Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

——the emissions trading scheme, the greener homes and commercial bioheat schemes and the realignment of motor tax are all forms of incentive that will lead to reduced emissions in the sectors where a carbon tax would have applied. The difference in these alternatives is that they do not penalise poor or marginalised households. These schemes do not penalise people who have to use their cars to do their business or pensioners for heating their homes. They do not shove up the costs of running a small business and will not drive jobs out of the country.

For those who are still enthusiastic about the carbon tax those are the precise reasons——

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