Planned fuel tax increases should be scrapped - Mayo TD tells Dáil

Aontú TD for Mayo Paul Lawless has told Dáil Éireann today that now was the wrong time to be talking about tax increases on petrol and diesel.

The Knock-based representative elaborated: "Postponing a bad decision does not make it a good one.

"Families do not need a temporary stay of execution at the petrol pump.

"They need certainty. Fuel is not a luxury good in rural Ireland. It is a necessity.

"Without petrol and diesel people can't get to work, children can't get to school and elderly people can't get to their hospital appointments.

"If fuel inflation is permitted by the government, then it will lead to inflation everywhere else.

"Every lorry delivering to a supermarket carries the price of diesel onto the shelves"

"Aontú was the only party to vote against the Climate Action Bill because we knew it would lead to carbon taxes down the road.

"The government are using too much stick and not enough carrot when it comes to climate protection. We can protect our environment without impoverishing the people who live in it.

"Climate policy should make greener alternatives affordable, not make ordinary life unaffordable"

"I want the ninister not to simply move the proposed tax hike down the road six weeks, but to completely scrap the planned increase.

"To give families and business the certainty they deserve.

"It is absolutely shocking that the government are proposing not just restoring tax rates to what they were before the crisis but actually increasing carbon tax beyond what it was when this crisis began."

The Dáil voted to defer fuel excise duty increases until November.