Middle Ireland and those living in rural Ireland have been "forgotten in Budget 2021", while farmers will see "little or no benefit" as a result of the measures.
This is the view of Independent Roscommon-Galway TD Michael Fitzmaurice, who was reacting to yesterday's Budget announcements by the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe.
Regarding Budget 2021's impact on Middle Ireland, Dep Fitzmaurice said there "doesn’t seem to be any benefits" for those earning in the region of €30,000 per annum. "If they want to retrofit their homes, the incentives aren’t enough to cover the bulk of the work," he said. "The only differences they will see are increased fuel costs for their cars and a higher bill when it comes to filling their home heating oil tanks.”
Price hikes and environmental impact
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He also argues that all sectors of society will be negatively impacted by the increase in Carbon Tax by €7.50 per tonne, especially since it is expected that auto diesel prices will increase by c1.5c/L and that agri diesel (green diesel ) will jump by 2c/L.
“The hike in diesel prices will leave farmers further out of pocket, as agricultural contractors will be forced to pass on the jump by increasing their own prices," he said. “Given that agricultural contractors carry out the bulk of the heavy lifting on the majority of farms, these increases will not be insignificant."
He said this was "all the more frustrating" given that rural Ireland and farmers will be asked to be "at the forefront of reducing emissions and tackling climate change".
Benefits to farmers?
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Dep Fitzmaurice has questioned where the increase of €179 million to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, will actually go towards.
“Almost €30 million is going toward additional staff and funding for Bord Bia in respect of Brexit and related infrastructure," he said, "€88 million is going towards Covid-related supports, with a €45 million beef scheme outlined as part of this, but this is just a re-branding of the BEEP/BEEP S schemes that have been around of late, with an emphasis on carbon efficiency."
He also noted how €79 million is set to be spent on new agri-environmental and other farm support measures, for farmers not currently enrolled in other agri-environment schemes. It is expected that €20 million of this funding will come from revenue generated from the carbon tax.
“This REPs style pilot scheme has been promised for months," he said. “While the roll-over of GLAS, ANC, BDGP and the Sheep Welfare Scheme payments is welcomed, the announcement doesn’t go far enough to support a sector which provides c300,000 jobs. "
