a divisive debate. It created political division and it moved voters towards the extremes.

If we do not want to see that happening in respect of climate change here, it is essential that just transition, which means no one is left behind, is embedded into everything the Government does. I will give a couple of examples of where the Government is not doing that when it comes to meeting the current cost-of-living crisis. For example, in considering the retrofitting grants the Government has brought in, we know that some households simply cannot afford to contribute some of the cost of retrofitting to avail of grants. They need those 100% grants.

What is the Government doing on those 100% grants? There are 177 homes per month, at present, and the Government will increase that to 400 homes per month. Some 300,000 households in Ireland are at risk of fuel poverty, according to the ESRI. When the Government increases the 100% grants to 400 homes per month, it will take 61 years to retrofit those 300,000 households at risk of fuel poverty. That leaves people behind. It does not show a commitment to inclusion or just transition in terms of climate change. Climate change cannot wait. We must bring people with us, which means we must ensure people on the lowest incomes and those who are struggling to pay bills are not left behind.

An especially vulnerable group in terms of housing issues and cost of living is renters. What did the Government say when concerns were raised that the retrofitting schemes may lead to some renters being evicted if a landlord wants to renovate and retrofit? We were told landlords would be monitored. That is not a huge amount of use to renters who are worried about being evicted. How is the monitoring of landlords going? The Government, this year, decided in the budget Estimates the Minister brought forward to have a 20% decrease in funding for rental inspections. That is how seriously it takes the idea of inspecting rental accommodation and monitoring landlords. What is more, in the past couple of years, real-world inspections where an inspector goes into a rental property, have been replaced, admittedly, perhaps due to Covid, by so-called virtual inspections. However, those virtual inspections are not even inspections. It is a self-assessment form with some photos that is submitted by a landlord. The Government is not taking this seriously in terms of supporting people who are more vulnerable.

What we need now, to support people on lower incomes and those who are working, is a living wage in order that people can afford to meet the basics. We need to have a ban on rent increases. We have seen today news coverage that the profits of Ireland's largest landlord are up yet again. We know the Government is not taxing the profits of those institutional landlords. It is, of course, taxing smaller landlords.

Some 75% of the Government's measures of cost of living were universal and were not targeted. We saw three times the amount of money go to owners of second and holiday homes as went to increasing supports for working families on low incomes, for example, the working family payment. The priorities are all wrong and were not targeted enough.

Those measures can only go so far. What has to happen is that the root causes in terms of cost of living have to be tackled. It is clear the Government could do that on the rental side if it wanted to. It could do that on the accommodation side. It could, straight away, introduce a tax on vacancy. It has been talking about it for years. Where is it? If the Government brought in a tax on vacancy, we would get more homes into supply and that would have a somewhat stabilising effect on affordability, especially as a tax on vacancy would mean homes that need to be done up and renovated could come in at lower prices and give people some options. The measures the Government has taken so far, which are largely not targeted and do not address the root causes, do not go anywhere near enough to meet people's needs.

Rural communities are affected by this, as well, and we have to get real about things such as public transport in rural areas. Yes, there has been increased funding in recent years. It is important to acknowledge there have been some useful schemes, but they are not anywhere near the level we need if we are to give people meaningful alternatives of public transport, especially in rural communities.

I am sharing time with Deputy Barry. There is an elephant in the room when it comes to the cost-of-living crisis facing ordinary people. It is an elephant the Government, in particular, does not want to talk about and denies exists. That is the profiteering by big energy companies in this country.

The Government has denied it but we have the proof. Energia, in the six months up to the end of September 2021, announced three price increases. In those same six months, it made more than €130 million in profits. That is a 51% increase year on year. Stop to think about that for a minute: hiking up prices while profits are soaring.

For some of us, the high price of energy is a cause of poverty and of choosing between heating and eating, but for others, it is the source of riches. Big companies, in particular, those that generate energy from Corrib gas, wind and hydropower have taken the opportunity to drive up prices while their costs remain the same. The result is massive windfall profits in the process. We need a special windfall tax on the profits of the big energy companies and we need to use that money to invest in bringing down energy bills for ordinary people.

High energy prices hit those who are already struggling. Ireland has among the highest deaths from cold-related diseases. Some 2,800 people die per year. Those worst affected are the elderly, single parents and their children, and Travellers. However, the Government's proposals for tackling the energy and cost-of-living crises are hopelessly inadequate, and I think it knows it. A much more fundamental programme of measures is essential.

