Dr. Niall Farrell:

It is worth thinking of carbon tax and environmental policy as a suite of measures and thinking of the combined effect. If we think about carbon tax plus changes to the tax and welfare systems plus planning and other infrastructural changed, they all help each other. In a scenario where we have a carbon tax that would help somebody to adopt a better alternative means of transport, for example, where one is available, that needs to work in conjunction with good development planning to help ensure those options are available. In circumstances where people cannot change, vulnerable households will be left no worse off provided good distribution policies in place, and carbon taxes have been accompanied by such policies in the Irish context in many cases. The ideal scenario is to adopt the policies and provide an option so that the policies work well together in combination.