Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome and thank Minister of State, Deputy Sean Fleming, for coming into the House.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. We know that aviation's climate impact is disproportionate and it continues to grow quickly. Emissions from private jets are growing even faster than the rest of the aviation industry with a 31% increase in CO2 emissions between 2005 and 2019. In just one hour, a single private jet can emit 2 tonnes of CO2 whereas the average Irish person emits 12.3 tonnes of CO2 over the course of an entire year and that is high by EU standards.

We know from the Oxfam carbon inequality report that flights are a major contributor to the carbon footprints the rich and famous. Footprints from aviation alone were found to be in excess of 1,000 tonnes per year for some celebrities. This summer the twitter account @CelebJets was used to highlight the outrageous carry-on of celebrities like Taylor Swift, Drake and Kylie Jenner and their absurdly short journeys by private jets from as little as ten minutes. People were rightly outraged because it points to the deep hypocrisy that currently exists around climate action where wealthy people seem to be exempt from any sort of change.

Sinn Féin believes that not all emissions are created equal. Climate justice scholars have long distinguished between luxury emissions and subsistence emissions. The latter arise from people meeting their basic needs in the absence of alternatives, while the former are produced by wealthy people who demonstrate just how wealthy they are. For too long, climate action has been about punishing ordinary working-class people and heaping guilt on them for living in a society that has locked them into a carbon-centric lifestyle and makes it very difficult and expensive for them to change. At the same time the wealthy seem to be exempt and continue to live carbon-intensive lifestyles.

Sinn Féin believes luxury emissions need to be pursued, not only because it is the right thing to do to tackle climate change, but because it demonstrates to wider society that we are serious about a just transition. It would also help to bring people along in the enormous challenge for society of tackling climate change. Sinn Féin proposes a tax of €3,000 on the departure of private jets from this State should be introduced. Canada has recently imposed a luxury tax on the sale and importation of high-value cars, planes and boats, while Switzerland has proposed taxing private-jet flights. According to data collected by the NGO, Transport & Environment, 5,998 private jets departed from the State in 2019 and in its paper, Private Jets: Can the Super-Rich Supercharge Zero Emission Aviation?, Transport & Environment proposed a €3,000 levy on private jet departures to account for the environmental damage that they cause.

These are genuine behavioural taxes because, as we all know, feasible more environmentally friendly alternatives are available to individuals to choose instead. The same cannot be said for the general carbon tax which does not distinguish the luxury from the necessary, nor consider the alternatives.Such a tax shows there is an alternative to generating the revenues needed to fund the wider fight against the climate crisis but I urge the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, to consider a tax on luxury emissions. This is just one example of them, namely, to try to get a handle on the completely unjustified depletion of the world's scarce remaining carbon budget by those who have very, very deep pockets and who are well able to fund the decarbonisation process.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter in the House today. First, I wish to apologise to Senator Boylan and to the House for the non-availability of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, or myself yesterday, or of a Minister of State to speak on our behalf. I appreciate the forbearance of Senator Boylan in agreeing to speak on the Commencement matter today. I thank her for that.

At the outset it should be noted that neither the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, nor the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, have given consideration of a levy on private jet departures to date. However, it is noted that Switzerland is well-advanced with such a proposal, although it is understood that it has not been commenced yet and neither has the levy rate been determined. The Swiss proposal would apply to private non-commercial flights departing from an airport situated in Switzerland and provides for a list of exemptions, including emergency medical service flights, military flights, flights operated under a public service obligation, etc. It is understood that France is giving consideration to the introduction of such a levy as well as in an effort to make transport greener and fairer.

In this regard, it should be noted that the issue may be raised by the French minister for transport at the upcoming informal Transport Council that will take place in Prague in the coming days, 20 to 21 October.

Before consideration could be given to any proposal of this type, we would need to gather information about the accurate number of private jets departing from Irish airports and I note the figures Senator Boylan mentioned. We need this on a yearly basis to establish the feasibility of such a measure. Private flights is a broad term without a specific definition, which can capture many different types of flights such as privately owned jet aircraft, to which the Senator refers, business aviation, fractional ownership by multiple owners, to name a few. At present the Department of Transport does not hold complete data on the number of private flights that pass through our airports as non-commercial operations are not required to apply for a flight authorisation prior to landing in an Irish airport.

I would like to touch on the taxation of fuel used for aviation, which is the responsibility of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe. Ireland's excise duty treatment of fuel used for air navigation is governed by European Union law as set out in directive 2003/96/EC on the taxation of energy products and electricity, commonly known as the energy tax directive, ETD. The ETD was transposed into national law in the Finance Act 1999. Under the ETD member states are obliged to exempt from excise duty certain mineralised fuels used for commercial aviation purposes. In aviation fuels, the scope of the ETD exemption covers jet fuel, described as heavy oil, which is the most commonly used fuel type in air navigation. The exemption must encompass all jet fuel used for intra-community and international air transport purposes. A member state may, however, waive this exemption for intra-community flights but only where it has entered into a bilateral agreement with another member state to tax the fuel. Ireland has no such agreement at present and, therefore, the exemption from taxation is applied to all jet fuel used for commercial intra-community flights. The ETD provides that member states may opt to fully or partially exempt from taxation jet fuel used for commercial, domestic or air navigation. Currently, Ireland's mineral oil tax law provides that a fuel relief to apply to jet fuel used for all commercial air navigation, including domestic intra-community and international.

With regard to aviation fuel for commercial international transport, the scope for a member state to take a unilateral approach on taxation on aviation fuel is limited not only by the ETD but by international law and a range of bilateral and multilateral agreements that operate under the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention.

Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. I call on Senator Boylan to respond.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, for the apology, which I accept completely. I am glad he was able to take the matter today. I see a glimmer of hope in the response he gave. It is interesting that again France seems to be leading the way in innovative approaches to climate action. I had a Commencement matter last week looking at the ban on fossil fuel adverts which again France is leading the way on. I would like to know the Government's position ahead of that Transport Council meeting because we know that is what is critical. It is all well and good for France to bring the proposal to the Council meeting but will Ireland back it up and support it? I would be interested to hear, the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming's view on that.

According to the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming's response, it is interesting to note the State is not collecting the necessary data in order to do that tax. This is another example of why Ireland needs to get its head around collecting data on wealth. Apparently, we do not have the data from the Government when it comes to a wealth tax and we are being told we do not have it when it comes to private jets. Of course the Sinn Féin proposal would allow for exemptions for emergency medical service and military flights.

Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Boylan. The Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, will have the final word.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Under the current legislative framework there is effectively no scope for Ireland to unilaterally tax commercial aviation fuel used by private jets. I have given the Senator the background and once there is agreement with another countries, it could be done. Senator Boylan mentioned that France is considering the introduction of this as well as a debate at the Transport Council in Prague on 20 to 21 October. We have not seen any specific details but closer to the time, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, will certainly respond to that, if that is on the agenda that particular day.

The House may be aware, however, that a proposal to revise the energy tax directive is currently being negotiated at EU level and Ireland is actively engaged in these discussions. One area under consideration during these negotiations is the taxation of fuel used in commercial aviation which would, by definition, include private jets. There is still a long way to go with this proposal. However, as one of its essential purposes is to support faster uptake of cleaner fuel by taxing fuels on the basis of energy content, the environmental performance, rather than by volume, it is likely that aviation fuels, including those used by private jets, will fall within the scope of those discussions.

Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State and Senator Boylan.