The Government has created some omnishambles this week. It is incredible that within the space of a week, the Government has done both the country and itself enormous damage. In many years' time, when perspective returns to this, the Tánaiste will definitely rue the decisions the Government makes today. In future, the only advice I can give him is to always talk to people in relation to any of these difficulties. The problem stemmed from the inability of elected representatives to talk to people. One issue here that people are not discussing at all it is that high energy prices are bad for the economy. I do not think I have ever really heard any political party in this country make that statement baldly in the past number of years. They make the costs of production go up. They make their exports go up. They make it more difficult to trade internationally. They put pressure on jobs. They make the food on the shelves more expensive to pay for. They are the biggest addition to the rip-off Ireland in which so many people are living. In the high energy cost country we are living in at the moment is the issue of carbon tax. It is problematic because it increases tax two, three, four or five years ahead of time, irrespective of the economic situation that people, families and businesses are in. You can only tailor a tax on the basis of where the economy is at and where people's pockets are at. This particular tax ignores all of that and that is why it is so problematic. We were the only political party in Leinster House that voted against the introduction of the carbon tax in the first place. It is at the moment hurting families, teachers, older people and all the different elements of society that keep our society going. It is hurting them horrendously. There has been a postponement. The Government stated that such a postponement could never happen but it has. We now need a proper discussion about carbon taxes. Other European countries have carbon floors and other issues to ensure they nudge people towards non-fossil fuels in the future. This tax is a hammer in relation to people's behaviour. Carbon tax is, we are told, planned to achieve a price to move people away from carbon use. However, if the market has already achieved that price, carbon tax is just punitive. Carbon tax is, we are told, intended to change behaviours but people have no alternatives. They cannot take in the silage with an electric car. They cannot spread slurry with an electric car. The Government needs to ensure that people with no alternatives have a break that allows them to function.

Sentiment score: -0.11