I welcome the rebate for the haulage industry. The only thing about it is that is probably for licensed hauliers. What about the person who is a haulier of cattle? A haulage licence is not needed for that. What about people who own hardware and have to bring their own gear somewhere? They do not need a haulage licence. Do they get the rebate? If it is like the things before then they do not. What about the guy bringing straw from up the country? The Government is well aware that they will not get it either. These are the things that need to be looked at. In looking at today's measures, while I welcome some things on the white diesel, I stated today that this Government has no interest in bringing the price of housing down because every digger working on a housing site today is costing €120 more per day in green diesel. The Government talks about doing sewerage projects and water projects. Every single machine working on those sites is costing €120 more because green diesel has gone up by 70 cent and the Government is giving a measly 5 cent back to them. Do not go telling me that the Government is interested in solving a housing crisis when we see the likes of that. The Minister and the Minister of State are from rural Ireland. The Big Ms will be soon out in about four or five weeks' time. A silage harvester takes 1,000 litres of fuel. It costs between €600 and €700 or more to fill that. A Big M will need to be filled again at 3.30 p.m. How can anyone stick that? Is there a rebate for them? No. Where is the farmer going to get more money out of? Where are they going to get all this money to pay this contractor? What has been done is ill-thought out. I welcome the bits that are good, but my God, on the green diesel, does the Minister and the Minister of State realise that the price of white diesel went up by about 50 cent? It has gone from about €1.75 to €2.20 or €2.25. Does the Government realise that the Friday before that guy decided to go bombing Iran that the green diesel cost 98 cent, including VAT. It costs €1.61 this minute, plus VAT. When I went to school that was about 70 cent more at least. Even if the VAT is drawn back, it is 70 cent more per litre. It is actually 20 cent more than the white diesel has gone up by. The VAT on white diesel is at 23%, while the VAT on this is at 13.5% and the Government thinks it is great for what it has done today. It is a help for the haulage industry and I appreciate that. What about the guy in the quarry? Are we going to build houses without quarries? What about them? The crusher and the loading shovel use green diesel. I do not know what world the economists in the Department of Finance are in but this will cripple the housing industry alone and it will put damnable pressure on the whole agricultural sector. The Minister and the Minister of State know that because they are from rural Ireland.

Sentiment score: 0.08