Mr. Brian Carroll:

I know the argument that is being made. I must say that the intention in giving it back is not to encourage people to keep burning fossil fuels. The intention is to make sure the most vulnerable are not made worse off by the introduction of the carbon tax.

I do not think it can be looked at in isolation. If it is brought in to make sure that people are not worse off, that is different from bringing it in to discourage them from continuing to burn fossil fuels. It has to be understood alongside other schemes, such as the warmer homes scheme, whereby we are trying to retrofit the houses of the fuel-poor and funding that to 100%. That cannot be done all at once. It will take time to do. It will happen over the coming decade and beyond. In the meantime, the intention is that those least able to bear the burden are not made worse off by the introduction of carbon tax.