Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The carbon tax is a fraud that is being perpetrated against ordinary workers and families. Scandalously, it is being perpetrated in the name of environmentalism.

There is nothing related to environmentalism with regard to the carbon tax. The carbon tax is simply another revenue-generating measure. It would be helpful if people before the House were honest and actually set out what exactly the carbon tax is. The carbon tax increase on fuel, added on budget night, has done nothing for the environment. The only net result of that decision on budget day is that less money is in the pockets of people already struggling to make ends meet.

This is a tax on ordinary workers and families who do not have alternatives and who simply cannot afford to change their diesel or petrol cars for electric vehicles. They are the people who are penalised as a result of this tax. For those who cannot afford to change their home heating system, this is a tax. For the hundreds of thousands of people who are in rented property and do not have any say whatsoever in the type of home heating oil system in place in their rented properties, this is simply a tax and an additional burden on them. What is more, the Government Deputies know it.

What makes it worse is that there has been no full analysis of the carbon tax that has already been in place. There has been no analysis of its financial impact on those who are forced to pay it or its environmental impact. International studies have shown that carbon taxes are actually the most minimal contributors when it comes to actually changing people's behaviour and acting as an incentive for people to address the very real challenges with carbon tax. Why has the Minister not put in place a systematic appraisal of the carbon taxes already in place with regard to their environmental impact as well as their impact on the financial situation of ordinary workers and families?

The Government has not only decided to increase the carbon tax this year and the next, it has decided to legislate for a year-on-year increase until 2030. That is some arrogance to put in place a punitive tax on ordinary workers and families and then commit every Government until 2030 to introduce similar increases. The Government did not put in place legislative provisions to ensure that the old age pension would increase every year between now and 2030. People still do not know what the age of pension entitlement will be in 2030 because, of course, that has been fobbed off for another review.

Ordinary people will, at some point, come to the realisation that this is a fraud. They will come to the realisation that this is not an environmental measure but a punitive tax in the name of environmentalism. I suggest the House collectively supports the amendments put forward by Deputy Pearse Doherty and others. We must recognise the failures of the policy to date. Instead, we must put in place a real climate action strategy that is about working with ordinary workers and families throughout this country, including those from rural communities. We must work with those who, up until this point, have had no option but to drive their diesel car to work or to heat their homes with solid fuel. We must work together to address climate change. We must stop the pretence, the tokenism and the hypocrisy. We must work with the ordinary working families who have no choice but to hop in their cars every day to drop their children to school because the school transport system is such a mess under the Government. We must work with the ordinary working families who have go to work away from their local communities because we have not got the regional balance or investment that all these communities are crying out for. We must work with those who have no choice but to hop in the car to bring their children to their local GAA match because public transport is an absolute joke in rural communities. We cannot pretend for one second that this carbon tax is about addressing any of those issues. This is simply a way of increasing the burden on ordinary workers and families for Exchequer funding. It is a fraud. I hope the House will take this opportunity to reject its provision in the Finance Bill.

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