Independent TD Michael Collins has said that Ireland is “the laughing stock of the world” because of its climate policies, adding that “The Brazilians must be falling over in stitches because of what is happening in this country.”
The remarks were made in the Dáil this week during a debate on the government’s Climate Action Bill.
Michael Collins on the betrayal of rural Ireland by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, both of whom seem determined to sacrifice it for fantastical climate ambitions. pic.twitter.com/ULE0YPPUlN
— JRD (@JRD0000) September 30, 2021
“This Climate Action Bill was blindly supported by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Green Party, Sinn Féin and a couple of nod-and-wink Independents,” the Cork South-West TD admonished.
“They supported the infliction upon most of their constituents, but it does not matter to the Green Party deputies, who are city-based and will not be worried about what they will get in rural Ireland, because they will get nothing there – only run from the doorsteps since people are furious.”
The deputy slammed in particular green energy policies, arguing that they made home-heating in rural areas prohibitively expensive, and adding that “Green energy would be lovely and beautiful, but it is not happening.”
“The edge is close for a lot of people, because they cannot afford to put the fuel in the tank,” he said.
“Warmer homes are not being delivered in rural Ireland. People cannot buy coal because the government has put it out of their price range. They cannot buy the fuel for the fire. When is the Government going to stop? When is it going to understand that people are suffering?”
Collins went on to assert that it was Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s own voters who these Green Party policies were hurting.
“These are ordinary, country good living people that voted for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil but never the Green Party,” he said.
“Now the ordinary people are getting a kick in the teeth when they listen to Deputy Bruton and his dream. He wants to let agriculture take its cuts so that other sectors can be saved.
“That is not where Fine Gael came from. They are not the roots of Fine Gael. Many would turn in their graves from listening to this kind of an attitude that Fine Gael has today. The way things have happened is shocking.”
The deputy slammed the fact that many products which have been banned from production in Ireland for environmental are now being imported from abroad.
“All we are doing is ruining things,” the Independent TD said.
“People cannot sow forestry in this country. Because we cannot sow forestry, we have to import it. We have to import the peat moss from Latvia all over the country.”
He concluded: “We are the laughing stock of the world. The Brazilians must be falling over in stitches because of what is happening in this country. For the love and honour of God, everyone in government should wake up and smell the grass grow.”