The Government does not want to talk about it but it has the power to impose maximum price orders on electricity, home heating oil and gas. It should use that power. Do not say it is not possible because the costs are going up. Look at the profits I just pointed to in the form of Energia. Cut into those profits with a maximum price order to ensure people can afford to heat their homes.

The Government will impose a carbon tax increase in May. It should withdraw it. It should withdraw the carbon tax, which is entirely ineffective from the point of view of tackling climate change and puts the burden on ordinary people. The Government should order an immediate rent freeze and then set up an independent rental review board that would enable tenants to seek rent reductions, because that is what is necessary.

We have the most expensive childcare service in Europe. We need a publicly run, not-for-profit system to provide high-quality care that is urgently needed, while removing the ruinously expensive costs of private childcare.

The Government has cut public transport fares by 20%. We welcome that, but why not go the whole way? Why not make public transport free? Why not make a real difference to the cost of living for many people while sharply reducing carbon emissions? Transport is the number two emitting sector in Ireland.

The figures given are interesting. The Government now estimates a €54 million cost of a 20% fare cut for nine months. That indicates a full-year cost of making public transport free for everybody of €360 million. That is substantially less than the Government has always indicated to us in parliamentary questions the cost would be when we have been campaigning for free public transport. The Government should do it, but obviously that is not enough. We need to invest and then extend public transport nationwide in order that it is free, frequent and fast throughout the cities and towns of Ireland.

The other point I want to make is essential to this. I saw Patrick O'Donovan referred to as being on a radio station this morning saying we had to have Shannon LNG because the wind did not blow all the time, etc. That is just a recipe for continuing with fossil fuel dependency. There should be no more fossil fuel infrastructure whatsoever and there should be a rapid transition to renewable energy.

A vital part of achieving that rapid transition is reducing energy usage. That is why we are opposed to the expansion of data centres. It is not possible to walk down an upwards-moving escalator. We have to reduce energy usage in this country. A crucial way to do this is a programme of retrofitting.

I do not mean a scheme of the kind the Government has, whereby if you have €25,000 the State will match it and then you can do it. I want a scheme that on a public basis creates huge numbers of green jobs to retrofit at zero upfront cost to the householder and then shares the benefit over a period of 15 or 20 years between the householder and the State. The State can borrow at practically 0% right now. The upfront cost of this would be €2 billion but over time it absolutely pays for itself in the benefit to the householder of having a warm, well-insulated house, saving money on energy bills and, from the point of view of all of in society, through reduced energy usage and carbon emissions.

The Taoiseach is reported in the press this morning as saying families should brace themselves for the pain. The stand-off between NATO and the Putin regime brings more bad news for hard-pressed households. The price of European wholesale gas was up 10% yesterday. Commodity economists in London are saying crude oil could reach $120 to $140 per barrel. We all know whose shoulders this is going to be placed on. However, there is profiteering taking place in Irish society. These are not just acts of God. Yesterday, I gave the example of Musgrave Group's €98 million profit. What is going on there? This morning, IRES REIT is reporting rental income for last year of €63 million. It is the biggest of the ten largest landlords in the State, which own 17,000 rental properties between them. IRES REIT is eying rent increases. It says its rents are "approximately 9.4% below market rent indicating further opportunity in the medium term". Those are further opportunities for rent increases and maximisation of profit.

I have just received a message from my local radio station saying the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, was on Newstalk this morning and talked about having to look at the tax treatment of landlords in the budget this year. He was not talking about more tax on landlords but tax breaks for landlords. I have a direct question for the Minister for Finance. I will not be in the Chamber to hear his reply but will be listening with interest from my office. Will he take the opportunity of this debate to rule out any idea of more tax breaks for landlords in the budget in the autumn? We need breaks for working people and ordinary people and not for the landlords who have been doing so well over the past number of years.

I take the opportunity to thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this motion. I will concentrate on farming and the supports required there. I acknowledge the Government's measures to try to help people with the cost of living. I think nearly €500 million has been put into the system. The question I always ask is where we are going to get the money to pay for it. The Minister is probably asking himself the same question.

