Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Fair enough. We will not lose our heads over it.

It is welcome that this increase in carbon tax is considered a regressive tax. As a party, Sinn Féin, as well as one other member, Deputy Bríd Smith, did not go with it in the report.

This question is for the Department of Finance. Approximately €450 million is collected yearly in carbon tax and were the rate to increase by the small amount being bruited about, I believe it would bring that figure to approximately €600 million; I am not good at mathematics. Is €600 million the total cost of Ireland's fines for not meeting our targets next year? Where will that money come from? Will we have to rob it from some other area? I would like an answer to that question.

The current housing emergency is punitive. People in Dublin, and everywhere else, are paying over the odds for their rents or mortgages. The cost of heating, electricity and so on has increased and putting an extra tax on people and asking them to give more when most of them earn average wages is punitive and not sustainable. The people we represent are on an average wage of €2,000 to €2,500 per month, which is eaten up quickly, so to speak, by increased costs.

My next question is for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Department of Finance. People who become unemployed are not eligible for the fuel allowance until they have been in receipt of benefit for 390 days. Consequently, they might have to endure two long winters before becoming eligible. Were one to become unemployed, say, next month, two long winters would pass before one became eligible for the fuel allowance. That is an anomaly and it is discriminatory. Does the Society of St. Vincent de Paul representative have any experience of dealing with that? I certainly have such experience.

My next question is for Mr. Collins. Since 2016, more than €25 million has been spent on the warmth and well-being scheme, which was very welcome in my area of Dublin 8, 10, 12 and the Tallaght area. However, €25 million over almost four years comes in at more than €6 million per year, which seems a paltry amount. What is the average cost per house and how many homes have benefited from the warmth and well-being scheme? We heard today about concerns for public health as a result of pollutants in the air from which there have been premature deaths worldwide. In Ireland, there were 1,200 premature deaths in 2016. The scheme is underfunded. Are there plans to increase the funding? How many houses came under the scheme if it has cost an average of €6 million per year in the past four years?