Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was opposed to the increase in carbon tax recommended in the report last March and I voted against it, though I voted in favour of the overall report. Today's discussion has reinforced my objection. I was concerned that it would give too much licence to the Government to increase carbon taxes on vulnerable households, against a backdrop of failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Three Departments are represented here today. Perhaps I am naive but do they talk to each other? Is a single policy pursued by every Department or does each Department operate in its own silo, doing its own thing? The officials from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and from the Department of Finance each talked about funding the ESRI to do similar reports but nobody was talking to each other. It seems nonsensical to me. Perhaps I am wrong and naive but it seems crazy from what I have heard in this committee so far today. It justifies why we should not have increased the carbon tax. We are not getting a coherent message about what will happen with it and that is very disappointing. I have no particular question on that because there is nobody to give an answer to it. Do the Departments all have equal responsibilities in this area?