Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak. I thank Deputies from the Rural Independent Group for tabling this motion. We are in extremely difficult times and face many challenges following the many restrictions imposed on us by Covid and with the rapidly rising cost of living, which is affecting everybody. I fully believe that climate change is a problem that needs to be addressed. It cannot be ignored anymore and we need to act now. We need to put in place necessary measures to reduce or eliminate climate change. Carbon tax is, unfortunately, one of the main tools in the Government's effort to reduce climate change.

In the Private Member's motion, the Rural Independent Group highlights how the carbon tax was introduced and summarises how it affects oil, gas and solid fuels. There is no doubt that this is having a real effect on the cost of living for many, especially people in fuel poverty. As I said, we are just coming out of a pandemic and there is the Russian onslaught on Ukraine, which is causing great problems for the Ukrainian people. With all of this happening, I feel the Government should consider a temporary pause in the increase in carbon tax which is due to happen. I feel that people have had enough. Every day, we hear of price increases and to add further to this with an increase in carbon tax is wrong.

There is no doubt that renewable energy is the future, but we cannot increase taxes on other forms of energy if we cannot offer an alternative renewable source. The Government has published its plans for the retrofitting scheme, but it will not be solved in the immediate future. The Government has indicated that heat pump technology is the way forward, which I agree with, but retrofitting houses which have oil or gas boilers with heat pumps will require a significant effort and injection of capital funding. People dealing with fuel poverty will not be able to afford the costs of insulation or heat pumps. The Government needs real and workable solutions if this is to happen.

Another issue is the fact that heat pumps use so much electricity. I know there will be a serious shortage of electricity. We face many challenges with the national grid. How can we manage it if every house in the country is using electricity as the primary source of energy?

It is important that we start using commonsense. I know, and I am sure the Minister of State knows, that people are not putting their heat on because they cannot afford to and they are feeding their families. I was reading an article which stated that the three main causes of fuel poverty are low income in a house, fuel costs and the energy efficiency of the house. It is frightening when one realises how bad it is. There are thousands of households with children who are in fuel poverty. They just cannot afford to heat the house. People cannot afford to buy a house in the first place, then most rented houses are of poor quality. It is frightening to see the actual prices.

I keep saying that we should start using commonsense. It is the wrong time to introduce taxes. We hear about how there could be a general election because of issues with the Green Party. There is a coalition Government, which is doing a pretty good job. It is doing a good job from a European perspective too, taking in so many Ukrainians. If the Government sat down to think about this, it could find a solution to help people. While I do not agree with scrapping the carbon tax, I call on the Government to delay temporarily the increase in the tax. I ask the Government to sit down and use commonsense.

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