Mattie McGrath TD has accused the government of being “dangled on a string” by the Greens, ripping Green TD Brian Leddin for his comments on the increased fertiliser prices.
The comments were made in the Dáil this week, as fertiliser prices soar across Ireland and put strain on farming businesses.
Mattie McGrath attacks the supposedly green policies of the government which are driving many in rural Ireland to despair through increased costs. pic.twitter.com/IoOt1SqwJA
— JRD (@JRD0000) January 26, 2022
Responding to the increase in price, Deputy Leddin, a Green TD from Limerick, said that such fertilisers had a “devastating effect” on waterways anyway, and were damaging to the climate, urging a move towards “organic” farming instead.
“When I heard Deputy Leddin, a Green Party member, saying in committee that he was delighted that the price of fertiliser had gone up, I had to ask what type of thinking was that?” asked Deputy McGrath.
“What kind of respect is that from a man who lives in Limerick city but quite close to the country?”
The Tipperary TD continued: “This is the madness that is going on here for two years, supported by RTÉ and everybody else, about climate change. I am not a climate change denier but we are rushing and forcing people through all of these cuts to go electric.
“They will perish when there are power cuts because they have no other form of heating. Now the Government wants to stop turf and coal burning and to take chimneys off houses. The lunatics are running the asylum here and it is time that someone called a halt to it.”
Deputy McGrath said it was “shameful” the way Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were “dangled on a string by the Green Party.”
“[The government] are being supported by some of the rural-based Independent Deputies in the Regional Group, on a daily basis. I do not know how they are going to face the people,” he said.
McGrath accused the government of “running amok” in their rush to implement Green policies.
“Our power plants must be closed down, coal burning must be stopped and we have nothing to replace it. A Deputy said earlier that it would take ten years before we have any energy from the sea. What will we have in the meantime?
“We will have penury, going around with bags on our back like the mná caoineacháin with shawls and begging and bringing a bag of leite on their backs. Is that it?”
McGrath concluded that these policies were driving people “to despair,” adding: “the Government’s hands will be shrivelled from the length of time that it is sitting on them…[they are] only penalising our people and our nation.”