Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to concentrate on a CSO paper, Fossil Fuel and Similar Subsidies 2012-2016, for a couple of minutes before we finish up. This is one of the reasons I wanted to talk here. The Revenue Commissioners have given us some information about the collection of carbon taxes. The last figure I saw was for 2018. When officials from Revenue come in, we will ask them for an update. I suppose I am putting on the record what was collected. We have had a general discussion. Part of it comes back to whether the revenue collected from carbon tax is being spent to meet the required targets. The job of this committee is to examine where the money that is collected is being spent. That is kind of where we are at. I know there are climate plans, etc., but that is probably for another committee. The figures here are quite small. I want to put them on the public record so people will know them. In 2018, approximately 40% of carbon tax receipts - €182 million - came from auto diesel. Carbon tax receipts from petrol were €48 million. There were receipts from aviation and gasoline as well. They were the principal items which seemed to be a big element of the total carbon tax collected.

We want to address how carbon taxes are used. We are very taken with the report that has been published by the CSO. I want to read from it. As it was written by the witnesses, they will be familiar with it. I want to help the people who are listening by putting this on the public record. According to the report in question, "The OECD has undertaken a considerable amount of work on potentially environmentally damaging subsidies". This is one of the reasons we are here now. The Committee of Public Accounts wants to talk about this particular topic. We spoke about the emissions trading system at previous meetings. Under the heading of "CSO Methodology", the report makes it clear that "A subsidy is classified as a potentially environmentally damaging subsidy if it is likely to incentivise behaviour that could be damaging to the environment irrespective of its importance for other policy purposes" such as social policies and other policies. The report continues:

Examples of such subsidies include providing fossil fuels at lower prices to certain industries and providing fuel allowances to households to alleviate fuel poverty. Providing fuels at a subsidised price may result in increased emissions through unnecessary use of such fuels. An alternative to household fuel allowances is refurbishment of the property through improved attic, wall, floor, and window insulation. Those measures would greatly reduce the amount of energy required to heat a dwelling as well as resulting in much improved heat retention.

This is one of the issues we want to focus on. The report includes a commentary on the various damaging subsidies. In 2016, €2.5 billion was provided for fossil fuel supports. I ask the witnesses to explain what that involves. Does it involve VAT refunds on fuel? What does it involve?