Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The wording is clear that the Government should, prior to the introduction of any increase in carbon taxation, examine the impacts on low-income families and, on the basis of these findings, introduce specific policy measures to assist those who may not be in a position to immediately transition from fossil fuels, including the potential use of social protection mechanisms such as tax credits and welfare payments. Carbon tax is in existence and yields approximately €400 million but that €400 million goes to the Exchequer. This committee is seeking to ring-fence moneys collected from the tax so that retrofitting can be done and we can transition from carbon to meet our targets.

If we agree to this amendment the Government would conduct a review, to be completed by June 2019, of what may be the most appropriate measure and what is the nature and extent of fuel poverty across all cohorts. We are building into the amendment a set of measures that seeks to protect the most vulnerable but ensures that we do not move until the review has been done. June 2019 may be too short a timeframe and it may need to be pushed out to July. It is important that we study what is in the amendment first, before we draw any conclusions.