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

A large portion of the carbon tax proceeds will go towards increasing the fuel allowance and a lot of people in rural Ireland will get that increase. In fact, they are getting it this week, and if not this week then next week. A lot of the retrofitting that is happening is in rural areas too. The same goes for the rewetting of bogs and so on. A very large amount of the money that is raised from the carbon tax is going back into rural areas.

I restate the commitment the Government has made: €1.5 billion in proceeds from carbon tax will be ring-fenced for farmers for agricultural schemes between 2023 and 2030. It will come online with the new CAP. The Government has taken a decision that the right time to do that is when the new CAP comes into place in 2023 and we have all the new schemes. We are just rolling over the existing schemes at the moment. That €1.5 billion will start flowing into farmers' pockets and yards in little over a year from now.

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