Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

By 2030, in just over six years’ time, we aim to meet 80% of Irish electricity needs from renewable energy. This budget provides funding for the staffing of agencies to deliver that goal.

To help households with the green transition, the budget provides a further €380 million to residential and community energy schemes. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy bills, meaning households throughout Ireland will be warmer and healthier, while having more money in their pockets. Within this funding, a record allocation will be made to the warmer homes scheme that provides free energy efficiency upgrades to the homes of those who need it most.

Funding will also be provided to accelerate community-based partnerships to deliver energy savings, for solar supports that will allow households to profit by selling their energy back to the grid and for a new low-interest loan scheme that will work alongside the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, grants to allow everyone the opportunity to benefit from energy savings. Individual households, schools, farms, local businesses and community enterprises, including sports clubs and community halls, are all eligible for support through schemes that have already installed solar panels on 70,000 buildings across the country.

CARBON TAX

Applying an appropriate price to the climate-harmful effects of carbon through the carbon tax remains an important measure in how we work together to meet our goals. Today I am announcing an additional €165 million of carbon tax revenues to be available in 2024 to support a just transition and to help to address fuel poverty, bringing the total carbon tax revenue available for investment to €788 million. Almost half of this, €380 million, will be invested in improving the energy efficiency of our homes.

In addition, the carbon tax will fund €262 million of social protection spending next year. An additional €44 million of targeted social welfare measures, namely, the increases to the qualified child payment and the changes to the income eligibility threshold for the working family payment, will ensure that the most vulnerable are protected from unintended impacts of this tax increase.

An additional €32 million in carbon tax funding will be provided to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine next year in order to support up to 50,000 farmers to improve biodiversity, climate, air and water quality. To continue to cut down on our carbon emissions, the national development plan will prioritise investment in sustainable, active, accessible transport.

TRANSPORT

It is transport that plays a critical role, not only in our connectivity but also in those climate ambitions.

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