Issues abound in the farming sector. The unprecedented rise in costs is causing severe problems for farmers. This has been borne out by the CSO figures released this week. The figures show the huge financial challenges being faced by farmers as input costs wipe out any marginal increases in output costs. I will briefly expand on that. Fertiliser prices went up almost 25% in December 2020 and overall in that year went up by 86.9% in 2020. That is the fuel to grow our grass, silage and crops so we have food we can sell to the shops. Electricity prices have gone up over 22%. Fuel prices have gone up 40%. Feedstuff prices have gone up 15.9%. The price of the plastic needed to wrap the bales of silage has doubled and will add to the increased costs of harvesting the round bale for farmers. On the other side of the coin, farming is unique in that farmers cannot dictate what the price will be for their product at day's end. They are what we call price-takers and are at the mercy of the market. They are at the mercy of the meat producers and when they go to the mart to sell their stock they are at the mercy of what price they are given. They cannot set the price. In most industries, if there is an increase in production costs it is added to the sales price to try to recover that cost. That facility is not available to farmers and they are in a serious predicament. There is no avenue to add this cost onto the selling price of their stock. We all know the wording when you buy a calf has always been: "Did you get good value?". You would always be told: "You will know the value of that calf the day I go to sell him". That is the way farming works; no other way. It is important we take that into account when we look at what is happening with farming.

It has been alluded to that the volatility between Russia and Ukraine, Europe and all that is creating additional pressures on prices of basic materials used throughout industry worldwide, and on fuel in particular. This is something no-one can blame the Government for or anything like that but we must take these things into account when we look at farmers and how we can support them.

Farmers need support right now and I will tell the Minister why. It is not so much that the farmer is thinking about what he is going to do. Young farmers and farmers generally are making decisions right now that they are not going to buy as much fertiliser because they cannot afford it. They are not buying cattle but are thinking about selling. The knock-on effect down the line will be that we will be producing less food. We will also have a situation where young people are running away from the responsibility of trying to run the family farm. I have spoken to about five sets of parents this week who have told me nobody is willing to take on the farm. What do we do then? In my constituency of Galway East we have had investment in, and will soon have opened, the BIA Innovator Campus in Athenry. It is supported by Government through the rural regeneration fund and will be a great place to create perhaps 200 jobs in the food industry. However, if we continue with the situation we have we will not have the raw materials for the food innovation to happen so we can increase our exports. I am referring to the export of products that are recognised worldwide. That is where we are coming to with farming. The important question is how we support farming right now. There are a number of things we must do or the small family farm will be wiped out and we will end up with large tracts of land being farmed by industrial-type farmers. The family farm, which is the fabric of rural Ireland, is in serious danger.

I heard the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine earlier and did not get much confidence from what he was saying about next year and the year after. He was talking about CAP and different grants that might be happening. He is talking about a 2% increase in something when we have 89% increases in the cost of some raw materials. We must look at this very seriously and do so urgently. Farmers need some sort of hope. They need some sort of pathway to be created. They need direct subventions right now. They need to be exempted from VAT. For the moment, they also need an exemption from the carbon tax. These need to be considered as a matter of urgency. The other aspect to farming some people may not realise is that the lack of transparency in the price set for the finished product is causing very significant problems in the farming industry. We must ensure the price is regulated such that no products are being sold below cost. Right now farming products are being sold below cost and that is not sustainable in any walk or field. As I said, we are supporting industry and even through the LEADER programme we are supporting small industry to develop, such as cheesemaking and artisan foods.

That is great, but if we do not have the supply chain of beef, lamb, milk and grain, we will not sustain this industry. We will not sustain jobs in the towns and cities that can sustain them. We are experiencing a significant knock-on effect. My plea to the Government today is to consider this matter as an urgent crisis for farming. I do not say it to scaremonger, but because of the experience I have. A young farmer told me he can only afford to buy this year a third of the fertiliser that he bought last year. What will happen is that his production levels will do down and his profits will go down. He is in his 40s and in a few years, he will be looking for an out. I am delighted the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, is here to listen to us. I again thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward the motion. It is important that farming is recognised as being in a crisis.

I thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this most comprehensive motion which captures the impact of rapidly rising inflation and the high cost of living, which affects every Irish citizen, but disproportionately affects those on lower incomes, middle incomes and, above all, fixed incomes. The motion captures many of the specific cost increases for those who work and live in rural areas, in addition to the increases already felt by all Irish people.

It is important to make the point that those who live and work in rural areas have specific challenges when it comes to rising costs. I understand housing costs and childcare costs are less in rural areas than they are in urban areas, but we must recognise the specific extra costs in rural areas to ensure balance and meaningful debate.

