Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am opposed to this carbon tax structure because it fails to differentiate between those who can avoid paying this tax and those who do not have any choice but to pay it. Carbon taxes must be about driving change to a more sustainable country which is far less dependent on imported fossil fuels. It is not supposed to be about increasing Government income. It is about getting people out of cars and onto buses and trains.

I strongly believe that those living in rural areas, 37% of our population, do not have alternatives available to them, particularly in relation to public transport, and thus cannot avoid paying this tax. In addition, this tax is also regressive in that those living in rural communities will pay far more in carbon tax than those living in urban areas and yet the people living in our cities will have jobs locally and alternative transport solutions available to them. By the time 2030 comes along and we have a carbon tax of €100 per tonne, half the households in Dublin will be paying less than €9.11 per week in transport costs when the Dublin Bus subsidy is taken into account while rural commuters will be paying €39.50 a week - up to four times more being paid by people who do not have an alternative available to them than by those with a bus passing their door every few minutes.

When one looks at the heat aspect of this, based on current rates a typical rural household will pay €1 more per week in 2030 than those living in Dublin. In practical terms, the difference will be greater because the Government will subsidise carbon removal from the gas network through biomethane whereas families in rural areas will have to borrow substantially to move away from oil.

A congestion charge designed around motor tax would be a far more effective tool in moving those who can from their cars onto public transport. The alternative, which I put forward, would be to use the national car test and revise that regime to provide for an actual emissions profile of individual vehicles. That would treat rural areas - people driving long distances - far more fairly because they will have a much lower emissions profile than vehicles on congested streets. It would act as an effective congestion charge in this country and would encourage the retrofitting of vehicles and the use of alternative fuels.

We need to look at taxation models in this country that suit an Irish situation, rather than copying and pasting a model coming from continental Europe that will not drive the type of change we need to see here.

This penalises 37% of our population who live in rural areas and do not have alternative modes of transport. They are not getting their broadband delivered more quickly on foot of today's announcement and they are not bring provided with any new supports to work remotely. As a result, I will be opposing this provision.

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