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

Looking at the distributional and incomes issues the Deputy raised, would they not simply be bigger and more severe in scale if we were to make a smaller number of bigger moves? I cannot help but feel that if we did get to 2023 and were proposing a very large move, I am not sure he would be supportive of it at that point. If we cannot get the Deputy's agreement to a series of smaller moves, I am unsure that we would get his agreement in respect of a smaller set of big moves. If we were to go down that path, we would have a higher level of distributional issues as a result of such a big move. A gradual set of moves such as those we are proposing that involve protecting those who are most vulnerable through our social welfare code and giving predictability as to where we are going to end up is the fairest way of managing the kind of change we need to see happen in order to ensure that we can reduce the use of carbon in our country.