Bríd Smith brands carbon tax 'delusional' and urges fossil fuel measures
Bríd Smith spoke against the carbon tax, arguing it harms ordinary people and does not change behaviour, and called for radical measures targeting the fossil fuel industry. She drew on her Climate Action Committee evidence and warned that climate and cost-of-living crises are linked.
Committee evidence on energy poverty
Vincent de Paul gave evidence to the Climate Action Committee in 2019 showing extensive energy poverty. Bríd Smith noted that Vincent de Paul were spending an extra 4 million euro a year on fuel subsidies and that many people in need do not show up in official fuel allowance measures.
Opposition to carbon tax
Bríd Smith said she and her group have opposed the carbon tax from the start, while stressing they take the climate crisis seriously. She pointed to radical bills her group put forward, including ending oil and gas extraction, stopping the proliferation of data centres and banning LNGs, and said the minister recently voted against those measures.
Critique of behavioural assumptions
She argued the carbon tax rests on a false premise that people can readily change behaviour - switching to frequent buses, buying electric vehicles or retrofitting homes at high cost. For most people, she said, that is impossible amid the linked twin crises of climate and the cost of living driven by market forces.
Alternative focus on fossil fuel industry
Bríd Smith urged targeting the fossil fuel industry and the wealthiest polluters rather than ordinary households. She rejected Norway and Canada as useful carbon-tax examples, citing Norway's large oil and gas industry and Canada’s Alberta Sands as part of why those cases are not models for effective climate action.
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First of all I think I'm the only TD here who sat for months and months on the Climate Action Committee in 2019 and we looked at this issue for weeks, literally for weeks and we had all sorts of experts and all sorts of witnesses and all sorts of data brought in to us about the question of carbon tax and the ones that struck me in particular were the witnesses from Vincent de Paul and Vincent de Paul came to give us evidence about the level of energy poverty in the country and such was the level in 2019 before this cost-a-living hike that Vincent de Paul were at that point spending an extra 4 million euro a year in fuel subsidies to people who were already on a fuel subsidy from the state in many cases but others who weren't on a fuel subsidy from the state and one of the things that their research showed us was that the level of energy poverty across the country was much greater than the measure which is who gets who gets to have fuel allowance shows up in terms of the reality for people out there but park all that aside I and my party my group have been against the carbon tax from the get-go not because we don't take climate seriously we put some of the most radical bills before this house including ending the extraction of oil and gas in this country and including stopping the proliferation of data centers and banning LNGs which the minister sitting in front of me voted against not so long ago so we take the question of climate and the crisis of climate very very seriously the point about carbon taxes however on ordinary people is that they are built on an extremely false premise and that premise is that by imposing them you help people to change their behaviour they move from driving a dirty old diesel car onto a nice bus that passes by their house every half an hour or they buy an electric vehicle or indeed they retrofit their home to the tune of 30 40 50 grand because they will spend less on dirty old oil that might eat their home or gas that might eat their home this is a nonsense for the vast majority of people not just in this country but on the planet for the vast vast majority carbon taxes do not help to change their behaviour their behaviour is embedded in what people are calling here the twin crisis the twin crisis of climate and cost of living are linked they are not separate and they are linked by the fact that we live on a planet that is propelling the market forward as the only answer to everything that same market is propelling the climate crisis and that same market is propelling the inequality and the poverty that people live in and so to support carbon taxes is to be delusional it's like sitting on the Titanic as it sinks or you could use a more modern analogy from the movie don't look up it's like throwing stuff at the comet which still keeps hurtling towards the earth to blow it apart so the crisis is extremely serious in climate but what's needed is radical measures that tackle the fossil fuel industry and I'll just finish on giving one example of where I think this is best understood that is the two countries that are the two countries that are wheeled out always to say look at the wonderful job they did on their carbon taxes Norway and Canada all the research is wheeled out on both of them Norway one of the biggest polluters in terms of fossil fuel a massive oil and gas industry Canada the Alberta Sands the Alberta Sands one of the dirtiest forms of producing gas on the planet they are not good examples of how you deal with climate crisis the gas industry the plastic industries and those who are related to them not after ordinary people who cannot afford to change their behaviour instead of that you go after the guys at the top the 1% that are dirtying up the planet and give the rest of us a break
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