Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We already have a carbon tax. Since 2010 we have collected about €3.5 billion on carbon tax. The money has not been ring-fenced for climate change measures. People find it difficult to understand. Some years ago, "Prime Time" interviewed the CEO of the Corrib gas project. He was asked when the company would pay corporation tax.

He replied that it might be paid in 20 or 25 years' time. That is one of the problems with this proposal, namely, the little people are being taxed all the time.

Another problem is the lack of alternatives in rural Ireland. The House has spent weeks debating school transport, yet we are forcing parents to drive their parents to school because they cannot get a seat on the bus. A large societal divide is emerging between the haves and the have nots. A broad-brush approach to carbon taxation runs the risk of negatively impacting a large swathe of society without a guarantee that there will be any positive behavioural change or positive impact on the environment. That is why we are opposing this tax - it has not been rural proofed. Had we adopted the legislation proposed by Deputy Martin Kenny last year, legislation would have to be rural proofed.

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