Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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36. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the measures that will be introduced over the next year pertaining to a carbon tax. [16053/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Programme for Government commits to legislating to hypothecate all additional carbon tax revenue into a Climate Action Fund raising an estimated €9.5 billion over the next ten years. This Fund will be utilised over that period to:

1. Ensure that the increases in the carbon tax are progressive by spending €3 billion on targeted social welfare and other initiatives to prevent fuel poverty and ensure a just transition.

2. Provide €5 billion to part fund a socially progressive national retrofitting programme targeting all homes, but with a particular emphasis on the Midlands region and on social and low-income tenancies.

3. Allocate €1.5 billion to a REPS-2 programme to encourage and incentivise farmers to farm in a greener and more sustainable way. This funding will be additional to funding from the Common Agriculture Policy. It will include incentives to plant native forestry and to enhance and support biodiversity.