Tax Data
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I do not look for thanks in politics and I certainly do not look for thanks from political opponents. It is not why I do this job. I do look for ways of assisting people and you have to bring the people with you too. While the Deputy obviously supports the carbon tax, I appreciate that many in opposition stand by the carbon tax too and do not engage in populism on this. It is an important form of tax revenue. However, we do have to look at the reality in terms of the cost of a fill of home heating. We had to look at the reality in terms of green diesel. It did not make sense to decide to tell people that we were going to further increase the cost of their home heating oil.
There also needs to be a sense of perspective in relation to this. That decision has not resulted in any reduced amount of money being spent on the climate action fund or on the retrofitting programme or on the fuel allowance because it is €22 million. It is 2% of the total amount that we expect to take in. I would also make the broader point that when the carbon tax was legislated for, I think, in 2020, the war in Ukraine had not happened and the war in Iran had not happened. I support the carbon tax. Some in the Opposition do not and some in the Opposition do; that is fine. However, these are realities in terms of the impact on the energy market and you can believe in a carbon tax and also believe that now might not have been the right time to further increase it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21