I will first look at some of the issues that are specific to those who live and work in rural areas. I will start with those engaged in agriculture. This motion speaks of the three Fs: fuel, fertiliser and feed. The three Fs capture very clearly the specific extra costs incurred by primary producers, farmers. In the past 12 months there has been a feed price hike of between €15 and €20 per tonne. That was just to the end of last year. This is a massive cost for many farmers, yet they are expected to absorb it. We also know that feed costs could increase further because, unfortunately, the soya forecasts in certain South American countries have decreased due to drought. This is an escalating problem, and one that farmers must contend with on a day-by-day and week-by-week basis.

However, that is not the only increase farmers are facing. In 2021, the price of petrol rose by 27% and diesel by 26%. This has escalated further this year. Every single week we see an increase at the pumps. We are the 17th most expensive country for fuel in the world. Farmers need to use fuel specifically to carry out their farming activities, whether it is a fill of diesel for their tractor, or the electricity used in the various farming activities. We also have a significant rise in fertiliser costs, which is crippling farmers. There is no sign that those prices will reduce or ease in the short term. Fertiliser prices increased by almost 90% in the year to 2021. This is totally unsustainable. What makes it even more unsustainable is that the price of food has no connection to the cost of producing it. Any link between the production of food and its price is totally broken. Those who take the hit are the primary producers, the farmers. We urgently need a regulator to ensure a fair distribution of profits throughout the supply chain. I and many others have called for this for so many years. The current situation once again highlights the absolute need for fairness in the food supply chain.

Farmers are squeezed at both ends due to the rising costs of virtually all inputs, but at the same time CSO figures show that food prices in December 2021 were 90% of what they were in December 2010. This situation is untenable. While I welcome the €7 million package for the pig industry, which will make a real difference, farmers are business people and they want an opportunity to make a living and to earn a living and not to have to rely on once-off Government payments. I accept that the €7 million will help to keep many pig farmers afloat. I do not diminish its importance, but in the overall context, the year-to-year context rather than the day-to-day context or the week-to-week context, farmers, who are primary producers, must be in a position to earn their living and to make some money from what they do, rather than having to call on the Government for a special fund or a unique response to a particular set of circumstances. The Minister and I know that farmers are price takers. They have no real power and rely on State intervention. In this case, a regulator with powers of enforcement is needed.

Furthermore, those who live in rural areas have limited access, or in some cases no access whatsoever, to rural transport, so the increasing cost at the local pumps has a disproportionate impact. I support the call in the motion for the Government to reduce the excise duty on fuel. This will impact on those in rural areas and in urban areas. While a 20% decrease in Luas tickets is most welcome, very few people in my constituency will see any benefit from it. A reduction in excise on fuel would have a real impact because energy poverty stalks both rural and urban Ireland.

The motion also asks the Minister to reduce the VAT wedge on fuels and energy for six months. Unfortunately, because of the situation in Ukraine, I honestly believe the Minister must do something like this because the impact of the actions so far by the Russians will simply be to increase fuel prices. The State cannot continue to place a greater percentage of the increased costs on its citizens because it is crucifying people.

I do not hold the same view as the Rural Independent Group on carbon tax. To me, this is a ring-fenced fixed tax which will go to those who need it most when it comes to retrofitting homes. Retrofitting is a medium and long-term solution. It is never easy for the Government to fund good outcomes in four, five or ten years. That is a positive step, but the Government has a responsibility to deal with the immediate problems also. The cost of living increases are hurting middle and lower income earners and those on fixed incomes, because they spend so much more of their income on food and fuel. I commend the motion.

I thank all the Deputies for the contributions they have made to this very important debate. I reiterate my appreciation of the great challenges that many people are facing at the moment as we see the rising cost of energy and fuel. That is why the Government has brought forward measures to aim to provide assistance to those who need it the most, accompanied by the rebate for energy bills that will be coming forward in the coming weeks.

I have listened to the Rural Independent Group this morning and the proposals it brought forward.

I have one question for you. How much do your measures cost?

We do not have the resources that you have in order to do costing.

How much do your measures cost?

You have an unlimited budget.

The Parliamentary Budget Office is available to you. I will repeat the question. How much do your proposals cost?

You know the answer to that.

I ask Members to speak through the Chair.

You have the wriggle room. You are taking in more money.

