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Catherina Cunnane
Catherina Cunnanehttps://www.thatsfarming.com/
Catherina Cunnane hails from a sixth-generation drystock and specialised pedigree suckler enterprise in Co. Mayo. She currently holds the positions of editor and general manager at That's Farming, having joined the firm during its start-up phase in 2015.
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‘There is no difference in the quality of white diesel and green diesel for driving’

Kerry-based independent TD, Danny Healy-Rae, has called for an investigation into the cost of green diesel, writes farming journalist, Catherina Cunnane.

Addressing the matter during a debate on the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022 in Dáil Éireann on Wednesday, April 26th, 2023, the deputy said that “We are thankful that the cost of road diesel and petrol has reduced, but it needs to be reduced more and green diesel has not gone down to the level that it should”.

He told the Dáil: “Farmers cannot operate without green diesel. The price of green diesel went up way higher per litre than white diesel.”

“There is no difference in the quality of white diesel and green diesel for driving whether it is a lorry or tractor.”

“The only difference is the dye that is put into it. I cannot understand, and farmers cannot understand why green diesel is at a cost that it should not be,” he claimed.

He has demanded an explanation for farmers because, again, they cannot sustain the extra cost of food that they are producing.

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“Here in this chamber, I want to thank our farmers right around the country for the wonderful food that they are supplying, whether dairy, beef or whatever, at the highest level and the highest standard.”

“They are maintaining their environment requirements to the highest standard,” he added.

38c/L before war

The deputy also shed light on the issue in the Dáil in March when he told the chamber that “the sooner the government realises that when it drives up the farmer’s costs, it drives up the cost of the food being put on the consumer’s table, the better”.

He said he has a “big gripe” about green diesel, which “has been blamed for everything and before the war was 38 cents a litre,” he told the house.

“That has the effect of driving up the cost of agricultural produce because you cannot do anything on a farm without a tractor,” he outlined.

“Then the government says that it will claw back the increases on-road diesel and petrol.”

That will, he stressed in the Dáil, hurt every man, woman and child working in rural Ireland and will hit rural Ireland “more than any other place”.

Read more on this news article on That’s Farming.

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