Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

No. We have made that point clear. Indeed, one of the major issues is one I have discussed here previously. The Minister can read the transcripts if he wishes. We have discussed carbon tax with John FitzGerald, who chairs the advisory council, and the real polluters out there who are not being addressed because of the European system. The Minister will also see in my discussions with John FitzGerald that it was I who put to him the ban on oil exploration in the State. In fairness to John FitzGerald, he approached me at the MacGill Summer School and said he had taken into consideration what I had said at the committee and would recommend that exploration be banned, which the Minister's friend, the Taoiseach, then announced to the world in the United States. My engagement with the advisory council is clear. I have made suggestions, which it has taken on board and which have now been given effect by the Leader of the Government. On this issue of carbon prices, I am completely opposed to this at this time.