Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. On the day the carbon tax comes into play and many low income households see significant price increases in fuel to heat their homes, it may have been some consolation for them if the revenue generated from the carbon tax was used to develop alternative green energies that could possibly provide them with carbon neutral energies for home heating. That the carbon tax is going into the central Exchequer and there is no ring-fencing for the development of the green economy is a retrograde step that needs to be reversed. We should be looking to develop green energy with biomass for home heating and converting large parts of the country to that which is carbon neutral, contributes to the green economy and also would provide people with a carbon neutral and carbon tax free heating source for their houses. The Minister should focus on that and ring-fence the carbon tax for those developments but unfortunately the carbon tax is going into the Exchequer and there will be no benefit in terms of developing the green economy.

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