Results 27,401-27,420 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: We all agree that tackling climate change requires a suite of measures that must all tie in together and speak to each other. It has to be about tax and regulation, but also investment. We have set out a large part of the investment piece in Project Ireland 2040, but that will only bring us about one third of the way to meeting our targets for 2030. It will involve measures such as...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: The model proposed in Canada is very similar to the one Deputy Ryan is suggesting. The Deputy set out a trajectory for increasing carbon tax by certain increments up to 2030 to reach an agreed price, perhaps something like €80 per tonne, which is the amount suggested by the Climate Change Advisory Council.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: However, any revenues gained from the carbon tax would then be given back to the people in the form of tax credits and welfare. I think this is what the Deputy is suggesting and it is something to which I would be well disposed. We need to do the numbers.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: The Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Bruton, are working on that now.
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: The best way to get it done would be to agree it on a cross-party basis because that would take the politics out of the issue. Let us not be dishonest in any way about what a carbon tax means. It means that it will be more expensive for people to fill their cars with diesel or petrol. It will increase the cost of transport for the haulage industry, have impacts on agriculture and make it...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I agree that it is and will be an enormous challenge to meet our 2030 targets. We are starting at a pretty bad point because we did not meet our 2020 targets. The economic challenges we faced seven, eight or nine years ago were also huge. People were talking then about endless austerity and saying Ireland would never get out of austerity. They were talking about defaulting on our debts...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: People were saying we would have long-term unemployment for very long periods. However, we are now in a very different place. We have full employment, balanced books, a national debt which is decreasing, and an economy that is resulting in increased living standards for great numbers of people. When I compared this issue with the unemployment crisis and the Action Plan for Jobs, I was...
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Instead of the old politics of "he said, you said, she said", let me now join with Deputy Ryan-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: -----and ask the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin whether they will sign up to a price for carbon in 2030-----
- Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: -----whether they will agree to a trajectory to increase carbon taxes over that period and whether they will agree to the principle that it will all be paid back through tax credits and welfare.
- Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I wish I knew because a number of Government sources have not seen the report. The only people in the Government who have it are the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, and I.
- Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I have no idea how that kind of thing transpires, but the position is as it was yesterday. The report is with the Attorney General and he may need to redact parts of it for reasons of commercial sensitivity. It has been given to individuals who are not members of the Government and are named in it to allow for their opinion.
- Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: It is my intention to publish the report as soon as I can, preferably in the next couple of days. I ask for the Ceann Comhairle's indulgence on one point. The leader of the Opposition repeated the idea again that somehow last October I committed to a carbon tax increase in the recent budget. I have heard a few people make that false claim. I will now read out what I said in August.
- Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I stated that we were going to do some work on the carbon tax.
- Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I said that we were very much of the view that if we were going to meet our climate change obligations, we would have to grasp the nettle in increasing the carbon tax over the next couple of years, but very much recognising that some people who are in poverty and those who are most vulnerable can be the worst affected by that, so there would have to be compensatory measures.
- Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: I said we would be working on proposals to set a price for carbon and then bring the tax up to that over a period of time. We would, I said, need to talk to the main Opposition party about that and agree at Government but I thought it a necessary part of our climate change obligations. What I said in August is what I said here. I never said or committed to a carbon tax increase in the...
- Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: He did.
- Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: No, he did not.
- Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: Does the Deputy accept that I did not say carbon tax would go up in the budget?
- Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Nov 2018)
Leo Varadkar: What is Fianna Fáil's policy on carbon tax?