Mr. William Walsh:

The SEAI receives a chunk of the carbon tax and it is ring-fenced for a warmer homes scheme in our budget. It is ring-fenced and targeted at the fuel poverty sector. At a higher level, carbon tax has a considerable evidence base with regard to affecting behaviours. The higher the cost of energy as a result of carbon tax, the greater the reduction in energy people will use. It will make people focus and think about the energy they use. That is very important.

We see things in the energy crisis that we cannot control. We cannot control, from an Irish perspective, the wholesale cost of oil and gas. What we can do is look at where it is possible, and it is possible, for some people in society to use less. That will be very important in this energy crisis. Carbon tax and carbon pricing incentivise that effect and force people to think about how much energy they use and what they use it for.