Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That means covering all aspects of this, including pay policy, tax, welfare and climate. To do it on a tax-by-tax basis makes no sense. It is incoherent. That is why I am not jumping to the political bait from the Deputy and others in the House who are attempting to make this about one issue or one tax., which is nowhere near the real cause of what is transpiring here. We have already brought down the excise duty on fuel by 15 to 20 cent. That equates to an average of between €9 and €12 when filling the average tank.

That is what we have done already but that on its own will not be a coherent enough response to this.

On the carbon tax, as I said earlier, lower income families, when you talk about redistribution, get more back from the carbon tax receipts than they pay. The ESRI's research shows that households in the bottom four income deciles see all the cost of the carbon tax increase offset, with the bottom three deciles being better off as a result of these measures. That said, any increase can be offset and neutralised by the Government while protecting a medium-term instrument and mechanism that is urgently needed for climate change in the future. I know the Deputy asked me not to mention climate change because everybody wants to postpone any tough actions or difficulties around that. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, did not mention showers by the way but people go on with that nonsense anyway.

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