John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

In the context of taxation policy, the programme for Government committed to establish a new Commission on Taxation. The commission, which was established on 14 February 2008, is tasked in its terms of reference to look at the introduction of measures to further lower carbon emissions and to phase in, on a revenue neutral basis, appropriate fiscal measures including a carbon levy over the lifetime of the Government. In its work, the commission is required to have regard to the commitments on economic competitiveness and on taxation contained in the programme for Government.

The commission has invited my Department to make a submission to assist in its deliberations. I welcome that invitation and my Department will respond within the deadline set by the commission. I believe that the correct course of action is now to develop the carbon levy commitment in the programme for Government through the commission and I will not be pursuing any alternative approaches while the deliberations of the commission are in progress.

The public opinion poll was carried out by the market research company Behaviour and Attitudes as part of the current climate change awareness campaign at a cost of €20,580 exclusive of value added tax.

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