Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 6 November 2019

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed)

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is the experts the Minister talks about who argue for an increase in carbon tax. Does the Minister know who founded it? Let me tell him. It was founded by ExxonMobil and Shell among others. Oil exploration companies founded this body. I do not suggest its comments are not valid but let us be clear that the major polluters in the world support this measure and welcome it because of the idea of reducing this to the consumer.

Let me put it this way. Last year, we brought in €400 million in carbon taxes. None of us dispute that but it did not effect behavioural change one bit. The increase in carbon tax to €20 per tonne has not effected behavioural change one bit because alternatives do not exist. Let us build the alternatives, put them in place, take this issue very seriously and make the necessary investment instead of doing what the Government is about to do, which is to make the majority of the poorest households in society poorer as a result of this without any alternatives being offered to them to change their behaviour. That is unless the Minister will tell me the poorest 10% of households in the State can somehow go out and buy an electric car in the morning or have the money available to change their home heating systems when they simply do not. That is the real world. I am annoyed the Government's climate change agenda has been reduced to this measure, which is grating with people. They see it as putting a hand into their pocket at a time they have no alternatives, as opposed to trying to get an entire nation to buy into the potential for a plan that has the significant investment that will allow people to change their behaviour because most people, apart from the climate deniers who dispute all of the evidence, are open to this, are willing and are engaged in this. They are being led on this by the younger generation in particular. There is an openness and a willingness to be part of combatting climate change but this measure is not the way to do it because it will not effect any change.

If it is just about increasing revenue, we have argued for the past few hours - and the Minister talks about the issue of timing - about the issue of intangible assets. We could have €750 million. If we are going to argue that we need the something like €80 million the carbon tax will bring in next year to invest in other areas, the Government should tax the intangible assets. That would bring in €722 million to make the investment needed to allow people in rural and urban communities to change by introducing proper supports for energy efficiency and by making investments in public transport. I find it hard to sit across the Chamber from a Government that has blocked the Microgeneration Support Scheme Bill 2017 via a money message. That Bill would allow for households to tap into the national grid, create their own energy and get money back because of the energy they are creating. This makes sense. I am very much opposed to this measure.

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