Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ryan asked whether I had made any decision on the level of change on carbon tax and the answer is no. I have had discussions with Fianna Fáil, and we have both publicly acknowledged that these are just about the overall issues we have to think about in terms of the budget. On the question of whether I have made any decision if we were to do a change in carbon tax and how we would handle the revenue generated by that, again at this point, we are considering options, we have not made a decision. However, I have said on a number of previous occasions that if we are going to make changes in carbon taxation, we have to treat the revenue from carbon taxation in a different way from other tax changes that we have done. For example when I made the change last year on VAT, that went back into general Government revenue. If we are looking to make a considerable change in the price of carbon in our economy, we will have to demonstrate to the country that the money is being used in particular ways.

On the question of the level of change that is being made or could be made, I have not made a decision but I am very mindful of the effect that Brexit could have, of the impact that a lower value of sterling could have on the price of fuel and of some of the issues that Deputy Breathnach raised.