KERRY TD Danny Healy-Rae has said storms were worse hundreds of years ago than they are now - insisting again that he does not "subscribe to the idea that man can influence climate".

The Independent TD stood firm on his beliefs around global warming, telling an Oireachtas committee today that storms took place long before cars were invented.

Speaking to Independent.ie tonight following the meeting of the Oireachtas committee on Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht , Mr Healy-Rae referred to weather in the 1700s where it rained "for two years".

"I don't believe any human has control over the weather," he said.

"There were probably worse (storms), they were worse," he added, referring to the night of the Big Wind in 1839 to back up his claims.

"There were churches knocked in Armagh and in Castlebar and there was mass destruction all along the west coast.

"They are facts and you can go all the way back to the 1740s when there was rain for two years."

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Mr Healy-Rae said experts in the industry were making a substantial living from climate change.

"I believe that climate change is one of the biggest industries in the world, they're making money out of it," he said.

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