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

On Deputy Conway-Walsh's question, the Government took a decision on the solidarity tax today, which applies domestically, particularly in respect of the Corrib field. It is designed to make sure there will be no windfall profits arising out of the increased prices that have occurred. The Government has adopted the correct overall policy in respect of the cost-of-living package in that we did not go for what was proposed by the Deputy's party, namely, a cap to pre-2021 levels. We saw what happened in the United Kingdom fiscally and from a market point of view when that proposal was implemented by the UK Government; it had fairly devastating consequences for the UK economy. That is why the Irish Government did not go down that route in respect of the measures we took. On the issue of the wider windfall tax, that will come later as part of the European measures. The broader European measures will fall due to be completed but the EU energy market is very complex. We import most of our gas from the UK and Norway supplies the UK. It is not a uniform gas market but we welcome the decisions taken to try to decouple gas from electricity price increases.

Deputy Haughey raised the issue of climate justice and COP27 generally. One of the key takeaways from COP has been the fact that climate change is now here in terms of worldwide devastation. The presentation by the Prime Minister of Pakistan was one of two events I attended. One third of all crops or arable land has been destroyed by floods in that country. Significant levels of disease are coming from stagnant water throughout Pakistan and hundreds of thousands of pregnant women, just over 600,000, are without homes and shelter. There is huge economic damage amounting to €30 billion in reconstruction costs. The presentations by Somalia, Sri Lanka and all the small island states of the Pacific indicated they are facing real danger. If there is some message for this country, it is that we have to do more on adaptation. We also have to do more, not just to get emissions down, but to prepare for coastal erosion. We have to prepare a whole range of measures to deal with that.

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