On International Workers' Day, I will talk about speed limits. I will give a few figures because I like figures. There are 3.2 million vehicles in this country. There are 5,413 km of national roads; 2,696 km of national secondary roads; 13,122 km of regional roads; and 81,293 km of local roads.

The Government has reduced the speed limit on local roads to 60 km/h. Some of these roads are 6 m wide. Rather than allow local authorities to reduce speed limits on roads that are unsafe or, for example, only 3 m wide, the Government implemented a blanket ban across all local roads. There are 81,293 km of road to which the 60 km/h speed limit applies. How do we break this down into brass tacks? I have worked out the average. There are 3.2 million vehicles that use local roads. Even if we reduced that by 50%, which is 1.5 million, those vehicles will use 17 extra gallons of fuel on the basis of the mileage they would do. It would be 24,000 miles in a diesel car and 17,000 in a petrol vehicle, and they would burn 17 extra gallons of fuel. At the same time, we are increasing the carbon tax.

In the context of Europe, Ireland is going to have to pay fines for not meeting our carbon emissions targets. We are taxing people more by reducing the speed limits in areas where they can actually drive at decent speeds. People travelling across the country in their cars are doing so in fourth gear. I have checked the averages of all the cars across the country, and people are travelling in fourth gear along the 81,293 km of road to which I refer. These are five- and six-speed cars, and even automatic seven-speed vehicles. It is fourth or fifth gear in a seven-speed car and fourth gear in a car with a five- or six-speed gearbox. That means more fuel being burnt and more emissions, and the Government is increasing carbon tax.

It is saving lives.

That is what I am looking at.

It is saving lives.

It is not saving lives. The Minister is stating that putting a speed limit of 60 km/h on roads that are not safe is saving lives. Does she realise what 6 m is? It is only the distance from where I am standing to where the Tánaiste is sitting. That is the width of the roads I am talking about. The Government has imposed a blanket speed limit on local roads across the country. I ask that we reduce speed limits on roads that are unsafe and impose appropriate speed limits on roads that are safe. The Government has just done it across the board.

I thank the Deputy. I was taking in a lot of figures there; I appreciate that the Deputy has done a lot of work on this. The purpose of the Deputy's question is largely around the issue of carbon tax. On the issue of speed limits, it is about trying to get it right. It is about recognising - we all share this view - that far too many people die on Irish roads. Being very honest, the progress we had made is now at best stalled; in recent years, we have gone backwards. We all know and think about far too many tables that have empty seats around them. The speed limit issue is about trying to get that right, because speed kills. As a politician, I like to rely on the expert advice and input of the likes of the Road Safety Authority in terms of how we get this right. However, it is important that we empower local authorities to deal with local roads. They sometimes have the necessary degree of local knowledge that allows them to recognise which roads are safe and can have a positive input.

In the context of carbon tax, we in this country have to be very honest about the climate debate. We have a huge amount of work to do to get both our country and Europe to where they need to be when it comes to climate action. One small part of the overall work that needs to be done relates to carbon tax and what that revenue raised by means of this tax is used for. The Deputy contacts Ministers on behalf of his constituents in Limerick asking about the fuel allowance and retrofitting. I am pleased to say that much of the money that is collected through the carbon tax is now going back into those areas. We are trying to make sure that there is fairness to this. One example in this regard relates to the Department of the Minister, Deputy Calleary, where a great deal of the money being used to fund the expansion of the fuel allowance comes from carbon tax. Sometimes, people wonder where the money they pay in carbon tax goes. It is bring used to try to ensure that those most in need of keeping warm - thankfully, we are having a nice day today - can do so. It is about also making sure from a climate point of view that we make it easier for people to meet the cost of retrofitting their homes.

We have a fundamental policy disagreement on this, and I recognise that upfront. The Government has been very clear in relation to the Climate Change Advisory Council recommendation and the recommendations of the scientific experts who feed into it. We use climate tax as one of a number of measures to try to get Ireland to where it needs to be in relation to climate action.

I thank the Tánaiste. I am glad he said that local authorities should have had a part to play in this.

I know it.

They did not have a part to play previously. I have asked that they should make decisions on the speed limits that should apply on roads are safe and those that are not safe. Some 89% of the vehicles in this country use either petrol or diesel. How many of those over there drive petrol or diesel cars? Be honest. Some 89% of the vehicles in Ireland use either petrol or diesel, which means that 89% of those who are being overtaxed are the working people the Government talks about in the context of the minimum wage. They are already being overtaxed, but the Government is now putting another liability on them in the form of local road tax. The Government is taxing the same people it is trying to help.

I am asking for common sense. Common sense means allowing local authorities to have responsibility for deciding the speed limits that should apply on local roads. This would mean that we would have a tiered system. The Road Safety Authority has to do its job, but local roads should be dealt with on the basis of local information.

The Government is overtaxing people who are already on the breadline and who cannot put food on the table. I am seeking pay parity for everyone. Remember, these are working people we are talking about.

I often say that we need more common sense in our politics. The problem is that common sense is a subjective concept. There is common sense in collecting revenue through a carbon tax and in specifically doing what we have committed to in our programme for Government. In a very honest and an upfront way, the programme for Government states that we are going to continue to use carbon tax revenues to fund: social welfare measures for those most in need; agri-environmental schemes to help our farmers - rather than lecturing or talking down to them - in terms of the adaptations they need to make to continue to produce some of the best food produce in the world; and retrofitting, in order to help make peoples' homes more environmentally friendly, warm and cheaper to heat. That is where we are trying to get to.

To be honest, when it comes to climate, there is not much low-hanging fruit. There is a climate emergency. The planet is on fire and we are trying to take pragmatic, practical measures to help to move the dial in respect of the changes we need to make in Ireland.