No, Deputy, never. Not only that, to be honest we were campaigning against it before the Rural Independent Group was. I had to point it out to the Deputy’s brother at the budgetary scrutiny committee when they were going to remove a tax relief on fuel that would have seriously affected rural Ireland. He had not noticed it until I pointed it out to him. Luckily enough, that particular relief was not amended because we pointed it out to him. I go to the trouble of reading budget documents. We oppose the carbon tax fo…

Hold on. Seriously-----

I want the Minister to answer. I am sorry, but that is not a good enough explanation. It really is not. I ask the Minister to think about the words "energy transformation" in the current context. We are facing the most unprecedented crisis. We have heard the Minister, other Government Ministers and European Ministers, one after the other, getting up and saying that this is the moment that we have to make the transformation, that we cannot be dependent on Putin and we cannot be dependent on fossil fuels. They have s…

Then the Government should get the budget reprinted.

It states that the allocation for energy transformation has been reduced by 35%. It states that for the Minister's overall Department, which is the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, the allocation has been reduced by 17%. Is that also incorrect?

That is correct.

I am just saying, that it is pretty stunning.

It is connected to the rationale for this.

Yes, on the VAT.

On the VAT. I am talking about the mineral tax.

That is fine. I have made the point that I am against these regressive taxes because they are punishing people who do not have alternatives and choices. The Government should be providing them with the alternatives and choices to reduce fossil fuel use rather than punishing them, which is what is actually happening. For goodness sake, even if the Government cannot agree with us on that, to me it just beggars belief. It is the same, by the way, with the transport budget. There is virtually no increase in the expendi…

The Minister’s thing trumps everything.

People Before Profit opposes this increase, as we have opposed it every year, because it is yet another form of regressive charge. We are very much in favour of promoting and encouraging and, indeed, financing public health education about the dangers of smoking. It undoubtedly make you sick and ill and it kills you in many cases, if not most, eventually. It is dangerous and we want far fewer people to smoke. Ideally, it would be great if nobody smoked. There is not a shadow of a doubt about that. However, I am not…

This measure is kind of laughable. I cannot see how a €50 reduction in a €110 fee is going to make any difference to anybody. We will support any bit of relief but this seems laughable, which is probably the best word to describe it. What is less than funny, however, is that the Government has totally ignored the requests made by the music and entertainment industry, in particular the performers and artists in music and entertainment, to the Government for some actual, serious support. Appeals were made by the Musi…

We welcome this particular measure and support it. It was much trumpeted in advance that the Government was going to give a serious break to working people. However, as has been said, overall that has not panned out in the budget. Some of the examples provided in the Government's budget book of tax policy changes that were so much trumpeted have turned out to be unfair and pretty derisory. I mentioned this earlier. Those earning between €25,000 and €35,000 make up a significant cohort of workers. A single private s…

As I said earlier, it is completely unacceptable, whether it is €5 billion or €6 billion, that we are disposing of such an enormous sum of public money in the dead of night without proper debate. I have made our view very clear, as has People Before Profit. Other Deputies stated they do not have a problem with the principle but I do. I made this point both at a meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight and elsewhere in public, and I reiterate it now to the Minister and the Tánaiste. The Government is correct …

Nearly 100 years ago, Ireland's national poet, W.B. Yeats, wrote that this was no country for old men. If he was writing today in the face of a cost-of-living and housing disaster, he might well write that this is no country for older people, younger people, working people, people with disabilities or the vulnerable. It is a country for profit-hungry energy companies, big corporations and property vultures - for the greedy and obscenely wealthy. I think it is that sense that is going to lead thousands of people out…

According to the CSO, approximately 54,000 people left this country last year. I suspect we will see those numbers rise. It is true that marginally more came in but that is still a significant outflow of people. It was not my opinion I was sharing. I was sharing the opinion of the young students I was talking to yesterday in UCD. I met a group of postgraduate students who said they have to exist on miserable stipends, which makes it difficult for them to conclude their doctoral studies. There is a problem. Young pe…

The Tánaiste should check with the CSO.

The Tánaiste should check the CSO figures.