Carbon Tax is Another Burden on the Agriculture Sector – Hayes

South Tipperary T.D. Tom Hayes has strongly objected to the refusal by the government to make farm diesel exempt from the carbon tax which was introduced on Saturday May 1st.

The recent suggestion by the Minister for State at the Department of Agriculture, Deputy Connick, that farmers can minimise the financial impact of the carbon tax by reducing fuel usage, and therefore costs, shows an astonishing lack of understanding of farm life and the pressures being heaped on farm families by Fianna Fáil and the Greens, Tom Hayes said today.

“The introduction of the carbon tax on May 1st, has delivered a further body blow to the hard-pressed agri-sector which has been treading water for far too long now. The Minister himself admitted that this tax will spell higher costs for struggling farmers. His suggestion, however, that farmers can offset this additional cost by simply using less fuel displays an alarming ignorance of the farming sector and how it operates.”

“This measure by Fianna Fáil and the Greens will cost the agriculture sector €12 million annually and the wider economy approximately €300 million. It will be a body blow to economic competitiveness and to competitiveness in rural Ireland and the agriculture industry. There are currently 433,000 people on the Live Register and this ill-thought out Government imposed tax on farm diesel will only cause the loss of further jobs.

“The French Government has said that such a tax would have a ‘negative effect on the competitiveness of the productive sector’ in France and it will be no different here. Farming is one of the few indigenous industries we have left. We must encourage the industry, but the Greens and Fianna Fáil are working to punish it.”

“A carbon tax adds to the cost of every litre of agri-diesel used the length and breadth of the country. It will impact hugely on the tillage sector and contractors attempting to cut hay and silage during the summer. We must support competitiveness, we must support rural Ireland.”

“In the interest of fairness, Fine Gael had called for farm diesel and solid home fuels to be exempt from a carbon tax. That this tax was implemented from May 1st clearly show that the Greens are once again not listening to rural dwellers, hard pressed farm families or common sense and Fianna Fáil are going along with this poorly thought out measure.”