Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 133 seeks to delete the carbon tax on agricultural diesel. Amendment No. 134 is, relatedly, to have a report on that proposal. The Minister and I have had this discussion on a number of occasions in the past. The reality is that within the agricultural sector, there is no alternative to diesel at present. We do not have electric tractors or hybrid vehicles and the agricultural sector is hugely dependent on green diesel. I am arguing, as have many others, that we should not be applying a carbon tax where there is no alternative available to diesel.

The principle behind a carbon tax is to encourage people to move to alternative fuels. The objective behind it is not to bring in additional revenue for the Exchequer but to get people to move to alternative forms of energy. In the case of agriculture, there is no alternative to agricultural diesel at the moment. There may well be at some stage in the future but it is not available at present and because of that, we should not be applying a carbon tax to agricultural diesel. Agricultural diesel is marked diesel because it is used for a specific purpose within the agricultural sector.

The Minister will come back and make the argument that there is a rebate scheme in place. That is available for some farmers who have a tax liability but contractors and many farmers who do not have a tax liability are having to pay this particular carbon tax when there is no alternative fuel available to them.

If we accept the principle that carbon tax is not about bringing in more money to the Exchequer and is about trying to drive change across society and the economy to more fuel efficient and cleaner vehicles, we have to accept the principle that we cannot charge it on agricultural fuel because an alternative does not exist at present.