Last week, he wasn’t holding out much hope of any breaks in the Budget that will make life easier for him and his family.
But with a number of new measures announced yesterday (tues) aimed at helping struggling businesses and farmers with their energy bills – on top of the once-off €600 energy credit for all householders – he was feeling much more upbeat last night.
The 43-year-old married father-of-three runs a dairy operation near Two Mile House in County Kildare with his wife Una that has been in his family for generations.
Nothwithstanding the fact that he has three growing children, Senan (10), Ella (9) and Connall (15) to feed, his biggest worry was paying the electricity bill for both his family and his farm.
Two years ago he was paying around €300 a month for electricity for the farm.
“The biggest cost is for electricity for the milking machine and cooler,” he said of the 70-cow operation.
The only saving grace is the price of milk has gone up to offset some of his operating costs.
“I’d be in trouble otherwise,” he told the Irish Independent.
However, he said the €1.25bn Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) announced in the Budget that would provide qualifying businesses and farms with grants to cover up to 40pc of the increase in their gas and electricity bills – up to to ceiling of €10,000 a month – would be a huge burden off his shoulders.
“If I do qualify for it, it’s very good,” he said.
He also welcomed an extension on the excise duty relief for green diesel to February 2023 which would ease the pressure on his growing diesel bills that have gone up massively since the war in Ukraine.
And he also welcomed the announcement of a new grant of up to €90,000 to install solar panels as well as capital funding to support the development of anaerobic digestion in 2023.
“I think that’s a great idea,” he said.
However, he wasn’t as keen on a 10pc levy being imposed on concrete or concrete products, which he said was “a bit disappointing,” as well as not offering more to help farmers offset the skyrocketing cost of fertilizer. Instead, the Government will provide €8m to farmers to spread lime.
“Fertiliser was around €380-€400 a tonne. Now it’s gone to €1,200 a tonne in less than a year,” he said.
But overall, he said the measures announced come as good news.
“I suppose I had my cynical hat on last week, but I was pleasantly surprised,” he said.
