Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion, even though the Social Democrats do not agree with it. In fact, we believe the motion is disingenuous and dishonest and I will spend a large part of my contribution explaining why. We need to discuss why we need a carbon tax and why it is important to retain it, even in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. We need to discuss what we are going to use the carbon tax revenue for and to discuss what would happen in the absence of the carbon tax. While there has been a great deal of noise during this debate, the two issues that everybody in this Chamber should agree on are, first, that we have a climate emergency and, second, that there is a cost-of-living crisis. Last August, we were told by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that: "The climate crisis is [so acute that we are facing] a code red for humanity."

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The United Nations Secretary General said:

The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible.

If that warning was not stark enough, a group of eminent scientists earlier this year warned that the planet is facing a ghastly future of mass extinction, declining health and climate disruption upheavals that threaten human survival.

We cannot divorce those warnings from the discussion we are having here, even though Sinn Féin and some other Opposition Deputies would simply like us to do so. We have to act to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis, if not out of concern for the planet then out of a self-interested concern for our survival and that of our children. We know what is killing the planet and threatening our survival. It is the greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning fossil fuels. As a country, we are far too dependent on fossil fuels. We are addicted, and breaking that addiction will not be easy. No political party should claim there is a simple or pain-free way to do so. Equally, no political party should claim we have time to postpone making difficult choices. The time to dither and delay has run out. We must have a carbon tax because, as a State, we want to signal we understand fossil fuels are a threat and must be phased out. We want to signal to the business community that it makes more sense, from both an environmental and a financial perspective, to invest in cleaner energy. We want consumer choices to be informed by the knowledge that fossil fuels are expensive and will remain so.

The odd thing, given the motion tabled this evening, is that Sinn Féin seems to agree with all this. If it did not, it would call for the carbon tax to be scrapped in its entirety. However, it has not. Instead it has called for the increase in the carbon tax due in May to be scrapped. It is also interesting that Sinn Féin outlines in very precise terms in its motion the increases in the costs of gas, home heating oil, petrol and diesel at 28%, 50%, 30% and 32%, respectively. These massive increases are undoubtedly causing massive hardship for many workers and families throughout the country, but given Sinn Féin's precision in itemising the cost increases for different fossil fuels, it is notable it does not include precise figures for the impact of the carbon tax. I will give those figures.

An increase of €7.50 per tonne of carbon was introduced on budget night for petrol and diesel. On 1 May, that increase will apply to all other fuel. That change increased the cost of petrol and diesel by approximately 2 cent per litre in October and it will mean energy bills increasing by an average of €17 per annum. To put this in further context, according to AA Ireland, motorists today are paying an average of €1.77 per litre for petrol as opposed to €1.33 in February 2021. Over the same period diesel prices rose to €1.67 per litre from €1.24 per litre. Petrol and diesel, therefore, have increased in price per litre by an average of approximately 43% in a year, a massive hike, but just 2 cent of that can be attributed to increases in carbon tax. Sinn Féin is playing a dangerous game and it will come back to haunt the party. The constant focus on the increase in carbon tax would lead any reasonable person to conclude it must account for a huge portion of the rising cost of energy, but it does not. It is clear from AA figures that the recent price spikes have nothing to do with the carbon tax increase, which is a fixed amount and does not change even as the price of oil fluctuates.

The inference of the motion is also that scrapping the planned increase in carbon tax would go a long way to helping the public withstand the cost-of-living crisis, but it would not go nearly far enough, unless Sinn Féin believes reducing bills by an average of €17 per year is enough to save people from fuel poverty. Why are we devoting valuable Dáil time to debating this motion? Even if this motion was passed, it would do nothing to change petrol and diesel prices at the pump and the net impact would be a saving of approximately €1.40 per month on energy bills from May. What is going on? Regrettably, there appears to be an attempt to play politics with the carbon tax. It is using the cost-of-living crisis and the genuine hardship being endured by so many to whip up public anger about the carbon tax and use that as a means to attack the Government. That is why I believe this motion is both disingenuous and dishonest.

