Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

They are in two sets. Could the Chair indicate when I am halfway through my time and I will switch to the other set?

My first questions are brief and relate to economic matters. Like others, I have been struck by the fact that €90 million is peanuts. Given the many strong cases being made about areas that will need transition support, I have been struck by the difference between the €6 million just transition fund compared to the €650 million envisaged in the case of a no-deal Brexit. I accept that the timing is different. As Professor FitzGerald is aware, there are differences of opinion on the extent to which carbon taxing incentivises us or engages us in behavioural changes. That is not the rationale used in the context of its introduction. The core economic rationale has been environmental externality and the fact that the social and environmental costs of fossil fuels have been borne by society and, in effect, we have subsidised an artificial commodity price over a long period. That is the rationale that was used in terms of initially bringing in the carbon tax. Given that that is the rationale, should it not be the case that every penny of the carbon tax, not the increase, which is attached to an incentive logic, all of the €35 for example, be ring-fenced to deal with those external costs such as mitigation and adaptation? Given that that is the logic, should all of the €35 be clearly designated?