The Rural Independent Group does not know the answer to the question.

It is bringing forward a proposal for a mini-budget without any understanding of the cost involved in that mini-budget.

That is being condescending and smart.

They are bringing forward these ideas with no concept or acknowledgement with regard to the cost of them.

We have a concept of what the people at the doors want.

It is the Government that is putting the tax on them.

When I made my opening statement, I did so anchored in an appreciation of the challenges that many people face. What we have in front of us are proposals brought forward by a group with no sense or reference as to the cost of those proposals. Let me inform the Dáil of roughly what that cost would be.

We know that the carbon tax is hurting the people in rural Ireland who have to drive a car to work and the Minister knows that too.

The Government was supposed to abolish the USC in 2016.

These figures are available to the Rural Independent Group but it is not interested in checking them. The overall value of the proposals that are being brought forward by the Rural Independent Group is approximately €3 billion.

Will the Government abolish the USC?

These measures are being brought forward with no recognition of the cost or the challenge involved in funding them. There are over €3 billion worth of proposals here, with no sense or recognition as to how they could be paid for or funded.

The increase in the fuel tax would pay for them.

The consequence of all of this would be to heap further difficulty on other people by way of higher debt. The ideas are brought forward by the Rural Independent Group, but it has no idea of the cost of them and no proposal for how they would be paid.

They are doing it in other countries.

The only thing the Rural Independent Group is independent of is credibility.

That is outrageous.

The Minister is looking in the mirror.

(Interruptions).

It is independent of common sense in that yet again it is bringing forward proposals with no recognition of how much they would cost. It is because of that it is devoid of credibility and empty, in any sense, of recognition or credibility with regard to what needs to be done to help those who are suffering the most.

That is outrageous.

They are doing it in other countries.

What was also completely absent in the Rural Independent Group contributions today was any mention that those who are in the farming sector, who provide such a valuable contribution to our country, economy and society, qualify for double income tax relief in regard to carbon taxing. Do the Deputies know that?

We are well aware of it.

Did the Deputies just choose to ignore it?

The Minister is out of order.

I suspect they either did not know it or they chose not to bring it up.

I ask that the Minister address the motion.

That is no surprise given that the motion contains within it a claim that they know is wrong but they still bring it forward, that is, that carbon tax is the key contributing factor to Ireland's cost of living increases. That is wrong and wrong again.

The salmon of knowledge.

It is telling and hopeful to hear other Deputies have the courage to make the case for carbon taxing. Some made the case that they think it could be done differently but at least they are making that case. The Rural Independent Group has brought forward proposals with no idea of how much they would cost and ignoring the fact that through our tax code there is already relief in place for some of these costs.

I look forward to hearing the response of the Rural Independent Group. To bring forward a proposal for a mini-budget with no idea of how much it would cost or how it would be paid for is not only a lack of help to those who need help the most, it is an insult to them. The Rural Independent Group is accompanied in this by Sinn Féin. Following on from its Deputies' contributions last night and again this morning, I can only reach the conclusion that Sinn Féin either does not get the climate challenge and crisis, or chooses to be dishonest about it. I would not yet go as far as to say that Sinn Féin is a climate change denier but I would make the point that fundamentally it is dishonest about the choices and difficulties that are involved in responding to it.

The Minister is insulting everyone today.

Again and again, the claim is brought forward that we can respond to the climate crisis without difficult choices. We heard that from Sinn Féin when, for example, so many of its Deputies made the point that more needs to be done on the retrofitting programme and more detail needs to be brought forward, yet it is against the tax that is needed to help to pay for it. Sinn Féin chooses to ignore the advice from groups such as the Climate Change Advisory Council and international economists and scientists, the majority view of whom is that to change our use of carbon we need to change the price of it.

The Minister is insulting everyone. He does not know what is going on around him.

I know it is difficult. This is a choice that involves difficulty for many. In tackling a climate crisis, to claim it can be done without choices regarding how carbon is taxed is at best dishonest.

(Interruptions).

It is a dishonesty that is repeated again and again by Sinn Féin.

Thank you Minister.

I would appreciate the Ceann Comhairle's discretion to make a final point. The Rural Independent Group has brought forward proposals in respect of which there is no costing or recognition of the challenge that is involved in responding to the challenges that we acknowledge are real for so many. The Government is acting. We are responding. The House heard from the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, about the measures that are being taken in regard to GLAS and the beef data and genomics programme, as well as the new measures announced by him today to support our pig farming sector. The proposals brought forward by the Rural Independent Group are at best disrespectful to the challenges and needs of so many. At worst, to make claims in regard to carbon tax and to bring forward proposals without any sense of how they can be paid for does little to serve the needs of those they claim to represent.

