I join my colleagues in expressing condolences to the friends and family of Enda Bonner - may he rest in peace - and to my colleague, Senator Gerard Craughwell, on the loss of his wife, Helen.

What I wish to speak about today is the story that was in The Irish Times this morning, where the president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, IRHA, warned that hauliers cannot sustain current fuel prices. When asked if there would be another round of protests, he said that desperate times make desperate people. As fuel prices continue to climb, regardless of Government taxes or not, I think it is fair to acknowledge that we are now in desperate times. Before anyone says that this is just one group of people representing one industry, it is not. Last week, a poll showed that if fuel prices continue to rise, a massive 60% to 66% of the Irish public would support a new round of protests. That is no surprise, because fuel protests do not just affect truck drivers. Everything in this country relies on fuel and energy prices. If anything goes up, the ordinary working people of Ireland are already on a knife's edge. All of Europe is reporting record high fuel prices. The Middle East is in crisis, as there looks to be no resolution with Iran and the Saudi Government is cancelling its oil shipments. While I naturally believe that the Government should delay the taxes, this is a stop-gap solution. What this entire crisis says is that we need a total overhaul of our energy policy. I will repeat my call from before. I think we need to go further and scrap fuel taxes altogether, and we need to invest our current surplus into serious long-term infrastructure such as public transport, roads, railways, and even nuclear energy, things that will pay us back in the long run. Most of all, I believe we need to seriously re-evaluate and scrap much of the eco-alarmist policies that have left our hands tied behind our backs at a time when we are fighting for our lives.

My condolences to Senator Gerard Craughwell. I thank him for sharing those details of his wife, Helen.

I am really delighted to be back. The most important issue and what I have been listening to people talking about in rural Ireland all over the summer and especially at the ploughing match in Screggan last week is the cost of fuels, including home heating oil, petrol and diesel. We are up at €2.20 a litre in the midlands for diesel. This cannot be sustained and green diesel has gone through the roof. Today, my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, will bring legislation through the Dáil to cut the carbon tax on home heating oil and I really urge us to work together here. We have solutions. We know that families cannot take this any more. A full tank of home heating oil can now cost between €1,600 and €1,700. People in rural Ireland and all across Ireland cannot afford this, especially those in rural Ireland who rely on oil. We are thinking of our elderly people - pensioners - who cannot afford it. They are putting €100 or €200 worth of fuel in their tank and they cannot sustain it like this, on top of everything else that families are facing. In rural Ireland, people need fuel to go to work, the supermarket and to hospital appointments. We have to look at the overall tax that we have on fuel. I am asking the Government Senators here to urge their Government colleagues to support the legislation before us, and let us remove the carbon tax on home heating oil. We know that it can make a difference and it can be done now. People have to take to the streets to protest because they could not cope any more. We are going to see more of that and I support them 100% to peacefully protest because they cannot sustain the level at which the price of fuel is going up and how much tax is going into the Government's pockets and how much profit is being made here. We know that is as clear as day for everyone to see.