I have always said and I am sure of the fact that the Minister is a nice and sincere man. However, he and the late Michael Jackson hold one thing in common and that is the two of them lived in Neverland. I would like to welcome the Minister today into the real world where people are struggling to pay for their electricity, home heating oil and children's education and to carry on with the basic day-to-day living. I am not a climate change denier; I will never be accused of being any such thing. I know we have to make changes, but there are changes we can afford to make and others we might want, but are not able, to do.

If the Green Party is so worried about everything, why has it not used its opportunity in government? Why has the Minister done nothing for the forestry sector? He has done nothing for people who want to plant or thin trees or for people who want to build access roads to forestries to take out timber. He has ensured people in the horticultural sector now have to import 4,000 tonnes of peat from Latvia. Some 200 lorries bring it to and from the port every time. The Minister should think of the carbon footprint, because he thought it was a good idea to run out of here one day and shut down Bord na Móna.

What does the Minister have to say about the importation of peat briquettes from Germany? What is the carbon footprint there, instead of having our own production of peat briquettes here in Ireland, because he shut it down? He has done nothing for those people. What has the Minister done in government to bring in zero-rate VAT on insulation products? He has done absolutely nothing.

What has the Minister done, only offer grants to people that they cannot get? What does he have to say to the 72-year-old man who asked me to stand up in the Dáil and ask the Minister a question. He is 72 years of age, he wants a grant to insulate his house and he has been told he has to wait at least two years. What does the Minister have to say to that man? He need not start telling me about the millions of euro he is pumping into insulation when, at the stroke of a pen, the Government could have changed the VAT rate which would have been meaningful, real and attainable there and then. The Minister is forcing the people in Ireland to endure the highest electricity and heating bills in the EU. He is failing to safeguard the interest of the Irish consumer.

The price of petrol and diesel has gone up 30% or 40% since March. I recently met with the Irish Road Haulage Association. What has the Minister done for those people? He has done nothing. He is failing to recognise we are an island. Things have to be imported into this country. They do not fall out of the sky. The things we use every day are delivered by road. What has the Minister done for those people? He has done nothing. Again, he is failing to safeguard the interest of the Irish consumers. Myself and my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group were seeking a cut on the VAT rate for diesel and petrol, gas, home heating oil and electricity; a reversal of the increase to the carbon tax; a once-off energy voucher for low-income families; and a 50% cut on excise duty on motor fuel. It is hypocritical for the Government to lecture the public on the using of green energy sources, while benefiting enormously from the increased tax revenues from traditional fuels.

This climate challenge belongs to everyone. I do not believe there are deniers in this House. The science is so clear. However, we need to become climate supporters. I was thinking in advance about what the Deputy might ask today. I thought about that issue of being close to the ground. I spent most of my time, prior to coming in here, working with the good people down in County Kerry. In going green, Kerry could be the lead on and centre of this. Rather than just not being deniers, it could be the top and the best at approaching the climate challenge.

I bet the Deputy, if he went to the likes of Fexco and asked where the financial industry and modern technology is going and whether Kerry would benefit from going green, they would say, "Yes". If he went to the likes of Kerry Group or the farming organisations and asked them whether going green will be part of what they have to do, I am convinced they would say "Yes". If the Deputy asked the good people in the tourism industry in Kerry, whom I know well and with whom I worked for years, whether they think Kerry would benefit or not from going green, I bet they would say "Yes". The Deputy could go down to Valentia Island to listen to some of the visionary thinking going on in places such as that on how we could tap into hydrogen power, the same way it was the first place of contact for cables between Ireland and America 150 years ago. Kerry will be at the front line and benefit from being good at this.

The climate challenge belongs to everyone. It will not work as a fight or if we play this as a divisive political game. That 72-year-old is rightly concerned about how he can get his house insulated. It is true there is a backlog, because it is 100% grant support. It is an incredible benefit to a home to get it up to a B2 standard. People's health benefits, which is the main thing, and not just the climate, as well as their pocket because they will not have to pay the big, extortionate bills, which are all due to the reliance on international fossil fuels. Weaning ourselves off those is good for Kerry and the whole country.

To answer the Deputy's question, I am looking at getting additional funding to reduce that backlog. It is not finally confirmed, but I might be able to come in the next week or two and show it as another of the additional measures we are doing to protect our people from fuel poverty at this time.

Does the Deputy not agree that going green will be good for Kerry and that to try to cling on to the old ways of over-reliance on imported fossil fuels from far-distant shores, where they are hugely expensive, makes no sense, when the seas off Kerry are full of very strong winds? We could tap into that energy and bring it ashore at the likes of Tarbert and help power industries in Kerry, as well as throughout the rest of the country. Does the Deputy agree that is the way to go? We all understand and accept the science. What is the solution? It is Kerry renewables. It is Kerry being good at high quality and getting a premium price for a premium system such as pastoral, family farming. That is the way forward. We should not divide on this, because it would not be good for Kerry or anyone else.

The real worry is the Minister believes what he is just after saying. I have 60 seconds to take apart his argument and I will do so. The first thing businesses in Kerry will mention to me is the high energy cost and the costs associated with carrying out their businesses. What has the Minister done to help them? Nothing. With regard to tourism, the Minister neglects the fact that people have to fly and drive to arrive in Kerry to enjoy it. We cannot fall out of the sky. What has the Minister done for those people? He has done nothing.

He should not talk to me about agriculture. He has this new phrase: the "stabilisation" of the national herd. The very good man on his other side, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, told people to get into milk. What is the Minister, Deputy Ryan, telling them now? He is telling them they will have to reduce their herds after working so hard and borrowing money to improve their milking parlours and to buy and lease more land. What are they being told now? They are being told to reduce their herd.

The Minister should not talk to me about what he has done for horticulture. I have already covered how businesses have to import the peat now that is so important to what they do every day. The Minister should not talk to me about energy. We have seen what he has done in the programme for Government with regard to Shannon LNG. He shut that project down. It was in the previous programme for Government in 2016. He is telling everybody to use more and more electricity. What has he done about providing it? He has shut down the God damn power stations we had to make electricity. We are bordering on outages now. In 60 seconds, I have put the Minister back and I would like for him to now answer me back. He need not be talking gobbledegook. I will again only liken him to Michael Jackson in Neverland.

The Deputy has used nearly 80 seconds now and is doing well. His time is up.

In 60 seconds, I will give the Deputy three reasons the farmers of Kerry will be better off by going green. Critically, it is about getting paid, which is what they are really concerned about, for the key role they will have in forestry. We will introduce new agroforestry systems. Farmers can keep farming. They do not have to blanket the whole hill with coniferous, single species, clear-fell forest, but agroforestry, where the skill of the farmer is used to know how to put the right trees in the right place and get paid properly for it. It is tricky. The Deputy's brother, Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, said in committee that we have been told for 50 years to keep on draining land and now we will have to pay farmers to rewet land, which is true. They can do that using their skills and knowledge of the land. The Deputy's head is in his hand, but that is where the money is. That is where the supports will be. That is where the European Investment Bank, EIB, the Common Agricultural Policy reform and the world are going. I mentioned Kerry Group, because I believe this has to be a just transition. The small farmers are not being paid properly. Kerry Group will have to account for the emissions its suppliers are creating. That gives us an opportunity to say to Kerry Group, it will have to pay those farmers better. That is where this will be good for farming, in Kerry, as elsewhere. That is real money, that is the real world and that is the real change happening, because climate change is real.

We are really over time now. That concludes Leaders' Questions. We move to Questions on Promised Legislation