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

I assure the Deputy that the Government will certainly not tell people in rural Ireland that they cannot burn their own turf or timber in their own fire. That will not happen. That would be totally disproportionate and unnecessary, given the fact that air quality is very high in rural Ireland. It is a different issue in towns and cities where we have a problem with air quality and that is impacting on people's health, especially those who have chronic conditions such as asthma and COPD, and therefore action needs to be taken.

Taking climate action is one of the reasons why this Government was formed. It is why Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party came together, to accelerate Ireland's response to climate change and to up our game when it comes to climate action, to honour the commitment to go from being a laggard to a leader as soon as we can. The Government has made good progress in that regard. The July stimulus included a package of investment in everything from bog rewetting and bog restoration to cycling and pedestrian facilities, which will have an impact on the climate in a positive way. Just yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, published landmark legislation, a climate action Bill, and I congratulate him on that. It builds on the good work of Deputy Alan Kelly in the Fine Gael-Labour Government with the first climate law. Now there is a much stronger climate law brought in by Deputy Eamon Ryan.

The carbon tax will go up in the budget. That is programmed into it. Bear in mind that most of the cost of the carbon tax will fall on business and the rest on households. It will all be ring-fenced for things like dealing with fuel poverty and investment, mainly in rural Ireland, in things such as retrofitting. It will be a ring-fenced increase with the money being ploughed into poverty reduction and climate action measures.

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