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

There have been improvements. I am not receiving the same level of complaint in regard to the operation of the scheme that I was receiving before the changes in last year's Finance Bill. It has improved. There is still a gap, however, in terms of explaining to companies the effect of the changes we brought in last year. We still have work to do to explain what those changes are and explain to companies that this is a scheme they might be able to benefit from. While it has got better, we still have work to do.

In response to Deputy Naughten, there is no point in my being dishonest with him and committing to do a report that I am not going to do. I am not going to be dishonest to either him or the committee in that regard. If I make a tax change for part of the country, as the Deputy can appreciate, there will be a knock-on effect in that other counties will look for the same. Even if I wanted to do it, from a state aid point of view, I would not be allowed to make a change on a level below our country. Even if I wanted to do it, which for the reasons I have explained I do not, I would not be able to do it.

That said, given the analysis the Deputy has put forward in regard to the needs of those counties, I accept his argument. There is little difference between the Deputy and me on the analysis. With regard to the point he made that this is the effect of Google withdrawing from those counties and the fact we do not have another Google to replace it with, I accept his argument. However, this is the reason that, in the change to carbon pricing we have made, nearly €1 out of every €3 of new money that will be raised by the higher level of carbon pricing is now being prioritised in line with the need for transition measures. The counties the Deputy is referring to are the ones in which we are going to begin this work. I cannot offer stronger evidence of our commitment to trying to respond to the needs he is raising than the degree to which we are prioritising the first year of carbon pricing revenue to deal with these issues. I hope to have the opportunity to visit the affected communities.

The first test we will have to pass in carbon pricing is showing that it can have an effect in communities where employment is lost as a result of a change in the carbonised nature of the economy. It is one thing to help people to deal with the effects of higher carbon pricing and another to help them to deal with the effect on transport. The Deputy represents communities in which jobs are being lost. They are part of the first test we have to pass in how carbon pricing will work.