Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This section relates to the extension of the carbon tax to solid fuel. The manufacturers tell us this means a tax of approximately ¤2.50 on a bag of coal and 50 cent on a bale of briquettes. Over the course of a year of average use, this is expected to cost a family an extra ¤130. Fuel poverty is an increasingly serious issue in this country, particularly among the so-called middle classes, those with negative equity, high mortgages and so on. With the cost of oil and other fuels, these people cannot afford to heat their homes. Members will be able to relate to this due to the fact that people have been coming to their constituency offices over the past year with these problems. We see sights now we have never seen before, such as people with smaller containers at filling stations where kerosene is for sale buying small amounts to heat their homes.

Earlier, when the Minister, Deputy Noonan was here, I said that while nobody doubts the difficulties faced by governments in trying to put a budget together in difficult times like these, there were options available to the Government. One wonders what the return will be to the Exchequer on this increase.

Nobody can tell me that the fine officials we have outside and in here and the Ministers and Ministers of State could not come up with a more imaginative approach than this. The back boiler is being called on more than the central heating system these days and this will only add to the difficulties for people who are struggling to heat their homes. I ask the Minister of State to indicate how much it is estimated this will produce in a year and whether it would not be possible to look to other measures instead. This measure should be removed from the Bill because it is unnecessary and draconian.