Danny Healy-Rae: Demands Fair Diesel Rebates for Farmers
Danny Healy-Rae addresses recent fuel measures, welcoming a 235 million package and cuts to white diesel and petrol, while criticising inadequate support for home heating oil, tractor users and non-licenced hauliers. He calls for a review of turf-cutting rules and raises concerns about rising electricity costs and gaps in relief.
Summary of the remarks
Danny Healy-Rae welcomed the 235 million package and reductions in white diesel for hauliers and petrol for road users, but deplored that people who rely on home heating oil received only a two cent per litre reduction, worth about 20 euros on a 1,000-litre fill. He also highlighted that many tractor users and non-licenced hauliers will not benefit from the diesel rebate.
Concerns for farmers, tractor users and hauliers
Healy-Rae pointed to the impact on green diesel users - tractors, mill engines, fishermen and industrial users - who face big price jumps. He argued that offering only marginal cents-per-litre reductions to those who could not operate earlier in the season is unfair and urged more equitable treatment.
Turf cutting and electricity costs
He raised the need to review turf-cutting rules so that people with bogs can cut turf for their own heating needs, given rising electricity costs and ongoing uncertainty linked to the war. He also referenced past spending decisions, noting payments made when guests visited and pointing to the limited funds available for current local supports.
Questions put to the Minister
Healy-Rae challenged the Minister on implementation and fairness, pressing for better arrangements for tractor users, non-licenced hauliers and households not on the fuel allowance. The speech calls for a practical review of relief measures to ensure rural families and workers are not left behind.
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I too welcome the package of 235 million and thanks for the reduction in the white diesel for hauliers and the promised rebate that's to come. Also the petrol reduction for all of those who are working hard and need their car to go to work. I welcome the reduction in the petrol as well. I deplore the fact that people that need heaty oil only get a reduction of two cents a litre, which means only 20 euros in a fill of a thousand litre tank. I think that's very hard because many people, I welcome the extension of the fuel allowance, but many people are not on the fuel allowance and in relation to the hauliers, the hauliers who have a hauliers license and operate that way, there are other hauliers who don't have a hauliers license and don't have to have it and who supply their own products and agricultural lorries transporting cattle, they won't get the diesel rebate either and I'm hurting for those people. Then the green diesel for the tractor mill. As you all know here Ministers, no tractor has gone inside the gap for the last three months and now is the time that they're making a start because of weather conditions they couldn't do a bit up until now and there's an awful lot of work waiting and to offer them two or three cents of a reduction is totally unfair and I was brought up to believe that we should treat everyone fairly. Whatever way he should have got around it or could have got around it, he should have done something better for the tractor people and you see including that as well is industrial workers, fishermen, any type of engine that uses green diesel, they're paying up to 1.68 a litre. It was 1.98 three weeks or just 98 since three weeks ago. That's an awful jump of 70 litres. The cost of electricity has gone up day by day since it was born and if this war continues and no one here inside or outside anywhere can say that it will or it won't. I'm asking to review the rules that he made around turf cutting and ensure that people who have the facility, have a bog and can cut turf should be allowed to cut it, whether to sell it for themselves or whatever, that has to be reviewed because the cost of electricity, we may not have electricity and you see I'm hot as well because of the fact that there was no bother a couple of weeks ago, maybe three weeks ago, to give that oil that went down for a loan of 1.8 billion for to keep the war in Ukraine going and we can't find enough money now anywhere to help the tractor men that are using green diesel. We also gave Zelinsky the day he was here, let's say 125 million. We're talking here today, who's after me? The Minister. Oh well, my time isn't up yet, I have two minutes. Two and a half minutes what you had. What? Two and a half minutes. Two and a half minutes I have? No, that's what you had and you've used your two and a half minutes. Oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
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