Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The best way to get it done would be to agree it on a cross-party basis because that would take the politics out of the issue. Let us not be dishonest in any way about what a carbon tax means. It means that it will be more expensive for people to fill their cars with diesel or petrol. It will increase the cost of transport for the haulage industry, have impacts on agriculture and make it more expensive to buy electricity and gas. The adaptions that can be made to mitigate those effects will not happen in year one, two or three. Even with the best intentions, it will take time to make them happen and for some people that will never be possible, in many cases because of where they live. The best way to get this done, unlike in the case of water, would be on a cross-party basis and to agree on a trajectory over ten years. I would be up for that.

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