Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Again, I do not have the figures to hand but I will happily ask the Department to follow up on it and to forward to the Deputy the background statistics, which came from the Department of Finance's projection forward as I recall. Strangely, one would hope that in time as a variety of different measures kick in, including the carbon tax, our use of fuels will decrease and the revenue numbers will fall from that sector.

It is clear that carbon tax is an element of this but it is not the only one. The key measures are some of the investment decisions, not just in the use of this €9.5 billion but other private and public sector investments will also have to be made. The retrofitting programme alone is a €30 billion project for the next ten to 15 years. It is beyond compare in terms of the scale of investments we need to make. In that context, the carbon tax will help but it is not the only policy measure, nor is it the critical policy measure to my mind. We will need every measure, such is the scale of change we are seeking to bring about.

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