The Minister needs to step out of the bubble.

It creates the sense of easy solutions. In the Rural Independent Group proposals, there is no honesty about how they can be paid for and the challenges that the Government faces in responding to those challenges.

(Interruptions).

Why did the Government not abolish the USC, to which Fine Gael committed itself in its manifesto in 2016?

Deputies, please.

It is the truth.

We have acted. We have brought forward measures. We know that prices and costs are increasing and we appreciate that is a challenge for many people, but this Government has acted.

Nobody is falling for this.

In what we announced in the budget and the measures we brought forward recently, we have acted to make a difference.

The Minister is running down the clock.

For those on social welfare benefits, including the living alone allowance, it means €600 to €800 of extra support. For those who are on the standard rate of income tax, it means between €400 and €600 extra.

A Cheann Comhairle, the Minister is eating into our time.

What about those who are getting no fuel allowance? The people on benefit payments who paid contributions are not getting anything. The Minister is talking here and these poor people are suffering.

I can well understand the behaviour of the Independent Deputies opposite. They are embarrassed-----

That is outrageous.

-----to have brought forward proposals for a mini-budget-----

If Fine Gael loses seats, it will be because of the Minister.

Broken promises as usual.

-----with no sense of their cost or how they would be paid for. I hope those they claim to represent are looking in and taking note of their behaviour and recognise the dishonesty involved in bringing forward these ideas and calling for a mini-budget, while at no point in the debate giving any recognition of the cost or of what is involved in that regard.

The Minister is repeating himself now.

For all of those reasons, the Government has put forward an amendment. We reject the attempts by the Rural Independent Group-----

To tell the truth.

-----to pretend that they understand the difficulties that many are facing-----

The Government is the denier.

-----and their efforts here to pretend that they have a solution to it.

I am told that there has been some problem with the clock. It happened before I arrived. I call Deputy Mattie McGrath to respond.

I thank my colleagues and the officials from our office - Brian Ó Domhnaill, iar-Sheanadóir John Hanafin and Mairéad McGrath for their work on this motion. We stand proud over this motion. It is what the people are telling us. We are in touch with the people. We are not going to listen to arrogance and petulance from a Minister who normally leaves the Chamber before we speak, but he got caught here today. He does not like us for some reason or another. We know the facts. The Government promised in the 2016 budget that it would abolish the USC. What has happened to that promise? The Minister mentioned the double taxation allowance. Some 80% of the work in agriculture is done by contractors. They do not qualify for that allowance. If the Minister ever left the leafy suburbs of Dublin, put on a pair of wellington boots and stood in a field he would understand that. This Government is the Dublin 4 set. The Dublin 4 set will get it from the people. Tá na daoine an-chrosta ar fad.

Of course we voted against this joke of a carbon tax. We are opposed to it because it is a punitive tax, is not fairly spread and hits the weakest and most vulnerable people and rural dwellers the hardest. Unless they walk, they cannot get anyplace without a motor vehicle. The Minister's party bought into government and into power and clung onto it by supporting the Greens. It is dancing their merry tune since forming the Government.

The cost increases out there are shocking. The cost of living is so high. I do not have time to repeat them all but I have them. We all know when we consider mom's purse of a Friday evening. All of us who have children in college or school know of the costs of school uniforms, books, you name it.

Concerning the agricultural sector, the Government is welded to the big conglomerates and the multiple billions of profit they make. Not a word is said to them. Fine Gael is welded to them and now Fianna Fáil is as well. The latter used to be the party of the ordinary people and now is the party of the rich conglomerates. The aforementioned parties are cutting off their nose to spite their face, closing down our power stations because of the pipe dream the Greens have, stopping peat harvesting and importing it from Poland. If the Minister wants to insult us, I will not be insulting but kindergarten children would not behave like that. It is utterly stupid and nonsense. The Government has broken promise after promise. We are proud to bring this motion.

