I certainly welcome the measures that have been brought forward, which are quite comprehensive and are targeted at the most vulnerable. I wish to highlight two issues that have been raised by others. One is the case of those who are involved in agriculture. Given the costs our farmers are facing, particularly with regard to fuel and the increasing cost of fertiliser, we need to find a package somewhat similar to that which we rightly found for those in the haulage sector and, indeed, in coach travel. The other area related to heating that is an issue of concern is regarding schools. One of our challenges is that we pay the same level of capitation to all schools, but depending on the quality of the school building, the cost of heating it can be far more significant. If there is an old school building dating from the early years of the last century or even beforehand, often the costs of heating that are significantly more than is the case for some of the modern and well-insulated buildings, yet we continue to pay the same levels of capitation. A review on the capitation side is needed. In the long run, we need to look at investing in renewables. We are still too reliant on imported fossil fuels in this country. Even in the case of energy coming into the country, far too much of it is imported. Last year, 17% of the energy used in Ireland came through the interconnectors. It was imported energy. That was up from 15% the previous year and up from 10% the year before that. I am very conscious of the multibillion euro investment in the grid, which is really needed. We need to move as quickly as possible on the private wires Bill, which colleagues have mentioned. We have to have a step change in our investment in renewables. At Cabinet level, there is the clearing house for offshore energy. However, we have to talk about what we are doing with regard to onshore wind and solar and how we can make sure we have a more transparent but expedited planning process in that regard. Of course, we need to fund it. It is incredibly dishonest on the part of those who claim that they are in support of renewable energy while at the same time, they want to get rid of the carbon tax. There are climate-sceptic parties in this House. They are entitled to hold that particular view but we know that climate change is real and that we need to address the challenge. We need to fund that investment in retrofitting and the move to green energy so it is critical, therefore, that we maintain the carbon tax to be able to fund that. That may be an unpopular thing to say but we are going to continue to experience some of these shocks. We have seen it following Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and we are seeing it in terms of what in happening at present in west Asia. Once we see any of these disruptions, those difficulties are going to be faced here in Ireland so we have to stand strong and explain exactly where the carbon tax is being spent. That said, the short-term measures that have been taken are the correct measures to provide support - people are hurting - but I do ask that additional consideration be given to those engaged in agriculture and the school community.
Sentiment score: 0.10