Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We are introducing targeted measures; that is exactly what we did last week. A 20% reduction in public transport fares is targeted and real and will affect people every day. It will be introduced at the end of April and that will make a real difference to people’s everyday lives and their cost of living. The Deputy is right that people are exposed to these high fossil fuel prices, which are due to international factors and it is a signal that we have to rid ourselves of our dependency on that. An 80% grant to put in attic and wall insulation, which could be done quickly, is the best approach and the best targeting. That cuts the average energy bill by about 25% and combats the price increases we are suffering because of international factors and that is real. It improves health, homes and addresses the issue.

I fundamentally disagree with the Deputy and with Sinn Féin’s position on this because the measures we are introducing are socially progressive. There is no other tax like carbon tax in that the Department of Finance has guaranteed that we will give all of it back to the people and that it does not go into the Exchequer. Some 30% of it goes to increasing social welfare provision, which brings about real and targeted improvements for those most in need. This includes those on the living alone allowance, qualified child allowance and fuel allowance, which target the poorest. In the last two budgets when we have done that the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, and others have done immediate and detailed analysis showing that it is progressive and that those on the poorer side of our society benefit most. The other 55% is going to improve people’s homes, while cutting emissions. If the Deputy is asking what planet we are living on it is the one we want to protect, the one we want to stop burning and the one where we do not just talk about climate change but do something about it.

No alternative funding is being presented for that sum of €9 billion. Where would we get the money? Where would that €9 billion we will get through this mechanism and give back to our people to protect them come from? What other spending would be cut instead of that or would Sinn Féin stop providing the grants? Would we not provide the 80% grant or the increase in the fuel allowance? Those are the questions I have to put back to the Deputy. This is not easy or particularly popular but it is the right thing to do for social justice as well as for environmental protection and I am convinced of that. If there is an alternative I would love for the Deputy to come back and say Sinn Féin would raise the €9 billion somewhere else. That would be a good debate and then we could have a real analysis.

To say that this is the source of the problem is incorrect. The source of the problem is our reliance on fossil fuels and the damage they are doing to our immediate health as well as threatening the future of our children on this planet. We have no choice but to respond to that by acting now in a quick way and with a just transition. I am convinced by this approach, which has been analysed by academics for decades, which says this is the way to do it, to give the signal but protect people at the same time. We will do it again next year - increase fuel allowance and increase the social welfare package and that will continue to be beneficial in helping those who need those supports most. That is targeting and that is the right approach. What is the alternative? Where would the money come from? It cannot be an easy answer that everything comes from general taxation. That means we might have to cut spending in health, education or social welfare and I do not want to do that.

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