Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are two substantive recommendations here. This was raised in detail on Second Stage, particularly by Senator Higgins. I will try to be brief because the clock is against us, but both recommendations merit debate.

Senators will be aware that the Government is genuinely committed to tackling climate change and decarbonising the economy by 2050 and is aware of the challenge that these subsidies pose to our collective effort to disincentivise the use of fossil fuels. The programme for Government, the climate action plan and the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act form a broad policy and legislative framework for moving away from fossil fuels to renewables and alternative fuels. However, it is recognised that this must be a gradual transition and that there is a balance to be struck between phasing out subsidies and incentivising alternatives, as well as introducing measures such as the carbon tax, which we support.

On the recommendation tabled by Senators Gavan and Warfield, before consideration could be given to any proposal of the type outlined, it would be necessary to appropriately define what a private jet actually is. This is because the term "private jet" is broad in nature and does not have a specific definition that can capture many different types of flights, such as privately owned jet aircraft, business aviation and fractional ownership by multiple owners to name but a few. Once an appropriate definition is established it would be necessary to gather information about the number of private jets departing from Irish airports on a yearly basis to establish the feasibility of such a measure.

Related to the proposed tax on private jet departures is the issue of taxation of aviation fuel, as raised by Senator Higgins. The current position on this matter is that the scope for a country to take a unilateral approach to taxation is currently limited by international law and a range of bilateral and multilateral agreements that operate under the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation, known as the Chicago Convention. Furthermore, and in the context of both recommendations, Ireland is subject to the energy taxation rules set out in the EU energy taxation directive on aviation kerosene. Under the current directive, member states are obliged to exempt certain fuels used for commercial aviation purposes from excise duty. A member state may waive this exemption where it has entered into a bilateral agreement with another member state to tax fuel for intra-Community flights. Ireland has not entered into such agreements to date. In July 2021, as part of the Fit for 55 package, the EU Commission published a proposal to revise the energy tax directive. The taxation of intra-Community flights forms part of this proposal and to date has proved to be one of the more contentious of the file because of the wish of certain member states to maintain the exemption on the taxation of excise fuel. I will leave it there, but I know there is a lot more to it.