Editor:
The Irish Martin-Harris coalition government needs to take positive and immediate steps to assist Irish farmers, industry, fishing, and homeowners with the impact of the Middle East regional war now underway and heavily negatively impacting the Irish economy.
Those steps should include the following, with some haste:
Remove all VAT and Carbon taxes from sales of gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, turf, pea coal and diesel fuel; remove all restrictions on burning and harvesting of turf for home and business heating purposes; reopen the country's last remaining coal mine.
Lift all restrictions on burning coal at the country's power stations.
Coal is plentiful and cheap on world markets.
Prohibit the construction of industrial and solar wind farms, which only deface the beautiful Irish landscape and are unreliable and expensive sources of power.
Purchase oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, LNG and coal from the United States.
Supply is not a problem.
Start on an emergency basis, the tapping of the South Cork and West Mayo/Galway offshore, oil and gas fields.
End the Zero 50 climate goals, which are clearly impractical and enormously costly to customers and businesses.
Consider withdrawing from the EU, due to the massive over regulation of the Irish energy and farming and fishing sectors, and seriously consider signing a free trade agreement with the United States (thus gaining improved access to reasonably priced U.S. energy resources, which will be a huge advantage to the Irish economy.
Only by taking strong and resolute actions can the Irish government navigate this crisis on behalf of homeowners, farmers, business and industry in the Irish nation. Irish citizens can and should not be saddled with the highest energy prices in the EU.
