Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If we take a break, Deputy Munster might read the text in question, which sets out a carbon price trajectory that rises to €80 per tonne by 2030. It states that it should only be implemented when an evidence-based plan is in place to increase supports and incentives for climate action measures, including the protection of those vulnerable to fuel poverty. The Deputy talked about the necessity for evidence but it is catered for in that section. Given the trajectory between now and 2030, it would be 63 cent on a bag of coal, 13 cent on a bale of briquettes and 1.5 cent on a litre of diesel. Those of us who drive petrol or diesel cars will have noticed the fluctuation in the fuel price over the past number of months. It has gone from a low in the past six months of €1.05 or €1.06 per litre to approximately €1.40 at the moment.

We can all find ways to be against the issues at the heart of this or we can try to reach a consensus on putting in place an appropriate response to a crisis which young people begged us to address by taking leaps. Some people are suggesting we should leap to solve the problem by putting it on somebody else's shoulders. Large emitters of carbon and greenhouse gases will suffer most under this kind of progressive approach to pricing carbon. The big business against which Deputy Bríd Smith rails, which also happen to be significant employers in the agrifood sector, will have to pay more as a result of this. They will have to pay more in the cost of their inputs, which will assist them in transitioning from being heavy polluters of the atmosphere with carbon. The knock-on effect will be to ensure that there is a move away from the harmful products of Exxon Mobil and the other exploration companies, which the Deputy rightly identified as problematic. By changing behaviour, it will achieve what she wants, which is to put these companies out of business.