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

Never allow the facts to get in the way of a good political charge. I have published no carbon tax plan. The all-party committee is working on the issue and I hope it will be able to report this week. I also hope we will all give its report a good reading and a fair hearing before coming out against it.

The Deputy will recall that the Government took the decision not to increase carbon tax in the last budget and that we sustained some criticism for not doing so. By the way, we did increase the fuel allowance, but we did not increase the carbon tax and took the decision not to do so for very good reasons. First, VAT was going up in the new year and we did not want to increase two taxes; rather, we wanted to reduce taxes, as we did in the case of income tax and USC, for example. Second, we were very aware of the impact higher fuel prices could have on people who needed to fill their tank and heat their homes, people who used gas and electricity, as all of us do, and people who needed to commute and had no other choice but to commute by car. That is why we took the decision, for which we were heavily criticised, not to increase carbon tax in the last budget.

We do need, however, to take climate action. We are well behind in meeting our emissions targets. We need to catch up and be honest with people. The carbon tax will not solve the problem of climate change, but we will not solve it without a carbon tax. It is and has to be part of the solution. It involves three measures: regulation; investment in public transport and renewable energy initiatives and the carbon tax. The whole point of having the carbon tax is that it is done in a way that nudges people and corporations to change their behaviour. It makes it more economical to buy an electric vehicle rather than a diesel car and to invest in a fuel pump, rather than using alternative heating systems.

The Deputy may wish to pretend to people that the Government can somehow come up with €50 billion, €60 billion or €70 billion to do all of it in the form of grants.

It cannot. That is not true. It it not honest. The Deputy is not being honest and is not really on the side of the environment. We cannot meet our obligations when it comes to climate change unless we have carbon tax, not as a solution, but it does need to be part of the solution. I saw it suggested yesterday that the carbon tax might increase fourfold in the next budget and that this is somehow on the table. I can say emphatically that it is not. There is no prospect of a carbon tax increase of that scale or anything remotely approaching it being proposed by the Government in the next budget. If there is an increase in the carbon tax - the budget has to be negotiated, as Deputies are aware - it is my strong view that the money should be ring-fenced and given back to people in the form of increases in the fuel allowance to protect those who are least well off, in the form of increased tax credits, and in the form of a dividend model. That is the model I prefer. I have no doubt that Sinn Féin will do what it always does, the populist thing, which is to peddle solutions that do not add up, oppose things that are unpopular, and still somehow pretend it is for the environment. We all know the far left is anti-environment.

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