I wish to raise the ongoing issue faced by newly qualified paramedics in terms of the National Ambulance Service. We saw them striking outside Leinster House. I spoke about this here a couple of weeks ago. There is widespread reporting on and engagement from paramedics across the country who, for the first time, were not automatically offered permanent contracts upon the completion of their training. This breaks with long-established practice. There is some movement on the permanent contracts but the reality on the ground is very different. The paramedics are still facing significant uncertainty. I have been contacted directly by many of them but I will just talk about one man who reached out to me yesterday. He outlined that he may now be assigned to a station a considerable distance from his home, with no clarity in advance. Most concerningly, he was told that if he declined such a placement, he risked the non-renewal of his temporary contract. This newly qualified paramedic was after putting his life and soul into training. Paramedics are the front-line workers in our community. The man in question was told that if he did not head so many hundred miles down the road, he might not get the contract. This is totally unacceptable. In this Chamber, we need to ask the Minister and HSE to urgently provide clarity on the guarantee of permanent contracts for all graduates, transparency on how locations are assigned, and assurances that no paramedic will be penalised for being unable to accept an unreasonable posting. If we continue like this, we are not just risking morale but also risking losing paramedics from a service that is already at breaking point.

The surge in fuel prices is catastrophic and threatens to undermine rural communities and food production. The reality is that, if it costs more to produce food, it will cost more to put it on the table. Right now, the rising costs of agri-diesel, home heating oil and energy are squeezing farmers, fishers and rural communities from every direction. The price of agri-diesel has gone up by about 50 cent per litre in the past month. With the new measures, farmers are getting only 3 cent off the cost of a litre of diesel. Everything on a farm is run on agri-diesel and farmers are watching their margins disappear every time they have to fill the tank. Also, agri-contractors will have to charge more.

There has been no movement on cutting carbon tax and it is clear to everyone that the Government is giving with one hand while taking back with the other. Carbon tax serves no purpose here because there are no non-carbon fuel alternatives for agricultural vehicles. I would love to hear the Government state what alternative is available to farmers. The Government can frame its initiative as a good news story but farmers are still paying 17 cent per litre in carbon tax. Fishers at harbours are weighing up whether they can afford to go out to fish. That there are no targeted measures for fishers or farmers is a shocking indictment of this Government’s priorities.

Kerosene, another product used for home heating, mostly in rural Ireland, is subject to the tax cut of 3 cent per litre but that 3 cent is inclusive of VAT. It is actually not 3 cent because VAT, which is also a tax, is included in it.

I welcome the measure for hauliers and coach drivers, amounting to 22 cent per litre. However, let me put that in context. A filling station out the road from Bailieborough was selling diesel for diesel engine road vehicles, DERVs, at €2.09 per litre on Sunday evening, but by Monday morning it had increased to €2.29.

That was an increase of 20 cent in one day. That is the context of what people are dealing with. While the measures are welcome, they still do not go far enough.