Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

The application of the carbon tax was raised by a number of interests, even though they were in the ETS, the trading scheme. It has been represented by a number of these interests that this is a form of double taxation and that they are already paying under the ETS. If I recall, the Minister's line on Committee Stage was that he was obliged by an EU decision to apply a minimum rate of tax because, otherwise, it would be regarded as a State aid. This has been disputed by the sectors involved and the Minister may be in a better position to shed light on the situation. State aid rules require him to levy this additional tax because if we did not introduce a carbon tax, as many of competitors are not, these companies would be in the ETS code and would not be asked to make this contribution. It is contradictory for the Commission to argue that if a member state introduces a carbon tax, it must impose an extra charge that would be anti-competitive for Irish industry in categories competing with other industries in the same category operating in other member states.

I wonder about the validity of the argument made on Committee Stage. We must be conscious of knock-on effects. If we can content ourselves with the trading system, we should do so.

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