They go and fill the drums and come back.

Sentiment score: 0.00

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. We need to look at sectors that have been left behind. On home heating oil, I know there were a good few proposals in relation to hydrotreated vegetable oil, HVO. The statistics I am hearing are that HVO would cut emissions by 90%, but there is still a lot of taxes on it. That needs to be looked at. There is nothing there for people right around the country who are using home heating oil. The other side, which was brought up earlier, relates to plant hire. The first thing that goes into every house is a digger and either a dump truck or a dump trailer. It relates to every part of that including all the ground works, the water, the sewers and the roads. The Minister of State knows it from his county. The big contractors are down there. There is a problem with the price of diesel for all those jobs and what they are priced at. Maybe there are clauses in some of those contracts with the councils or roads authorities but there are ordinary contractors who build houses and they are left out of this loop altogether. The second part, and I have talked about it a number of times, is that we still have lorry drivers who have, say, a quarry and who do not need the haulage licence. There was a fund brought in over €1.57 plus VAT in relation to a war emergency fund, but there is nothing in the rebate for them. They are as important as people bringing meal from a mill who have their own lorries. People do not need a haulage license to carry their own product. That sector seems to still be forgotten about. I ask the Minister of State to re-examine that.

Sentiment score: -0.03