Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

These decisions will intimately affect people's lives, whether one is poor or is in a business that will be affected. The Minister is saying he will effectively give large companies free trades. They will have coupons which cover 97% of their prospective uses. They will make virtually no adaptation to reduce energy emissions. Is he not proposing a carbon tax that will hit small business and ordinary households, forcing them to make all the reductions in carbon emissions?

I would like to hear the Minister take a view on this. Why does he not publish a White Paper so there can be a serious debate on the options the Government is considering adopting? The Minister is asking what the Labour Party thinks, what the Green Party thinks and what Fine Gael thinks. That is not what he was appointed to do. He is the Minister; he should be leading the way. He should issue proposals and allow people to react to them and tease out the issues before they are finally adopted.

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