The Government put down an amendment. I thank the ushers for searching but I could not get a copy of that amendment. They will not even give us a copy to read. They put it down, move it and say we would not listen. We listen intently, unlike the Minister. When our turn comes to speak, he flies out like a scalded cat through a skylight, in case we remind him of some truths. The USC is a punitive tax on all earners, especially low earners, and was supposed to be removed but was not. Farmers are struggling and cannot eke out a living. Farm families are the backbone of all rural communities. Rural and urban families cannot afford heating. The Government can do it. Sweden was able to drop oil prices back to 2018 levels through VAT and excise duty reductions. Why can the Minister not do that? He tells us we did not cost our budget. That is simple addition. Oil at the moment is €1.70 per litre and a euro of that goes into Government coffers through VAT, excise duty and carbon tax. Another carbon hike is on the way. The Minister will force it through with this cobbled-up Government. It is a liquorice allsorts or dolly mixture.

On the costs of ordinary household items, margarine is up by 37%, vegetable oil by 16% and pasta by 15%. These are basic requirements for people to live and have nourishment. I see the Minister does not use much honey by the way he mixes with us, but jam and honey are up by 14%. Lamb is up by 12%, milk by 9%, eggs are up, etc.

The paltry sum being given to the pig farmers means we will not have a pig industry. I welcome the €7 million because millions do not grow on trees, but they are in trouble and losing a vast amount of money per item. One thing the Government could do for the country that has nothing to do with money is to speed up the passport or visa applications for people who want to come to work in the pig industry. In factories in the north of Ireland they are down to 60% of previous staffing levels. They cannot kill the pigs. There is an animal welfare crisis and a very significant crisis concerning farmers getting paid and the animals being returned. Across the economy, it is simple and would not cost a penny. Wake up in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and get the workers who want to come in. Many good employers have gone out to source this labour. They want to get the paperwork sorted out. Applications are being dealt with since last October.

The last three recessions I remember, it was feirmeoirí na hÉireann, the farmers, who rescued our economy each time. They provided for people and everything else and will do it again but their spirit is nearly broken. The candle is nearly quenched because the conglomerates are around them, forcing down the prices of products and then buying up the land. The Government and, particularly, the Minister have given an open door to vulture founds and such people to buy up land. It is an abject wrong that if I have a property it can be sold on by a bank or lending institution to a vulture fund. That is not legal but the Government turns a blind eye to it. Laws and people do not matter anymore. All the Government is interested in is letting the big conglomerates do what they like. A warning has come from Tesco that we are only at the beginning of the price hikes. Consider the money Tesco makes and it does not bank a penny of it in this country, as I understand. The big conglomerates are beautiful and the Government loves them. The small businessman employing himself and the farmer employing a son or daughter and maybe one or two labourers pay contractors and pay everybody. They are honest people but will be unable to pay because they cannot keep going the way they are.

We plead with the Government and it puts down a half-baked amendment and will not give us a copy to read. Is paper that scarce? Has the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, placed an embargo on printing amendments? Time after time we come in for Topical Issues, etc., and cannot get copies of the Ministers' replies because they are embarrassed to have them read out and should be embarrassed of the amendment put in today.

Fine Gael is supposed to be the farmers' party. That is what we always knew it as but it has abandoned rural Ireland and the people. It is clinging onto power for ten or 11 years to ensure pensions and everything else. Cromwell was not as bad with "To hell or to Connacht". It is to hell or anyplace else now with the farmers and their families. The schools, post offices and every facet of rural Ireland will be undermined and attacked. Earlier, the Minister had a fine chat with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, maybe about the trade mission he was on. I hope that was successful. It was when Deputy Nolan was speaking and was the height of you-know-what. The Minister lectures us then about not costing. He has whole Departments to cost. What happened when Mr. Watt got his big raise? Who costed that? They do nothing but write cheques. Consider the money the HSE spent and the scams being exposed by papers.

Look after the farming community or we will not have it. Look after the people of rural Ireland because they will not be able to live. They will be dying in their houses with the cold. The Minister talks about retrofit schemes, which are already two years behind in my county and every other place. They must have €500 up front, which many families do not have, to get the house assessed. They do not have that floating around because they are living from week to week and day to day.

I understand I am taking other people's time so I will respectfully end my contribution. However, I will not take a lecture from the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, ever again because he has reneged on every promise he has made in the last ten or 15 years. He tells us we do not cost it. In light of his costings on the children's hospital and any other project he has done, including broadband, he has some cheek to tell us we did not cost it. It is laughable.

Amendment put.

A vote has been called and is deferred until the voting block this evening.

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