Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will bring the discussion back to something that is very much within the remit of the Department of Finance and speak a bit about the carbon tax, which is hypothecated. I had never heard that word before the 2020 programme for Government negotiations. The receipts are set aside or ring-fenced, politically at least, for retrofitting, social welfare measures and agri-environment schemes aimed at delivering biodiversity improvement. I do not wish to push Mr. Owens into a political space but is he able to comment on the importance of the revenue accruing from the carbon tax vis-à-visthe benefit to biodiversity that is being delivered and that will be delivered as the tax is increased towards the end of the decade?