I will start by welcoming the package. There is no point in saying that the package has been announced and we are against those announcements. It took a long time. It was a huge struggle because people were bitterly disappointed that that struggle had to take place. At least, something has been put in place. I have other concerns but any recognition by the Government that fuel costs are putting serious pressure on transport operators, farmers and fishing is necessary and overdue. The funding envelope is significant and the fact that these supports are being backdated to March will be of some help. However, welcoming a package does not remove our responsibility to examine how it will work in practice because the detail here matters. While supports are backdated, applications for the road transport support scheme will not open until May. That means operators carry the cost through March and April, paying fuel bills in real time, often on tight margins and with a limited cash flow. Timing is not a secondary issue for a small and rural operator; it is central. There is also uncertainty about eligibility. The scheme states that the passenger transport operators may qualify. That needs to be clear. The Minister must confirm whether private bus and coach operators who are not part of the school transport scheme are included and, if not, on what objective grounds they are excluded. Artificial insemination, AI, operators have been on to me from all over the country. They are on the road every day. Are they included under some scheme? For those within the school transport scheme, clarity is equally important. Will support be paid directly to operators or filtered through Department of education contracts? Are operators on fixed-rate contracts fully eligible, partially eligible or excluded? The same lack of clarity applies to Local Link services. Operators need to know whether supports will be paid directly or through contractual adjustments via the NTA. This package is a step in the right direction but it must be matched with clear, written guidance so that operators know exactly where they stand. A lot of them have told me that they are very concerned this will mean extra work for the accountants. We need the money to get back out there to the people who are delivering these services and are delivering food to our tables. If it does not, the food on the table becomes an impossible task to deliver and at an impossible price. There is a lot of clarity needed here. This is the sector coming back and telling me and this is what it needs to find out before it can make any future arrangements. Some of these people are going out of business. I know the Minister of State will say to me that the Government cannot control the price of fuel. Brent oil was $126 a barrel last night, which is an astonishing price. It is down to $114 a barrel now as I speak, I think, again an astonishing price rise compared to where it was before, namely, maybe $55 or $60. I have heard the Taoiseach and Tánaiste say that the Government is giving the most. It is taking the most. That is what they have forgotten. It is taking the most out of people's pockets. There is a projected figure of €9 billion going to be coming into the Government's coffers this year. There is a rainy day fund and, my God, this is a rainy day, as I was saying it to the Tánaiste earlier. Irish people and businesses are on their knees. That is what led to the protests. I know it. I was at the protests from the moment they started. I even intervened at a protest. I noticed there on a podcast - I do not watch that rubbish but somebody showed it to me - that someone was giving out that Independent Ireland did nothing and we were trying to stop the protest. No, we knew how this could be handled but the Government was not listening and people who did not know what was going on talking loosely on a podcast were not listening either. Basically, there were over 500 people in Portlaoise and my colleague and I got up and asked for negotiation first with the Government. That was done, in fairness, by the protestors. They sent their request. I will not say their set of demands because they were struggling and were in a desperate position. Some of them wanted to go on strike that very evening and the next morning and we said, "No, hold on", and they did. That is how you negotiate. We looked for the reconvening of the Dáil. We wrote to the Taoiseach to act as a conduit with those protestors because he did not want to talk. The whole thing unfortunately spiralled out of control because there was a lack of connection and understanding, a lack of real vision by the Government to understand that these were genuine hard-working mothers and fathers, hauliers, farmers, fishers, coach operators, ordinary hard-working people. They are what Independent Ireland represents, the hard-working men and women who get up in the morning and deliver for this country. When they needed the country to just put out the hand and say it would give them something back, it was swept away from them. That is not good enough. That is just not a caring Government. I know the Government is frantic now and it is trying to create all these little mini-budgets that it said it could not do before. I am not going to discredit them but at the same time I look across at parties that come in here with a sympathetic ear, like the Social Democrats or the Labour Party, who turn around and tell people they really want something to be done but on the other hand they want to shove on the carbon tax on top of the Irish people. For the love of God, they are talking out of two sides of their mouths. They are not on the same planet as I am, where the ordinary people get up in the morning, work hard, cannot afford an increase in fuel, cannot afford a carbon tax, cannot afford NORA, cannot afford VAT. These parties say that they are supposedly sympathetic towards them, but they have their backs turned on them. Even their leader yesterday wanted to get rid of holiday homes. Jesus, what next? Lord Christ, is it a Communist country we are heading into? The Government has failed the country in relation to renewables. There is no point in talking about renewables when somebody has to spend €20,000 and they are only getting an €1,800 grant. That is not good enough.

Sentiment score: 0.01