Sinn Féin does not need to use the carbon tax as a battering ram to try to damage this Government. If it wants to accuse the Government of being out of touch and failing to act quickly or adequately enough on the cost-of-living crisis, it has many other weapons in its arsenal to do so. Turning the carbon tax into some type of environmental bogeyman may earn some cheap political points now, but what will the long-term cost be? After the next general election it is expected that Sinn Féin will likely be leading the Government. What will it have to say about the carbon tax then? Will it vote to scrap it, or any future increases? If it does, how will it replace the revenue that is generated by the carbon tax? If it does not, how will its supporters feel about that? Many will feel conned. The Irish public is not stupid and does not like hypocrisy. Opposition parties claiming from the Opposition benches that they will do something and then failing to do it in government has been costly for many political parties. This motion has created a hostage to fortune for Sinn Féin and one it will have to answer for at the next general election.

It would be easy for me and other Opposition parties to join in the chorus to scrap the increase in carbon tax and cynically pretend that doing so would provide help to those who are desperately trying to make ends meet, but we will not do that. Instead, I will explain why the Social Democrats have tabled an amendment to the motion, which I will move. What we want are ironclad assurances that every cent raised by the carbon tax is funnelled back to the public in targeted climate action support. The carbon tax should not be regressive and it is important those most at risk of fuel poverty are provided with meaningful support using this revenue. We want to see regular and detailed accounts of the spending of the carbon tax so there is transparency about the manner in which the total revenue is spent. We want the Government to engage with the European Commission to extend a penalty-free derogation on the VAT applied to energy on a temporary basis while we are in the midst of this massive hike in prices, in line with measures outlined in the European Commission toolbox. We want the Government to publish an up-to-date strategy to combat energy poverty and to establish a cross-departmental task force to address energy poverty.

Carbon tax is the only tax we have that is going to be used for specific purposes. Everything else goes into general Exchequer funding. The Government has said it will spend every penny of the carbon tax on climate action measures. These are the measures we must implement if we are to have any hope of meeting our legally and morally mandated target of reducing carbon emissions by 51% by 2030, eight years hence. We want full transparency and the commitment to use that funding in that way. We want the public to be able to see where the money is going and to be sure it is used appropriately. We also recognise there is a cost-of-living crisis for which global energy prices and the wider geopolitical situation are responsible. We therefore recognise this is an emergency situation and emergency responses are required. The EU also recognised this when it suggested member states could make changes to their VAT regimes temporarily to cushion the blow of these price hikes. A temporary reduction in VAT would have a far more significant impact on prices than what Sinn Féin is proposing in this motion. It is simply incredible the Government has failed to date to engage with the EU on its capacity to do this.

The strategy to combat energy poverty was published in 2016 and is now hopelessly out of date. The Government must publish an updated strategy and establish a cross-departmental task force to combat energy poverty as a matter of urgency. Our recent proposals to address the cost-of-living crisis include increasing the pension and other core social welfare rates by €5, doubling the exceptional needs payment to create a hardship fund quickly, introducing a €300 tax credit for individuals earning less than €50,000 per annum, and extending the fuel allowance and increasing the time period for which it is paid. These are targeted measures we believe would make a significant difference for people. Many people are seriously concerned about the cost-of-living crisis and their ability to feed their families and heat their homes. Regrettably, the measures contained in Sinn Féin's motion would make no difference to them.

I also urge the many people who are concerned about the environment and the slow progress on our climate action plan to consider this motion and its impact on Sinn Féin's commitment to addressing that crisis. I represent a constituency that is impacted by a huge level of respiratory problems. Constituents are at the coalface of the climate crisis and the cost-of-living crisis. We need genuine proposals that will impact on and benefit their lives, and I do not believe this motion will do that.

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