Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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166. To ask the Minister for Finance the total sums paid into the Exchequer as a result of the carbon tax each year since its introduction, including 2025; and a similar breakdown on the way in which this income was spent on retrofitting and climate resilience measures. [67480/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that the amounts collected in Carbon Tax in each year since its introduction are shown in the following table.

In line with the Government’s commitment to allocate funding over this decade to support climate action measures and to ensure the most vulnerable are protected from unintended impacts of the Carbon Tax increase, between Budget 2020 and Budget 2026, over €4.2 billion in additional Carbon Tax revenues has been allocated to programmes to support a range of social welfare, decarbonisation and agri-environmental measures.

I am advised by the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation that this total includes over €2.02 billion allocated to the Department of Climate, Energy and Environment to support SEAI residential and community energy efficiency upgrade schemes, including the Warmer Homes Scheme, the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme, the Better Energy Homes Scheme, the Community Energy Grant scheme and the Solar PV Scheme.

It also includes €539 million funded from increases in the Carbon Tax to part-fund the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) and to continue prior commitments on green agriculture pilot projects. This will support farmers as they undertake a range of actions which will result in improved outcomes on biodiversity, climate, air and water quality.

From Budget 2020 to date, €140 million of Carbon Tax revenue has also been allocated to the Department of Transport to support sustainable transport measures such as greenways and electric vehicles. In addition, €35 million has been allocated to the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage to fund peatlands rehabilitation, which delivers a range of climate and ecosystem benefits, as well as €42 million allocated to the Just Transition Fund to support the areas most affected by the transition to climate neutrality, ensuring that no one is left behind.

A breakdown of the annual allocations of Carbon Tax Funds to retrofitting and climate measures is provided in the table below.

The Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation issues an annual publication on Budget Day titled The Use of Carbon Tax Funds, which contains further detail on these allocations, and includes information on the programmes funded from these amounts. The most recent version is available at the link below with all previous versions available on the www.budget.gov.ie website under Budget Publications for each respective year.

www.gov.ie/en/department-of-public-expenditure-infrastructure-public-service-reform-and-digitalisation/publications/budget-2026-the-use-of-carbon-tax-funds/